Battle of Thermopylae in popular culture
The Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC during the Second Persian invasion of Greece has long been a subject of cultural fascination and is one of the most famous military last stands of all time. This story is passed to us from the writings of the Greek Herodotus, who was not present at the battle himself. He relates the story of 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians defending the Pass of Thermopylae against the much larger Persian army on the third day of the battle.[1] The number of soldiers present at Thermopylae dwindled after the first two days of battle, as the Greek forces had originally numbered somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000.
The legendary bravery and resolution of the 300 Spartans has provided inspiration to authors, artists, and poets for centuries.
The performance of the defenders at the battle of Thermopylae is often used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment, and good use of terrain to maximize an army's potential,[2] and has become a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds.[2] The sacrifice of the Spartans and the Thespians has captured the minds of many throughout the ages and has lead to the creation of many cultural references as a result.[3]
Cultural references
Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques-Louis David (1814)
- One of the more well known known poems on the Battle of Thermopylae is the epigram attributed to Simonides:
ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.
Stranger passing by, tell the Lakedaimonians
Here we lie, having obeyed their orders.
- Thermopylae has been used as a name for ships; for example, a clipper ship 212 feet in length displacing 991 tons was launched in Aberdeen in 1868. Christened Thermopylae, it established speed records and was also notable for having a male figurehead wearing Greek armor, helmet, shield, and sword.
- The Greek phrase "Μολών λαβέ" ("molon labe", or "come and take them"), a quote attributed to Leonidas at the battle, has been repeated by many later generals and politicians in order to express the determination of an army or nation not to surrender without a battle. The motto "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" is on the emblem of the Greek First Army Corps. Both the original Greek phrase and its English translation are often heard from pro-gun activists as a defence of the US constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
- The Battle of Tirad Pass, fought on December 2, 1899, is sometimes called the "Philippine Thermopylae."[4]
- The Battle of Wizna, fought on September 7–10, 1939, is often called the Polish Thermopylae.
- The phrase was written on the flag fashioned by the Texans during the Battle of Gonzales.
- The name "Leonidas" passed into Russian as well as Ukrainian (shortened to "Leonid"), and remains a fairly common male name among the speakers of these languages. Among the prominent persons of that name are Soviet Union premier Leonid Brezhnev and Leonid Kuchma, president of the post-Soviet Ukraine.
- The name "Leonidas" exists also among speakers of English, Spanish, and Portuguese - as well as, of course, modern Greek (see Leonidas (disambiguation)).
- Asteroid 2782 Leonidas is named for the Spartan king.
- The Luftwaffe Leonidas Squadron under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Heiner Lang, flew "Self-sacrifice missions" (Selbstopfereinsatz) against Soviet held bridges over the Oder River from 17 April until 20 April 1945 during the Battle for Berlin.
- Australian groups seeking to get greater recognition for the heroic acts of soldiers in the World War II Battle of Isurava (September 1942, in New Guinea) have dubbed the battle "Australia's Thermopylae" and established a website setting out the grounds for making such a comparison (see ).
