Luke Caverns

So you have these 300 Spartans that are accompanied by other Greeks, but we just look at the Spartans. And it's this vastly outnumbered army, but you have these 300 Spartans that go up to Thermopylae Pass and they kind of, they go against the wishes of of the religious leaders of ancient Greece, and they're led by Leonidas.

And he knows how important this is to go meet the Persians up here, and he funnels them into Thermopylae Pass, where the Persian army, I think it was Herodotus that said that the army was so big that it drank the rivers dry. It was a massive army, and they think anywhere from 130,000 to 300,000 Persians are marching along the northern coast of the Aegean to come down and storm Greece.

And he knows how important this is to go meet the Persians up here, and he funnels them into Thermopylae Pass, where the Persian army, I think it was Herodotus that said that the army was so big that it drank the rivers dry. It was a massive army, and they think anywhere from 130,000 to 300,000 Persians are marching along the northern coast of the Aegean to come down and storm Greece.

And he knows how important this is to go meet the Persians up here, and he funnels them into Thermopylae Pass, where the Persian army, I think it was Herodotus that said that the army was so big that it drank the rivers dry. It was a massive army, and they think anywhere from 130,000 to 300,000 Persians are marching along the northern coast of the Aegean to come down and storm Greece.

And so Leonidas and his 300 Spartans accompanied by, I think, 5,000 other Greeks, but not all of those 5,000 Greeks stay. A lot of them flee when they see the size of the Persian army. They position themselves at Thermopylae Pass, and essentially what they're doing is these 300 Spartans to preserve Greek identity, to preserve Greek freedom.

And so Leonidas and his 300 Spartans accompanied by, I think, 5,000 other Greeks, but not all of those 5,000 Greeks stay. A lot of them flee when they see the size of the Persian army. They position themselves at Thermopylae Pass, and essentially what they're doing is these 300 Spartans to preserve Greek identity, to preserve Greek freedom.

And so Leonidas and his 300 Spartans accompanied by, I think, 5,000 other Greeks, but not all of those 5,000 Greeks stay. A lot of them flee when they see the size of the Persian army. They position themselves at Thermopylae Pass, and essentially what they're doing is these 300 Spartans to preserve Greek identity, to preserve Greek freedom.

Now, this doesn't mean that Spartans weren't ruled by a king, that Sparta itself wasn't ruled by a king, but the idea of Greek society, and they don't realize it yet, but what Western society... is either going to be crushed or 300 Spartans are gonna stand there and give the rest of Greece time to prepare for the Persian invasion and give Athens time to prepare.

Now, this doesn't mean that Spartans weren't ruled by a king, that Sparta itself wasn't ruled by a king, but the idea of Greek society, and they don't realize it yet, but what Western society... is either going to be crushed or 300 Spartans are gonna stand there and give the rest of Greece time to prepare for the Persian invasion and give Athens time to prepare.

Now, this doesn't mean that Spartans weren't ruled by a king, that Sparta itself wasn't ruled by a king, but the idea of Greek society, and they don't realize it yet, but what Western society... is either going to be crushed or 300 Spartans are gonna stand there and give the rest of Greece time to prepare for the Persian invasion and give Athens time to prepare.

And Greece and Athens are bitter rivals and becoming more and more rivals. And they'll have an entire war against themselves later on. But those 300 Spartans give this selfless, brave sacrifice. Not one of those men thought that they were gonna make it out of there alive. And they drew the line in the sand on that day in the early fifth century BC between West and East.

And Greece and Athens are bitter rivals and becoming more and more rivals. And they'll have an entire war against themselves later on. But those 300 Spartans give this selfless, brave sacrifice. Not one of those men thought that they were gonna make it out of there alive. And they drew the line in the sand on that day in the early fifth century BC between West and East.

And Greece and Athens are bitter rivals and becoming more and more rivals. And they'll have an entire war against themselves later on. But those 300 Spartans give this selfless, brave sacrifice. Not one of those men thought that they were gonna make it out of there alive. And they drew the line in the sand on that day in the early fifth century BC between West and East.

And that's where Western society was born on that day. They drew the line in the sand and they said, we are Greeks, we are free. And those 300 Spartans, that battle of Thermopylae at the end of the day, every Spartan had died and roughly about 20,000 Persians had been killed out of the maybe 100,000 to 300,000 person army. which was insane losses.

And that's where Western society was born on that day. They drew the line in the sand and they said, we are Greeks, we are free. And those 300 Spartans, that battle of Thermopylae at the end of the day, every Spartan had died and roughly about 20,000 Persians had been killed out of the maybe 100,000 to 300,000 person army. which was insane losses.

And that's where Western society was born on that day. They drew the line in the sand and they said, we are Greeks, we are free. And those 300 Spartans, that battle of Thermopylae at the end of the day, every Spartan had died and roughly about 20,000 Persians had been killed out of the maybe 100,000 to 300,000 person army. which was insane losses.

Like it completely demoralized the Persians as far as we know from Greek sources. but it invigorated all of Greece. And they realized that they're more disciplined, unified, trained armies that actually had formations could actually inflict damage upon this massive slave army that the Persians had. And that the idea of Greek freedom was worth fighting for.

Like it completely demoralized the Persians as far as we know from Greek sources. but it invigorated all of Greece. And they realized that they're more disciplined, unified, trained armies that actually had formations could actually inflict damage upon this massive slave army that the Persians had. And that the idea of Greek freedom was worth fighting for.

Like it completely demoralized the Persians as far as we know from Greek sources. but it invigorated all of Greece. And they realized that they're more disciplined, unified, trained armies that actually had formations could actually inflict damage upon this massive slave army that the Persians had. And that the idea of Greek freedom was worth fighting for.

And I think it was the first time that the Greeks realized that their identity as a people could be completely eviscerated. And so they, all of a sudden they become invigorated in who they are and they become very patriotic. And then, so the Persian Wars continue, the Greeks win the Persian Wars at slim odds. And then all of a sudden, classical society, because of that, explodes.