On Invading Greece
I recently came across two bits of Greek history which resonate quite well with each other:
In the fourth century B.C., Philip II of Macedon was running around conquering, marrying, and otherwise insinuating himself as the ruler of most of Greece. During this time, he allegedly sent a message to Sparta. An aside on Sparta: their society was financed on the backs of the helots, who were basically slave-sharecropper type people; they more or less produced all the food and everything for themselves and the upper class Spartiates; these are the guys who were running around in their underwear in that awful movie. The reason the Spartiates were such good soldiers is that they could really devote all their time to learning to fight because the helots were supporting them. By the fourth century, though, Sparta was a shadow of what it once had been, with a small and shrinking Spartiate population who were barely able to keep the helots under control. The Spartiates at this point would have stood NO chance against Philip and all his allies. This is the Phillip II whose son Alexander conquered a lot of Asia with the army he inherited. But, the likelihood of losing had never bothered the Spartans. Philip warned them as follows not to oppose him:
"You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city. If I enter Laconia I will level Sparta to the ground."
The story goes that the Spartans sent a shorter letter back:
"If."
Greece proceeded to go through a lot of upheavals, takeovers, etc. for the next few thousand years. I was looking at Greek history during WWII, though, and stumbled on this gem. October 28th is still celebrated here as οχι day, or 'No' day. This is because, at the outset of the Second World War, someone again came and warned the Greeks not to oppose an incoming regime from the North. Mussolini instructed the Greek Dictator, Ioannis Metaxas, that he would have to surrender his military and allow Nazi forces to come in through Albania and occupy 'strategic positions' in Greece wherever necessary. Maybe Metaxas remembered the Spartans, because his reply was in the same vein:
"No."
And thus Greece declares for the Allies. Cool, huh? I like the attitude these people have: Yes, we're going to lose. No, we don't have a chance to win. We are going to fight you anyway, because, frankly, we don't like you and you ought to leave us alone. Have a nice day.
Finally, an aside on 300. Again. An opening scene of this movie shows Leonidas killing Persian messengers who have come to demand Spartan submission. This is NOT the way things worked in Greece; killing a messenger was absolutely against the supremely strict rules of hospitality inherent in Greek culture, and incurred serious repercussions including the anger of your peers and the gods directed at you and your family, sometimes for generations.
This scene is not inaccurate. According to Herodotus, the messengers from Persia were in fact killed by the enraged Spartans. However, in the movie, it's nowhere near the big deal it was to the Greeks. Herodotus goes on to detail how, to alleviate the horrible shame brought on the city, two spartiates traveled to Xerxes and offered their own lives as payment for the two they had unjustly taken.
What an attitude.
In the fourth century B.C., Philip II of Macedon was running around conquering, marrying, and otherwise insinuating himself as the ruler of most of Greece. During this time, he allegedly sent a message to Sparta. An aside on Sparta: their society was financed on the backs of the helots, who were basically slave-sharecropper type people; they more or less produced all the food and everything for themselves and the upper class Spartiates; these are the guys who were running around in their underwear in that awful movie. The reason the Spartiates were such good soldiers is that they could really devote all their time to learning to fight because the helots were supporting them. By the fourth century, though, Sparta was a shadow of what it once had been, with a small and shrinking Spartiate population who were barely able to keep the helots under control. The Spartiates at this point would have stood NO chance against Philip and all his allies. This is the Phillip II whose son Alexander conquered a lot of Asia with the army he inherited. But, the likelihood of losing had never bothered the Spartans. Philip warned them as follows not to oppose him:
"You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city. If I enter Laconia I will level Sparta to the ground."
The story goes that the Spartans sent a shorter letter back:
"If."
Greece proceeded to go through a lot of upheavals, takeovers, etc. for the next few thousand years. I was looking at Greek history during WWII, though, and stumbled on this gem. October 28th is still celebrated here as οχι day, or 'No' day. This is because, at the outset of the Second World War, someone again came and warned the Greeks not to oppose an incoming regime from the North. Mussolini instructed the Greek Dictator, Ioannis Metaxas, that he would have to surrender his military and allow Nazi forces to come in through Albania and occupy 'strategic positions' in Greece wherever necessary. Maybe Metaxas remembered the Spartans, because his reply was in the same vein:
"No."
And thus Greece declares for the Allies. Cool, huh? I like the attitude these people have: Yes, we're going to lose. No, we don't have a chance to win. We are going to fight you anyway, because, frankly, we don't like you and you ought to leave us alone. Have a nice day.
Finally, an aside on 300. Again. An opening scene of this movie shows Leonidas killing Persian messengers who have come to demand Spartan submission. This is NOT the way things worked in Greece; killing a messenger was absolutely against the supremely strict rules of hospitality inherent in Greek culture, and incurred serious repercussions including the anger of your peers and the gods directed at you and your family, sometimes for generations.
This scene is not inaccurate. According to Herodotus, the messengers from Persia were in fact killed by the enraged Spartans. However, in the movie, it's nowhere near the big deal it was to the Greeks. Herodotus goes on to detail how, to alleviate the horrible shame brought on the city, two spartiates traveled to Xerxes and offered their own lives as payment for the two they had unjustly taken.
What an attitude.