One of the greatest battles for civilization and the human race, occurred 2500 years ago today. Persian Orientalism in all its anti-humanist, contra-individual form, replete and resplendent in all its animosity to freedom, free-will, free exchange and humanism; challenged the individualistic yeoman farmer and property owner of Greece, in the narrow confines of a northern Grecian pass. This battle was critical for world history. The stand at the narrow pass delayed the Persian masses; bought the Greeks time; and directly resulted in the Grecian ability to reorganize and defeat the Asiatic hordes at Salamis in late 480 at sea; and on land at Plataea in 479 AD. If not for Thermopolyae we might not have the modern world; the use of computers; and the genius of the modern world. We might be very skilled however in mysticism, magic, brutish enslavement, and the abacus.

At Thermopolyae on September 23 480 BC, the Spartan king Leonidas held out for two days with a mere 300-700 hoplites against some 100.000 of King Xerxes Persians hordes. The Hot Gates or Thermopolyae was a narrow path of great strategic importance, commanding the passage along the Greek coast from Thessaly through Lokris and into Attica or the hinterland around Athens. Historians have estimated that this Hot Gates path was no more than 15-30 meters wide in 480. A small, determined army could certainly make a stand and make the enemy pay a heavy price.

The Greeks were under the command of the heroic Spartan political-military leader Leonidas. He possessed only 7,100 troops in total. The Greeks were man for man; better armed; better trained; more disciplined and free. As classicist Victor Hansen Davis has commented, the free Greeks were the first Westerners to demonstrate the power of the individual yeoman farmer and merchant; in the face of Oriental conformity, slavery, and submission. Our struggle with Islam is little different, than the broad Greek struggle against Persian pagan intolerance from 500 BC to the wars of Alexander circa 330 BC.

At first, the Thermopolyaen battle went entirely according to the plan of the Greeks. The narrowness of the pass at the middle gate negated the advantage of numbers for the coerced Persian troops. Moreover, the Greek hoplite was better equipped, with his long thrusting spear, heavy hoplite shield, and body armor. The Persian had a shorter javelin-type spear, a wicker shield which did indeed provide superior mobility in the open field but was much less useful than bronze at close quarters, and thick-woven linen corselets. For two days the Spartans held off lesser elements of the imperial army: slave and satrapy troops failed to penetrate the Greek line. The Immortals, or the elite Persian forces, also failed.

The Greeks were defeated when a local man named Ephialtes, offered to show the Persians a way around the back of the defending force, a way to get past the "Middle Gate" and turn the Greek position. Xerxes agreed, sending what was left of his 10,000 "Immortals". Word was sent to Leonidas that the position had been outflanked, and his troops stationed along the path had been utterly scattered. Leonidas dismissed his allied contingents, and with 300-500 men attempted to halt the Persian advance long enough for the main force to extricated itself and proceed to Athens.

Within 2 days the small Spartan-Theban force was utterly overwhelmed, taken in the rear and attacked in the front. All of the men perished. But the main force retreated to safety. Greece would live to fight another day, and off Salamis and at Plataea they would decisively eradicate the Oriental Persian threat. Thankfully for mankind the Persians failed to assimilate Greece into the broader and quite despotic Farse empire.

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YouTube The battle of Marathon Battles B C part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMBRDe8jIOw&feature=more_related

YouTube The battle of Marathon Battles B C part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlddgikBqAE&feature=related

YouTube The battle of Marathon Battles B C part 3
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YouTube The battle of Marathon Battles B C part 4
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YouTube The battle of Marathon Battles B C part 5
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