The last site I visited in Greece was Thermopylae, site of the brutal battle depicted in the movie 300.
Picture this : It's 460 BC and Persia had gotten its butt unexpectedly kicked by the Athenians 30 years before in the Battle of Marathon. The Persian leader, Xerxes I, has spent those 3 decades plotting revenge and amassing a huge army, intent on invading the entire country of Greece. An insufficient number of Greek troups are sent to meet the Persians at the Pass of Thermopylae. Estimates say that there were 7,000 Greek soldiers (including Spartans) and that Xerxes had an army of 1 million (yep, although that number is disputed today -- it was probably closer to 200,000).
The vastly outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians for about a week before the real 3-day battle began, in which the rear-guard of Spartans was killed off in one of the most famous last-stands in world history. During the last two full days, King Leonidas' tiny army blocked off the only road that the massive Persian army could take through the mountains. They mainly fought in front of the Phocian Wall, in an attempt to use as few soldiers as possible, which worked remarkably well --- King Xerxes was said to be completely perplexed and dumbstruck, and was considering a full retreat after 2 days of constant whooping.
Before the 3rd day of battle, a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Spartans by revealing a small mountain pass to the Persians, which allowed them to sneak up behind the Spartans. King Leonidas found out they had been betrayed, sent away most of the Greek armies for safekeeping and stayed behind to fight to the death along with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians. At one point, Xerxes commanded Leonidas to give up his arms, to which he famously responded, ''COME AND GET THEM''. In the ensuing chaos, King Leonidas was shot down by Persian archers, who continued to rain down arrows until every last Greek was dead. Xerxes went on to conquer Athens, but was defeated 20 years later by the very soldiers that were sent away by Leonidas at Thermopylae.
The Spartans, and this battle in particular, were idolized throughout Greece in their day (and to this day.) They are a symbol of courage and bravery against overwhelming odds. It must be said, however, that the Spartans themselves were quite the tough bunch and had always stood out in their own country. For example : A Spartan specialty was black soup made from blood, vinegar and salt ; no other civilization in Greece would drink it. They were trained for military excellence from birth : some did not survive the brutal beatings they were regularly subjected to, and weak infants were thrown to death from Mount Taygetos. Spartans had very long, flowing hair, which would only be cut off if a soldier showed weakness or cowardice. Their women were fully educated and enjoyed considerably more rights than others in the world at that time (or even in this time). Fierce in battle and in everyday life, even Alexander the Great didn't bother trying to conquer the Spartans.
* * * * * * * * *
Some cool things I've learned about Greece :Picture this : It's 460 BC and Persia had gotten its butt unexpectedly kicked by the Athenians 30 years before in the Battle of Marathon. The Persian leader, Xerxes I, has spent those 3 decades plotting revenge and amassing a huge army, intent on invading the entire country of Greece. An insufficient number of Greek troups are sent to meet the Persians at the Pass of Thermopylae. Estimates say that there were 7,000 Greek soldiers (including Spartans) and that Xerxes had an army of 1 million (yep, although that number is disputed today -- it was probably closer to 200,000).
The vastly outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians for about a week before the real 3-day battle began, in which the rear-guard of Spartans was killed off in one of the most famous last-stands in world history. During the last two full days, King Leonidas' tiny army blocked off the only road that the massive Persian army could take through the mountains. They mainly fought in front of the Phocian Wall, in an attempt to use as few soldiers as possible, which worked remarkably well --- King Xerxes was said to be completely perplexed and dumbstruck, and was considering a full retreat after 2 days of constant whooping.
Before the 3rd day of battle, a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Spartans by revealing a small mountain pass to the Persians, which allowed them to sneak up behind the Spartans. King Leonidas found out they had been betrayed, sent away most of the Greek armies for safekeeping and stayed behind to fight to the death along with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians. At one point, Xerxes commanded Leonidas to give up his arms, to which he famously responded, ''COME AND GET THEM''. In the ensuing chaos, King Leonidas was shot down by Persian archers, who continued to rain down arrows until every last Greek was dead. Xerxes went on to conquer Athens, but was defeated 20 years later by the very soldiers that were sent away by Leonidas at Thermopylae.
