What is Like to be a Spartan? To Change History

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By the end of the 6th century, Sparta has become the most powerful state in the Peloponnese, and is political and military dominant. Sparta has acquired a wealth of allies, the Peloponnesian League. As this is going on, consequently there is another power and a problem rising, the looming darkness of the Persian Empire. In 545 BC, Persians conquered Ionia and in 490 BC Persian emperor Darius launched an attack with 60,000 troops, their destination being Marathon, north of Athens. At Marathon Greeks defeated the Persians by sheer luck, slaughtering as much as possible before the Persians retreated. Now the year is 481 and Darius’ son Xerxes comes for Greece. Sparta has been bred in strong military, and supported by a system consisted of oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy, reared a trained civilized army powerful to defeat any number of men. Sparta has a strong background on the art of warfare and has strong stance against tyranny, notably Anti-Tyranny Doctrine. Yet despite the undoubted effectiveness of its professional army, Sparta did not always resort to war to solve its problems with neighboring city-states. In fact, the Spartans demonstrated an acute appreciation of their limits and vulnerability, which in turn gave rise to a predominantly cautious foreign policy that, relied heavily on effective diplomacy. I, Eurysthenes, am a part of this Spartan council, wise to make decisions and have been a Spartan hoplite before take-parting in this council and I speak not for myself but for my father Mindarus the Spartan General and my son Pausanius, a captain, with diligence indeed will I propose the actions of Sparta. There may be differences between us Spartans, and the boy-lovers and philosophers of Athens, but we are all children of Zeus and Hercules. Our strength and unity in the times of trouble, will be the reason for the salvation of many lost in the blindness of chaos and panic. It is through our weakness that we are strong, Athens naval power and wisdom with the determined strength and ferocity of the Spartans will be the sword to drive the Persians back. For if we retreat and lay silent now, or join the side of the Persians, history may forever be written against our favor and those of our allies in the Peloponnesian League and our brethren diasporas throughout the Hellas. If the boy-lovers of Athens denied the soil and water offering, then how much more should we Spartans deny the treacherous Persians? If we let Athens fall now, then how much more time till they come to Corinth, Elis, and what of Tegea of whom we swore a defense pact and then to Sparta! I am no traitor to Sparta, but rest assured if we wait until Persia directly threatens us, we will be overrun and lost. If we join forces and meet at the north of the Isthmus of Corinth, it will demonstrate Sparta’s commitment to defending all of Greece and not just the Peloponnese. For we fight not for our own sake but to secure our culture and tradition, which are of our fellow Greeks. After this great war, a sense of identification and belonging will come to all Greeks, and Sparta and its allies will be able to defend Greece by land, while Athens and it’s allies by sea. For in post-war Hellas, there will be no one-victor, but a monumental victory that doesn’t favor a one city-state over another, the first of its kind, to commemorate the endurance survival of the Greeks. Then all Greece will see the clear image, out of the fog of history, of how we were outmanned, outnumbered, outmatched, seeing that we will see the importance of that unity, and how on that day our people were pushed to the crumbling edge of destruction, and as we teetered on that precipice, staring down into the abyss, a hand reached down and pulled us back from the brink, and gave us hope, the hand of Sparta.