- The Battle of Thermopylae has been compared to various battles of the Anglo-Zulu War.[5]
Poetry and song
| Verse(s) | Notes |
|---|---|
Earth! render back from out thy breast A remnant of our Spartan dead! Of the three hundred grant but three, To make a new Thermopylae! |
Lord Byron Don Juan Canto iii, Stanza 86, 7 |
The King with half the East at heel is marched from land of morning; Their fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air, And he that stands will die for nought, and home there's no returning. The Spartans on the sea-wet rock sat down and combed their hair. |
A. E. Housman, The Oracles (last verse) from his book "Last Poems". |
I was neither at the hot gates Nor fought in the warm rain Nor knee deep in the salt marsh, heaving a cutlass, Bitten by flies, fought. |
Observation by the decaying, regretful speaker of T. S. Eliot's "Gerontion". |
O love, O celibate. Nobody but me Walks the waist high wet. The irreplaceable Golds bleed and deepen, the mouths of Thermopylae. |
Sylvia Plath, suicide at 31, faces her own Thermopylae walking in the garden in the poem "Letter in November". |
"Go tell it"—What a Message -- To whom—is specified -- Not murmur—not endearment -- But simply—we—obeyed -- Obeyed—a Lure—a Longing? Oh Nature—none of this -- To Law—said sweet Thermopylae I give my dying Kiss -- |
In Emily Dickinson's "'Go tell it' — what a message". |
When boyhood's fire was in my blood I read of ancient free men In Greece and in Rome where bravely stood 300 men and 3 men |
The first verse of Thomas Osborne Davis' "A Nation Once Again". Now considered a prime example of Irish rebel music and sung by the Wolfe Tones and many other Irish singers. The "3 men" are the Horatii |
| When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today |
The epitaph inscribed on the memorial in the Kohima War Cemetery.[6] It was probably inspired by the epitaph of Simonides and is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds. |
| A Finnish interwar period song Thermopylain laulu, lyrics by Uuno Kailas, composed by Heikki Klemetti. |
| Verse original | Verse translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| “Exercitus noster est magnus,” Persicus inquit, “et propter numerum sagittarum nostrarum caelum non videbitis!” Tum Lacedaemonius respondet: “In umbra, igitur, pugnabimus!” Et Leonidas, rex Lacedaemoniorum, exclamat: “Pugnate cum animis, Lacedaemonii; hodie apud inferos fortasse cenabimus!” |
“Our army is great,” the Persian says, “and because of the number of our arrows you will not see the sky!” Then a Spartan answers: “In the shade, therefore, we will fight!” And Leonidas, king of the Spartans, shouts: “Fight with spirit, Spartans; perhaps we will dine today among the ghosts!” |
Wheelock's Latin Inspired by Cicero's, Tusculanae Disputationes, 1.42.101 |
| Τιμή σ' εκεινους όπου στην ζωή των ώρισαν να φυλάγουν Θερμοπύλες. Πότε από το χρέος μη κινούντες΄ δίκαιοι κ' ίσοι,σ'ολες των τες πράξεις, αλλά με λύπη κιόλας κ' ευσπλαχνία, γενναίοι οσάκις είναι πλούσιοι κι όταν είναι πτωχοί, πάλ' εις μικρόν γενναίοι, πάλι συντρέχοντες, όσο μπορούνε΄ πάντοτε την αλήθεια ομιλούντες, πλην χωρίς μίσος για τους ψευδωμένους. Και περισσότερη τιμή τους πρέπει όταν προβλέπουν (και πολλοί προβλέπουν) πως ο Εφιάλτης θα φανεί στο τέλος, και οι Μήδοι επί τέλους θα διαβούνε. |
Let honor be to those in whose life it was set to guard Thermopylae. Never moving away from duty; Just and equals in all of their acts But with sadness and compassion Brave once they are rich and when They are poor, again brave Coming to aid as much as they can; Always speaking the truth But without hate for those who lie.
|
The Greek poet Kavafis who lived in Alexandria of Egypt at the turn of the 20th century |
| Przechodniu powiedz Polsce żeśmy polegli wierni w jej służbie |
Passerby, tell Poland that we fell faithfully in her service |
Inscription on the Polish war cemetery at Monte Cassino: |
| La patria así se forma Termópilas brotando; constelación de Cíclopes su noche iluminó |
And so the nation forms Thermopylae springing; a Cyclops constellation its night enlightened |
The National Anthem of Colombia, IX Stanza IX: |
| ... едно име ново, голямо антично, като Термопили славно, безгранично, |
... A new name, its roots to antiquity tracing, As great as Thermopylae, all fame embracing, |
The volunteers at Shipka, by Ivan Vazov |
- Dimitris Varos Ω ξείν… (O stranger) is a poetic book written in 1974.
- "Sparta", the title song of Sabaton's 2016 concept album "The Last Stand", gives recognition to this battle.
