Pantagathus Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 (edited) I'm going to have to give notice to the Battle of Thermopylae for obvious reasons. Not obvious at all. What are the numbers, and how do they compare to all the other candidates? In terms of proportions, the Battle of Thermopylae has to be the highest. I think modern estimate are 7,000 Greeks and 250,000 Persians. Casualties are 300 Spartans, 4,000 Greeks and 30,000 Persians. The casualties figure on the Persian side would have been much higher if it hadn't been for Ephialtes. When it comes to advantage in numbers there is no comparison to any other battle, the Spartans and Greeks were outnumbered by 97%, and still managed to slaughter 12% of the Persian forces. Please correct me if my figures are wrong. tflex, thank you. That is exactly why I said Thermopylae was obvious for inclusion. The numbers are still debatable (Herodotus said there were ~3 million Persian forces...) but the fact is that a very small number of Greeks slaughtered a mess load of Persian forces before they were betrayed. And even during the orderly retreat after the betrayal, the 300 Spartans took out a lot more Persians before becoming overwhelmed. Edited January 24, 2006 by Pantagathus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Favonius Cornelius Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Is there any room for speculation that Thermopylae is more myth than fact? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tflex Posted January 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Is there any room for speculation that Thermopylae is more myth than fact? I'm not sure, but does anyone know if there are Persian sources on the Battle of Thermopylae? if so where can I find it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Is there any room for speculation that Thermopylae is more myth than fact? Very, very little. Herodotus described the location exactly and excavations in the valley have yielded extensive Persian arrow heads and similar artifacts. I have read things that implied the existance of Persian sources as to where Herodotus got his information of the events after the retreat. Obviously not from the 300 Spartans that fought to the death! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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