Leonidas of Sparta Original

Leonidas of Sparta Original Leonidas of Sparta Original
⚔️ Spartans • Gods • Myths • Epic Legends,Warriors rise, gods descend, myths breathe again
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18/12/2025

Image by MayMind's page

The Anabasis — the march of the Ten ThousandThe Anabasis (“The March Up”) tells the true story of roughly 10,000 Greek m...
18/12/2025

The Anabasis — the march of the Ten Thousand

The Anabasis (“The March Up”) tells the true story of roughly 10,000 Greek mercenaries who found themselves stranded deep inside the Persian Empire in 401 BCE—and fought their way home without a state, a king, or an army behind them.

It is one of the clearest windows we have into Greek warfare, leadership, and psychology under extreme pressure.

-Why they were there

The Greeks were hired by Cyrus the Younger, a Persian prince, who secretly aimed to overthrow his brother Artaxerxes II, the Great King of Persia.

Cyrus concealed his real objective; many Greeks believed they were suppressing rebels, not marching on the heart of the empire.

The decisive clash came at Cunaxa, near Babylon.

-Cunaxa: victory without purpose

Militarily, the Greeks won their sector of the battlefield.
Politically, they lost everything.

Cyrus was killed during the fighting. With his death:

The Greeks were suddenly enemy troops inside Persia

Their pay vanished

Their reason for being there collapsed

They were now 10,000 men surrounded by hostile territory, thousands of miles from home.

-Betrayal and crisis

Persian commanders invited the Greek generals to negotiations—then seized and executed them.

At that moment, the army could have dissolved.

Instead, something very Greek happened.

-Xenophon and leadership from below

A young Athenian named Xenophon, not originally a commander, stepped forward. Leadership became collective, debated in assemblies, decided by vote.

This was not a king’s army anymore—it was a citizen army in exile.

They chose a single goal:
Get home.

-The march north

The return journey was brutal:

Constant skirmishes with Persian forces

Mountain warfare against hostile tribes

Snow, hunger, exhaustion

No cavalry, no supply lines

Yet discipline held. Formations held. Morale—remarkably—held.

When they finally reached the Black Sea coast at Trapezus, the soldiers cried out:

“Θάλαττα! Θάλαττα!” — “The sea! The sea!”

They had reached the Greek world again.

Why the Anabasis matters

1. It proved Persia was vulnerable
Later studied by Philip II and Alexander the Great.

2. It showed Greek strength without a polis
Order without a state. Discipline without coercion.

3. It preserved the Greek soldier’s mindset
Endurance, cohesion, rational command under stress.

4. It gave us one of history’s most honest war accounts
Xenophon writes not as a myth-maker, but as a participant.

A beautiful Corinthian style helmet and fragment of a "dori" spearhead, at the Archaeological Museum of Corinth,Greece
18/12/2025

A beautiful Corinthian style helmet and fragment of a "dori" spearhead, at the Archaeological Museum of Corinth,Greece

How many of you will watch Christopher Nolan's Odyssey?People have expressed mixed feelings about the cast and costumes....
17/12/2025

How many of you will watch Christopher Nolan's Odyssey?
People have expressed mixed feelings about the cast and costumes....

Zeus as guarantor of battle orderZeus was not primarily a “battlefield brawler” like Ares. His role was sovereign oversi...
17/12/2025

Zeus as guarantor of battle order

Zeus was not primarily a “battlefield brawler” like Ares. His role was sovereign oversight:

Zeus determined fate (moira)

Zeus upheld order, justice, and oaths

Victory or defeat ultimately lay within his allowance

This made him the god most responsible for the outcome, even if others enacted the violence.

*Homeric evidence (8th century BC)

In the Iliad, Zeus’ presence in war is constant and explicit:

Zeus weighs the fates of armies on golden scales (Iliad 8.69–74)

Thunder, lightning, and sudden storms are treated as direct signs of his will

Warriors pause or advance depending on perceived signs from Zeus

Crucially, even the gods fear acting against Zeus’ decision. Victory is legitimate only if Zeus permits it.

This shows that Greeks did not imagine battle as chaotic chance — it unfolded under divine supervision.

*Historical accounts (5th century BC)

Herodotus

Before major battles, Greek armies routinely:

Consulted oracles

Performed sacrifices to Zeus

Interpreted weather, thunder, or lightning as approval or warning

At Plataea (479 BC), sacrifices were repeatedly delayed until favourable signs appeared — interpreted as Zeus withholding permission to fight.

This hesitation cost lives but was accepted as necessary.

*Zeus and victory cults

After victories, Greeks did not thank Ares first.

They dedicated spoils to:

Zeus Tropaios (Zeus of the turning point)

Zeus Eleutherios (Zeus of freedom)

Temples and altars to Zeus were raised after wars, signalling that victory was granted, not taken.
- Leonidas of Sparta Original

"The most powerful weapon on earth is a human soul on fire" 🔥⚔
17/12/2025

"The most powerful weapon on earth is a human soul on fire" 🔥⚔

The shield of Perseus did not show a monster. It showed the truth.- Leonidas of Sparta Original
17/12/2025

The shield of Perseus did not show a monster. It showed the truth.
- Leonidas of Sparta Original

"Knowledge is power- break away from the chains of ignorance"- Leonidas of Sparta Original
17/12/2025

"Knowledge is power- break away from the chains of ignorance"
- Leonidas of Sparta Original

THE GREEK RULE OF INDIA From the Greeks of India came severalrulers about whom we get to know fromHindu and Buddhist sou...
17/12/2025

THE GREEK RULE OF INDIA

From the Greeks of India came several
rulers about whom we get to know from
Hindu and Buddhist sources rather than
from Greek sources, which would possibly
be dismissed as biased or fictitious
accounts.
In the Hindu Religious text, Vayu Purana, it
is quoted as saying that there were eight
Greek kings who ruled India.

These kings included: Demetrius,
Eucradites, Appolodotus, Strato I, Strato Il,
Zoilus, Menander, and Dionysius. However,
Vayu Purana's list of Greek kings in India is
only one account amongst numerous
others referencing kings of Greek origin
within what is today the country of India.

The Indo-Greek Kingdom (or sometimes Graeco-Indian Kingdom covered various parts of the northwest and northern Indian subcontinent from 180 B.C.E. to around 10 C.E., ruled by a succession of more than 30 Hellenic and Hellenistic kings, The kingdom began when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded India in 180 B.C.E., ultimately creating an entity which seceded from the powerful Greco-Bactrian Kingdom centered in Bactria (today's northern Afghanistan).
Since the term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of various dynastic polities, it had numerous cities, such as Taxil in the easternmost part of the Pakistani Punjab, or Pushkalavati and Sagala. Those cities would house a number of dynasties in their times, and based on Ptolemy's Geographia and the nomenclature of later kings, a certain Theophila in the south also probably held a satrapal or royal seat at some point.

During the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and Indian languages and symbols, as seen on their coins, and blended ancient Greek, Hindu, and Buddhist religious practices, as seen in the archaeological remains of their cities and in the indications of their support of Buddhism. The Indo-Greek kings seem to have achieved a very high level of cultural syncretism, the consequences of which are still felt today, particularly through the diffusion and influence of Greco-Buddhist art.

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