Literature
| Author | Novel | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Conn Iggulden | "The Gates of Athens" | First book in the "Athenian" series (2020); includes an account of the battle in the context of the Persian invasion of Greece. |
| John Buchan | "The Lemnian" | Short story in Buchan's collection The Moon Endureth (1912) about a Greek islander who finds himself at the battle of Thermopylae. [7] |
| William Stearns Davis | A Victor of Salamis: A Tale of the Days of Xerxes, Leonidas, and Themistocles | Historical novel from 1912 featuring the battle. [7] |
| Heinrich Böll | Wanderer, kommst Du nach Spa... | This short story takes its title from the German translation of the inscription on the Spartans' tomb. In it a young German soldier at the end of the Second World War is wounded on the Eastern Front and is brought to a field hospital, which had been a school. He wonders if it could be his school, which he had only recently left to become a soldier. On seeing in his own writing the truncated quotation of the title on a chalkboard, his question is answered. ("Sparta" was truncated because the narrator had run out of room at the edge of the board.) |
| David Gemmell | Lion of Macedon | Discusses the Battle of Thermopylae several times as part of the studies of the lead character, a Spartan named Parmenion who idolizes Leonidas and owns his sword. |
| The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend | The Battle of Thermopylae is very lightly adapted into Gemmell's Drenai fantasy setting. | |
| Stephen King | The Dark Tower | Includes a comparison with the Battle of Thermopylae when a character fights alone against a series of enemies coming through a single doorway. |
| Valerio Massimo Manfredi | The Spartan | Gives an account of the Battle of Thermopylae. The novel uses the battle to set up one of the protagonists who is apparently sent out on a mission by King Leonidas before the final Persian attack. |
| Steven Pressfield | Gates of Fire | Depicts the battle as told by the Spartan helot Xeones, who had been wounded during the fight, but was revived to tell Xerxes of the Spartans' heroism. |
| Mary Renault | The Lion in the Gateway | Tells the story of the conflict between the Persians and Greeks across the reigns of Darius and Xerxes, including Marathon, Salamis and Thermopylae. |
| John Ringo | Ghost, 2004 | Includes a description of the battle fought at Thermopylae and a quote of the epigram by Simonides'. |
| Eric Nylund | Halo: The Fall of Reach, 2001 | The series' main protagonist, John, is one of 75 children selected for the SPARTAN-II program, a secret project to create an elite corps of supersoldiers. A direct reference to the 300 is made in two situations: First where they are watching a holographic image of the battle in their class, and second when Dr. Halsey thinks of the Spartans as 'more effective than Homer's gods had ever been' incorrectly labelling them as gods. |
| Greg Donegan (pen name of Bob Mayer) | Atlantis: Gate | In the fourth volume (2002) of a Science Fiction series, Leonidas and Thermopylae are part of an interdimensional battle to save all earths from a trans-dimensional race bent on stealing resources from other worlds and destroying them in the process. |
| John Ringo | The Hot Gate (Troy Rising, book three) | The second "troy"-class massive SAPL-converging-point nickel-iron inflated asteroid battlestation is called Thermopylae, and the name of the third book in the series is named after the translation of Thermopylae. |
| Eric Nylund | Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, 2006 | In the book the SPARTAN-III program, orphans of the raging war with the Covenant are conscripted into three companies: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Each company contained around 300 SPARTANs. Both Alpha and Beta companies were slaughtered in a last stand, with the exception of those pulled out before a suicide operation, as well as two other survivors from Beta company. |
Comic
| Author | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Miller | Sin City: The Big Fat Kill | Dwight McCarthy, facing a fight against a large number of enemies, mulls on the Battle of Thermopylae, concluding that "a careful choice of where to fight" saved Greek civilization. |
| Hell and Back (A Sin City Love Story) | During the comic, Wallace hallucinates and sees his friend appear as King Leonidas as portrayed in Miller's 300. | |
| Batman: The Dark Knight Returns | In Frank Miller's tale of an aging Batman, the translation of the name Thermopylae ("Hot Gates") is the name of a porn star who is doing a new film version of Snow White "for the kids". In the sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Hot Gates makes herself "Dictator of Ohio". | |
