Sparta or Persia? why did you choose what you chose?

Question: Sparta or Persia!? why did you choose what you chose!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

~If you know anything of Xerxes, Cyrus and Darius, the answer is self-evident!. [Given your comment about Blankenyp's answer, evidently you don't know much of Persian history!.] Sparta was mediocre as a military power, at best, and not worth much at all at anything else!.

The myth of Thermopylae and the movie are fine fun, adventure and fiction, but not historically relevant!. The truth is far less glamorous!. Actually, Leonidas did lead about 300 Spartans!. There were also one or two thousand Thespian, Thebans and Peloponnesians defending the pass against as many as a quarter-million or so under Xerxes arrayed against them!. The numbers will never be know with certainty but logistically, the Persians could not have sustained more than that based on the forage and water available!. The Greeks had no detailed records of their forces!. The numbers are not significant!. The terrain determined the outcome!. The pass was so narrow, only the few troops at the head of the column could take part in the fight!. If only 10 men are fighting, it matters not that 200,000 are in reserve!. If the men in the rear were jostling to join the fight, they only pushed those in the front ranks onto the points of Greed swords and spears!. The Greeks simply kept circulating fresh troops to the front and they held the advantage of position!. Remembering the weapons of the day, in such terrain, it is not at all difficult for a tiny force to hold off a huge one, since they actual battle can be fought by only a handful, literally, from each side!. Mounted troops and chariots could not be employed and would have been detrimental to the attack had they been tried!. When Xerxes learned of an alternate route from a Greek turncoat, he bypassed the position and annihilated the defenders!.

Far more significant was the battle at Artemisium, where the Greek fleet under the Athenian, Themistocles, with some help from the weather, fought the vastly superior Persian navy to a standstill!. A month later, the Athenians beat the Persians at Salamis!. Although the Spartan Eurybiades was technically in charge because jealousy prevented many of the Greek city-states from following an Athenian into battle, he deferred to Theistocles, who was the de facto general in chief!. Another major victory came at Marathon, which effectively started the Greek-Persian wars!. At Marathon, Athens, Eretria and Plataea, led by the Athenian Miltiades (and a few others, also of Athens) routed a far superior Persian force on open ground, killing as many as 25% of them while suffering fewer than 200 casualties themselves!. Sparta did not take part!. The Spartans would not interrupt a religious festival to help oust invaders from their borders!.

Mardonius stayed behind in Greece to run things for Persia!. Athens wanted to fight, Sparta did not!. When Athens intimated she was going to make peace, Sparta realized that without the Athenian navy, Sparta was doomed!. Finally, the two leading city-states got together and the result was the Battle of Plataea!. However, it wasn't until that Macedonian, Alexander the Great, came along that the Persians would finally be driven from Greek lands!.

Persian culture, Persian law, Persian justice, Persian science, Persian technology and Persian political leadership during the Golden years under Xerxes, Cyrus and Darius exceeded anything in Greece (using the term advisedly and fully realizing that in classical times, there was no such place as "Greece" but rather, a conglomeration of city-states who were at war with one another as often as not) at the time and comparatively speaking was superior to anything that Greece would later become!. The Persian Empire at its peak was the largest and most advanced the world had seen and the collective Persian Empires are among the longest-lived continuous political creations devised by mankind!.

Sparta was essentially an armed camp and her citizens existed solely for the good of the state!. People did what the state told them to do and personal rights and liberties were non-existent!. Children were examined at birth and if they were determined to be weak or sickly, they were abandoned and left to die!. The practice was organized and operated by the state and woe be to the parent that tried to interfere!. At age seven, boys were sent to military school where they remained for 13 years to undergo their training and indoctrination!. The bodies were built up and their minds were dried up!. Then they entered the ranks and lived out their lives as soldiers!. At age thirty, they were finally considered 'equals' and allowed to live in their own homes with their own families, but they served in the army until age 60!. Discipline, self-denial, and simplicity were the catchwords of Spartan life!. There wasn't much non-conformity!. Individualists were not tolerated and were either exiled or executed!. If variety is the spice of life, Sparta didn't even have salt!.

Life in Sparta must have been something akin to the way Georgie the Younger depicts life under Saddam!. The Athenians thought the Spartans were insane!. So did the Persians!. I think the elevator stopped somewhere short of the penthouse, but, hey, it was their choice, they didn't know anything different and who am I to judge!? But I'll pass on Sparta all the same, thank you!.

Now I think I'll go grab a Kabob Koubideh!. You can have your taco!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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haha, nah!.
But I would choose Sparta, I believe their strength through uniformity of their army was something to be marveled at!. It relied on the men to give 100% or their lines would fall!.!.!.I believe this is where the term 'Brothers in Arms' came from!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Sparta, because let's face it, no matter how it was done, the 300 at the Battle of Thermopylae is incredible, whether you look at it from an intellectual stand point, strategic, whatever!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Strongest, most influential and succesful empire in the world, and largest, Persia!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Burrito you obviously don't know your history!. Persia was none of those things!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

probably persia, looks nicerWww@QuestionHome@Com

Why do people ask such gay questionsWww@QuestionHome@Com