Thermopylae: The Real Story of the 300 Spartans (480 BC)

In the summer of 480 BC, a Persian scout rode up to a narrow pass in Greece and found a few hundred men in front of an old wall, exercising and combing their hair. Behind him was one of the largest armies the world had ever seen. In front of him were a few thousand Greeks, and three hundred Spartans. ▶ The 60-second version:    • "Then We'll Fight in the Shade"   ▶ Watch next: They Dragged Warships Over a Hill to Take Constantinople (1453)    • They Dragged Warships Over a Hill to Take ...   ▶ Playlist:    • Great Battles of History   This animated documentary tells the full story: the Persian Empire and the King of Kings, Marathon, Xerxes whipping the sea, earth and water, King Leonidas and the three hundred, the hot gates and the old Phocian wall, Dienekes and the arrows that would blot out the sun, the mountain path and Ephialtes, the Greeks who stayed (the Thespians too), the last morning, the little hill, "Go tell the Spartans", the burning of Athens, Salamis and Plataea, and what the film 300 gets right and wrong. Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:37 1. The King of Kings 1:32 2. Whipping the Sea 2:37 3. Earth and Water 3:26 4. The Three Hundred 4:25 5. The Hot Gates 5:22 6. Combing Their Hair 5:59 7. In the Shade 7:09 8. The Path 7:59 9. Those Who Stayed 8:58 10. The Last Morning 9:42 11. The Little Hill 10:30 12. Go Tell the Spartans 11:21 13. Athens Burns 12:08 14. Myth and Movie 12:51 Outro A note on the history: almost everything we know comes from Herodotus, writing a generation later. Army sizes, the oracle, why the allies left, whether the Thebans were hostages, and the author of the famous epitaph are debated, and the video says so. Famous lines like Dienekes's "we'll fight in the shade" are labelled as Herodotus tells them. The coastline at Thermopylae has moved several kilometres since 480 BC; the maps show the approximate ancient shore. Sources include Herodotus (Histories, book 7), Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch, and modern historians including Paul Cartledge, Tom Holland, Peter Green, Nic Fields and J. F. Lazenby, plus geological studies of the ancient coastline and Spyridon Marinatos's excavation of the hill. Map outlines from Natural Earth. Which battle should we cover next? Tell us in the comments. Subscribe to Drawn Through Time for animated history: @DrawnThroughTimes #Thermopylae #300Spartans #AncientHistory