Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Thermopylae - Was King Leonidas an moron?
While doing some reading about the Spartans, and especially The Battle of Thermopylae, I came across an interesting point of view concerning the Spartans loss and King Leonidas' skill as a military tactician. The url is here, ( http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/logos7_22.html ) The writer of the article states, "The fact that Leonidas asked for reinforcements when the Persian army was already at close quarters, does not say much for his military abilities. There may be much truth in the statement of the great German historian Julius Beloch (1864-1929) that the death of the three hundred was a mistake: their self-sacrifice did not serve any military purpose, except -of course- the removal of an incompetent commander. On the other hand, it may be that Leonidas' kamikaze had a religious motivation: if the oracle announced that the Spartans would loose their town or their king, it was reasonable to sacrifice a king to save the city." Of course it is interesting that someone believes that King Leonidas was an idiot for going in there very much disadvantaged and unprepared. Someone was bound to bring the decision into question, and for good reason. However, given that he may have wholeheartedly believed what the oracle said, and his loyalty to Sparta, his family and friends, I see where the sacrifice may have made sense to him.
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3 comments:
Wow.. I’m impressed with your fancy links. :) My posts seem a bit simple compared to yours. Your subject title intrigued me so I had to read it of course. My thought on the whole ordeal is that it's amazing what a man will do for his religious (the oracle in his case) beliefs. An example: suicide bombers. We look on that and deem it as completely wrong and most sensible human beings would side with us. But they (the bombers) don't see it as anything but war and if their sacrifice is required, so be it. Thermopylae probably thought in much the same way. He saw himself as a necessary sacrifice. By giving his life he took hundreds of the Persians along with him. And, also it was mentioned that the sacrifice of those 300 Spartans did help. It stalled the Persians long enough so that the Greeks back home could prepare. So, I don't think he was a moron... just dedicated to his cause and willing to sacrifice himself for the greater "good." But, what really is "good?" Look at it from the angle of the Persians and then from the angle of the Greeks. What is good, sensible, and right shifts.
I don't think Leonidas went into Thermopylae thinking he was going to beat the Persian army alone. He knew that he wouldn't come out alive and so did all the soldiers that stood by his side. Remember that he told the other armies to return to their homes once they realized that they were about to be flanked. I think Leonidas went into this battle to show the rest of Greece the amount of damage the Greeks could do if they resisted Persian rule.
Awesome job on the extra reading! This totally gives a new point of view to the Battle of Thermopylae. But I do agree with Cori, it is amazing what a man will do for what he believes in. Yes, you can see this with the kamikaze pilots in WWII. I too think don't think King Leonidas was a moron. He was doing what he thought was best/right based on his beliefs and in truth in the long run his self sacrifice during that battle saved the Greeks from being totally annihilated. Who knows, maybe if King Leonidas hadn't sacrificed himself and his men as he did, maybe it would have been Persian culture embedded in the Middle East and not Greek culture.
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