Have you thought about the collection of city-states that truly made up the Greek forces in the ancient battle of Thermopylae? The motion picture focused view, and even some sanitized textbooks might indicate a focus on Sparta and the 300, lead by one of their Kings, Leonidas. Ancient accounts gave a bit more credit to the entire force that stood their ground for those three days. Herodotus, the famous historian, provided the following list based on his discussions with people close to the situation.
- Spartans – 300
- Tegeans – 500
- Mantineans – 500
- Orchomenus in Arcadia – 120
- Rest of Arcadia – 1,000
- Corinthians – 400
- Phlius – 200
- Mycenaeans – 80
- Thespians – 700
- Thebans – 400
- Locrians entire army
- Phocians – 1,000
The sea was defended by the Athenians, as is widely know as well since they were the largest maritime city in Greece.
An impressive list of Greek city-states that pulled together against a force that was in excess of a million on the part of the Persians. To know more about the outcome and those forces in this list that stayed on day three with the 300 Spartans and paid the full sacrifice for Greece and Democracy, see my newest book. I am writing it now, so you might a little bit of a wait to get the full details.