The Spartans, and this battle in particular, were idolized throughout Greece in their day (and to this day.) They are a symbol of courage and bravery against overwhelming odds. It must be said, however, that the Spartans themselves were quite the tough bunch and had always stood out in their own country. For example : A Spartan specialty was black soup made from blood, vinegar and salt ; no other civilization in Greece would drink it. They were trained for military excellence from birth : some did not survive the brutal beatings they were regularly subjected to, and weak infants were thrown to death from Mount Taygetos. Spartans had very long, flowing hair, which would only be cut off if a soldier showed weakness or cowardice. Their women were fully educated and enjoyed considerably more rights than others in the world at that time (or even in this time). Fierce in battle and in everyday life, even Alexander the Great didn't bother trying to conquer the Spartans.
Monument to King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans
Monument to the 700 Thespians whose role in the Battle of Thermopylae is often forgotten or overshadowed by the Spartans (or Hollywood!) This is the significance of the broken wing.
Impressively, King Leonidas was in his 60s when he died at Thermopylae. Young Spartans-in-training were given a loincloth which needed to last until the following year, and were trained to eat very little and withstand heavy group beatings, fatigue, hunger, cold, pain, heat, infections and serious lack of sleep.
The Battle site, with the small path leading up to the famous pass. The Phocian Wall is the second, tree-covered middle wall.
* * * * * * * * *
- Cheese is fantastic. Baked cheese is even better. Baked Greek cheese is insanely awesome.
- The Greek language is really lovely to listen to. It sounds quite a bit like Italian -- probably because I speak neither Greek or Italian. (Anyone fluent in either language would probably laugh at that statement). It has a gentle lilt to it, as though they're singing (like the Italians). They softly roll their '' r '' like Latin languages, so it's very gentle and 'flowy'. I very much enjoyed listening to conversations around me, despite having no idea what was being discussed.
- Before Athena won the contest to become Athens' patron goddess, the city was called Kekropia.
- Greece has no navigable river because 80% of the country is mountainous terrain. I heard a Greek legend the other day: When God created the world, he sifted all the soil onto the earth through a strainer. After every country had good soil, he tossed the stones left in the strainer over his shoulder and created Greece.
- There are over 2,000 islands in Greece, but only 170 are populated.
- Greece is roughly the size of Alabama. Its population is 10 million, but 5 million alone live in Athens.
- The Greeks called their country 'Hellas'. Approx 16.5 million tourists visit Greece every year (more than its own population) and consequently, Greece has more international airports than most countries in the world.
- The psychos on the road who think they are driving getaway cars. I had an international license that I refused to exploit here... And you'd think you'd be safer in a large bus, but Good Lord, they're the worst ones!
- The sewage pipes in Greece are too narrow and cannot handle toilet paper and so, you must throw away your soiled wads of paper into a garbage bin next to the toilet. This is really not a big deal and quite common in many countries I've traveled to, but I didn't expect it here. You can imagine the interesting smell that greets you when that bin gets opened, especially in public restrooms.
- I will never understand how a country credited with the births of democracy, philosophy, political science, mathematics and astronomy CANNOT grasp the notion that a shower curtain must be long enough to at least reach, or lie comfortably within, the inside rim of the shower basin, in order to avoid flooding of Biblical proportions. Most shower curtains here are at least a foot too short, resulting in inches of water and tons of mold all over the tile floors.
- A humorous note about shower heads : They are almost always hand-held, with nothing to hook them onto. This means you must either wash your hair with one hand while holding the shower head with the other, or --more interestingly-- let the shower head hang loose while you lather, which then causes the shower head to snake wildly in all directions and blast the always-too-short shower curtain clear out of the way. Water flying everywhere, entire bathroom soaked, including the toilet paper, and of course that crazy shower head is hard to catch once it gets going.... I've have riotous conversations with other travelers about this... The agreed protocol is that before one can shower, one should remove all items from the bathroom that must stay dry, such as toilet paper, clothes, towels, Kleenex, etc. If not, you're wiping your bottom with wet toilet paper.
- The graffiti and garbage / litter. EVERYWHERE. Even on sacred monuments. It's awful.
A country so rich in culture and history....
A wonderful lunch at a popular local place. It was packed because it was a lovely Sunday afternoon, so I'm lucky I got in and got such awesome service...
A whole other month has gone by; it's time for me to bid farewell to Greece. This country brought out a lot of different emotions : awe, frustration, gratitude, admiration, frustration, appreciation, wonder.... A whole gamut of stuff! I really hope this beautiful and fascinating country can find a way back onto its financial feet. Even to a layperson like me, signs of a plummeting economy were obvious and every local with whom I discussed it expressed worry, quiet despondency and helplessness about their future. It was not always easy to NOT feel totally guilty about my blessed life, but ALWAYS easy to feel grateful for it.
Adios, Greece! Efharisto!