| 300 | A 1998 graphic novel series (later collected into a single hardcover issue) written and illustrated by Frank Miller with painted colors by Lynn Varley. It is a retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae and the events leading up to it from the perspective of Leonidas of Sparta. 300 was specifically inspired by the 1962 film The 300 Spartans, a movie that Miller watched as a young boy. | |
| Héctor Germán Oesterheld | Mort Cinder | A comic book from Argentina (1964) featuring an immortal character who lived in many historical ages. He tells about having been the Spartan warrior at the battle who said the famous quote "then we will fight in the shade", which was historically attributed to either Leonidas I or Dienekes depending on the source. Mort Cinder focuses the narrative on the humanity of the small and unknown soldiers rather than the main battle. |
| Max Bunker (Luciano Secchi) and Magnus (Roberto Raviola) | Alan Ford | In these Italian comic book series, Number One tells the story about Leonidas being fat, and the Persians were stopped when he got stuck in Thermopylae. |
Films
| Film | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The 300 Spartans | 1962 | Depicts the Battle of Thermopylae. Starring Richard Egan and Sir Ralph Richardson |
| Patton | 1970 | General Patton refers to the Battle of Thermopylae when talking with his generals and aides but does not tell them the result of the battle (defeat and massacre of the heroes) until after the U.S. troops have already been sent off to fight. |
| Go Tell the Spartans | 1978 | Set in Vietnam, the film includes a scene in which US troops come across the grave of French defenders of a Vietnamese village which has the famous epitaph to the Spartans written over its entrance and, by implication, forecasts the same result for a later generation of American soldiers. |
| Rambling Rose | 1991 | Robert Duvall's character refers to Thermopylae as he resists Rose's sexual advances. |
| Don't Tempt Me | 2001 | In a scene at the end, Fanny Ardant's and Gael García Bernal's characters refers to Thermopylae as a legal defense, where Demián Bichir's character chooses to fight for good and die, knowing that he won't win the battle. |
| The Last Samurai | 2003 | The main characters refer to the battle of Thermopylae twice, including right before engaging in a battle they are almost certain to lose. The Battle of Thermopylae parallels the main characters' situation, in which they are outnumbered and realize that victory is unattainable but choose to fight for a purpose beyond the battle itself. |
| 300 | 2006, 2007 | Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel 300, a retelling of the battle from the perspective of Leonidas. The original graphic novel was a mythical retelling of the story, told as if by the point of view of a Spartan reciting a story around a campfire. |
| Last Stand of the 300 | 2007 | Documentary. Broadcast on The History Channel. |
| Meet the Spartans | 2008 | A parody movie of 300 in which the Spartans led by King Leonidas win the first day of battle against the Persians in a hip-hop dance competition. |
| 300: Rise of an Empire | 2014 | Sequel to 300 |
Television
| Show | Episode | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Samurai Jack | "Jack and the Spartans" | A group of warriors, similar in appearance to Spartans, defend a narrow gateway against a vast robot army. Jack shows the Spartans the narrow path to allow them to obtain victory after 6 generations. At the end of the episode the King remarks the 300 and 1 (300 warriors and Jack) when retelling the tale on his death bed. |
| Xena: Warrior Princess | "One Against an Army" | Xena and Gabrielle have to defend the pass of Thermopylae from the invading Persian army. However, in this version of the story, Xena herself is up against 300 Persian soldiers, and not 300 Spartans against thousands of Persians. |
| Robot Chicken | Moesha Poppins | A highly stylized trailer for 1776 (film) that parodies the trailer for 300. Includes the line This! Is! AMERICA![8][9] Another Episode has Leonidas saying THIS IS SPARTA-like quotes in mundane situations, such as watching Two and a Half Men.[10] |
| seaQuest DSV | "Spindrift" | After being shot during a rescue mission of his shipmate Loonie Henderson, SeaQuest's chief of security Jim Brody's last dying words are "With your shield or on it", a reference to a saying attributed to mothers of Spartan men as they went to war. Captain Hudson later explains to Henderson that Brody meant his sacrifice for her, just like the Greeks at Thermopylae, was worth it. |
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | "What You Leave Behind" | Dr. Julian Bashir, who has a penchant for last stands, offers to take Ezri Dax on a date in a holosuite program depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. |
