NHD Rough Draft
Ronald Cosme
11 December 2014
3rd- Whap
NHD Rough Draft: Leonidas I of Sparta
Section 1- Background The Persians Wars were fought between the Persian God Kings (Darius I and Xerxes I) and the Greeks city-states (Athens, Arcadia and Sparta). There were many battles during this warring period, such as the Battle of Marathon or the Battle of Plataea, but the battle that Leonidas is known for is the Battle of Thermopylae for his courageous acts of leadership and his historical death. Leonidas learned that Persian’s God King, Xerxes, has rallied a massive army and has begun to invade Greece, in result Leonidas consults with the Athenian consul. The consul acknowledges Leonidas not to attack the Persians but to abandon Sparta however; he ignores their command and gathers 300 Spartans, all who have sons to pass on their name, and marches to Thermopylae. After days of fighting, the Spartans are defeated my Persian forces due to a traitor revealing a hidden passage behind the Spartan Phalanx. Instead of running, Leonidas fights his famous last stand, alongside his men, and dies a glorious death. This act of valor has made the military mindset of “Glory before Death” present in many modern day military forces.
Excerpts from the Histories by Herodotus (Primary Source)
201. King Xerxes pitched his camp in the region of Malis called Trachinia, while on their side the Greeks occupied the straits. These straits the Greeks in general call Thermopylae (the Hot Gates); but the natives, and those who dwell in the neighbourhood, call them Pylae (the Gate). Here then the two armies took their stand; the one master of all the region lying north of Trachis, the other of the country extending southward of that place to the verge of the continent.
202. The Greeks who at this spot awaited the coming of Xerxes were the following: - From Sparta, three hundred men-at-arms: from Arcadia, a thousand Tegeans and Mantineans, five hundred of each people; a hundred and twenty Orchomenians,
11 December 2014
3rd- Whap
NHD Rough Draft: Leonidas I of Sparta
Section 1- Background The Persians Wars were fought between the Persian God Kings (Darius I and Xerxes I) and the Greeks city-states (Athens, Arcadia and Sparta). There were many battles during this warring period, such as the Battle of Marathon or the Battle of Plataea, but the battle that Leonidas is known for is the Battle of Thermopylae for his courageous acts of leadership and his historical death. Leonidas learned that Persian’s God King, Xerxes, has rallied a massive army and has begun to invade Greece, in result Leonidas consults with the Athenian consul. The consul acknowledges Leonidas not to attack the Persians but to abandon Sparta however; he ignores their command and gathers 300 Spartans, all who have sons to pass on their name, and marches to Thermopylae. After days of fighting, the Spartans are defeated my Persian forces due to a traitor revealing a hidden passage behind the Spartan Phalanx. Instead of running, Leonidas fights his famous last stand, alongside his men, and dies a glorious death. This act of valor has made the military mindset of “Glory before Death” present in many modern day military forces.
Excerpts from the Histories by Herodotus (Primary Source)
201. King Xerxes pitched his camp in the region of Malis called Trachinia, while on their side the Greeks occupied the straits. These straits the Greeks in general call Thermopylae (the Hot Gates); but the natives, and those who dwell in the neighbourhood, call them Pylae (the Gate). Here then the two armies took their stand; the one master of all the region lying north of Trachis, the other of the country extending southward of that place to the verge of the continent.
202. The Greeks who at this spot awaited the coming of Xerxes were the following: - From Sparta, three hundred men-at-arms: from Arcadia, a thousand Tegeans and Mantineans, five hundred of each people; a hundred and twenty Orchomenians,