| South Park | "D-Yikes!" | In a parody of the aforementioned film 300, Mrs. Garrison goes to a "girl bar" which is being bought out by Persians. She is indignant about it, especially their tacky blue carpet and gold curtain rods. When the representative comes, she kicks him in the testicles and starts a war. They go tell their boss, Xerxes, who sends many more Persians in a wave. The Lesbians are able to fend them off, and they retreat. Mrs. Garrison then gets Mexicans, disguised as Persians, to infiltrate the Persian club. They find out that Xerxes is a woman and they use that to get him to keep Les Bos a girl bar. Lesbos is an actual island in Greece.[11] |
| Deadliest Warrior | "Spartan vs. Ninja" | During the explanation of the Spartan specs, Team Spartan talks about the Battle of Thermopylae, being a "rear guard action" similar to a "Greek Alamo". |
| Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia | "Mother of Demonic Beasts"
"Majū Bojin" (魔獣母神)" |
Leonidas appears in the Fate media franchise as a Lancer class servant summoned by Gilgamesh, and along with his Spartans, is responsible for defending Uruk from the demonic forces of Gorgon. |
Video games
| Developer | Year | Video Game | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bungie | Marathon (computer game series) and Halo (series) | Bungie games often contain classical references. Among the references to Sparta, Marathon 2 contains a level called "My Own Private Thermopylae". | |
| Collision Studios | 2007 | 300: March to Glory | Based on the film 300. |
| Realtime Games Software | 1988 | Carrier Command | The Action mode starts with the opposing carriers facing off over an island named Thermopylae. |
| Slitherine | 2004 | Gates of Troy | One of the scenarios is the battle of Thermopylae. Players have to resist the Persian army for twenty turns. |
| Red Storm Entertainment | 2005 | Rainbow Six Lockdown | In the cutscene before the last mission, Rainbow sniper Dieter Weber briefly explains the battle before getting himself into position, saying the Spartans were "outnumbered 800 to one, but they went down fighting." |
| Blizzard Entertainment | 2008 | World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King | The Battle of Light's Hope Chapel, as played out in the quest "The Light of Dawn" (one of the last of the death knight starter quests), pits 300 Defenders of the Light against 10,000 undead of the Scourge, including player-character death knights. However, unlike history, the 300 defeat the much larger force due to fighting on holy ground (Light's Hope Chapel). |
| Type-Moon | 2015 | Fate/Grand Order | Leonidas is a playable character in Fate/Grand Order as a Lancer class servant and his Noble Phantasm "Thermopylae Enomotia" is the re-enactment of the 300 Spartans that participated in the Battle of Thermopylae. |
| Firaxis Games | 2016 | Sid Meier's Civilization VI | One of the playable nations in the game, Greece (as led by Queen Gorgo), has a unique ability named Thermopylae, giving culture upon killing enemy units. |
| Ubisoft Quebec | 2018 | Assassin's Creed Odyssey | The Battle of Thermopylae is playable in the opening tutorial level and is featured in a series of flashbacks. The antagonists, The Cult of Kosmos, orchestrated the war in support of Xerxes. The protagonist is the grandchild of Leonidas. |
Commemorative coins
Greece announced two commemorative coins to mark 2,500 years since the historic battle.[12] While this anniversary will take place in 2021, the coins show the dates 2020 and 480 BC and the text "2,500 years since the Battle of Thermopylae."
See also
References
- Histories
- PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly - Summer 1996 Archived June 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- "Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World", Paul Cartledge
- Tucker, Spencer (2009). The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History. Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 643. ISBN 9781851099528.
- J. Murray, 'An African Thermopylae? The Battles of the Anglo-Zulu War, 1879' Akroterion 54 (2009), 51-68.
- It was also engraved near entrance the 5th Marine Division's temporary cemetery on the island of Iwo Jima.
- Baker, Ernest A.. A Guide to historical fiction. New York : Franklin, 1914. (p.316)
- ""Moesha Poppins", Robot Chicken episode #50". Archived from the original on 2007-10-31.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANpnPSlwm1M
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqQ-4DeUj8U
- Lesbos
- Kampouris, Nick (2020-02-03). "Greece Issues Commemorative Coins for 2500th Anniversary of Battle of Thermopylae". Greek Reporter. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
Greece will soon issue two commemorative coins to mark 2500 years since the historic battle of Thermopylae, fought in 480 BC.
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