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00:01The Spartans, the greatest warriors of ancient Greece.
00:07The Spartans became a byword for heroism and courage.
00:12These fearless fighters carved their names into legend at Thermopylae,
00:17in an epic battle that changes the course of history.
00:22What the Spartans achieved at Thermopylae was immortal glory.
00:26Ancient sources claim 300 Spartans hold off an army of more than one million men.
00:33But how much of this blood-soaked tale is true?
00:37For thousands of years, people have wanted to know the truth, what actually happened here.
00:42Today, investigators use satellite technology and weapons tests
00:46to reveal the secrets of this monumental clash.
00:53To unlock the truth behind these ancient warriors,
00:58we'll rebuild the battlefield of their greatest conflict,
01:02reconstruct their lost city in the mountains,
01:06and reveal the hidden evidence of their courageous last stand.
01:20Thermopylae, Central Greece.
01:23Today, the Caledromo Mountains loom over a peaceful landscape.
01:28But 2,500 years ago, these slopes ring with the sound of war.
01:33The Battle of Thermopylae has become one of the most famous battles in history.
01:39At this ancient battlefield, two great armies collide
01:44in a clash of extraordinary proportions.
01:51Legend has it that in 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes invades Greece
01:58with an army of more than one million men.
02:02To reach the Greek capital, they have to squeeze through the narrow coastal pass at Thermopylae.
02:09But one thing stands in their way.
02:13300 elite Spartan warriors armed to the teeth.
02:20The 300 Spartans hold off the Persian forces for three days,
02:25killing tens of thousands.
02:28Is there any truth to this incredible war story?
02:34Historian Ian McGregor Morris is on a quest
02:37to discover what really happens at Thermopylae.
02:41He wants to know where reality lies within the legend.
02:45But the stories come from ancient texts written after the fighting ends.
02:51The writers were not at the battle,
02:53so we always have to be very careful reading them.
02:56Ian first wants to examine why the Spartans take on what seems like a suicide mission.
03:03His investigation starts here, at the ancient sanctuary of Delphi.
03:09This is where the Spartan road to war begins.
03:12Delphi was a crucial place in the lead up to the war.
03:15It was a site of gossip.
03:16People spreading ideas, rumors of the coming threats.
03:24In 480 BC, Sparta is just one small city-state in the divided Greece.
03:35Persia is a superpower that's conquered two-thirds of the known world.
03:40Now it's hell-bent on crushing Greece.
03:45Legend says that the Spartan king and commander Leonidas sends emissaries to Delphi to seek advice on the gathering storm.
03:55They gain an audience with Delphi's magical priestess.
04:00Known as the Oracle, she can supposedly tell the future.
04:05Before any major undertaking, Spartans would ask the approval of the Oracle.
04:122,500 years ago, Delphi is home to a grand temple dedicated to Apollo, the god of truth and prophecy.
04:24Legend has it that deep in the bowels of the temple is a forbidden room, the inner sanctum of the
04:32Oracle.
04:34Here, the essence of Apollo leaks through the floor, sending the priestess into a deep trance.
04:44She predicts that if the Spartans fight Persia, either their city will be destroyed or their king will die.
04:56Can this prophecy of doom convince the Spartans to go to war?
05:02To find out, Ian first wants to discover if there's any truth behind the story of the priestess.
05:09Incredibly, the fumes that fuel the Oracle's visions could have a real-world explanation.
05:17Ian searches for evidence on the mountainside where Delphi is built.
05:23This jagged spike of rock is a clue.
05:26What we see here is evidence of a fault line running under the landscape through this part of Greece.
05:33It is evidence of great geological activity.
05:38Earthquakes have shaken these mountains for thousands of years.
05:42They push rocks like this out of the ground.
05:47Ian thinks the same seismic activity could be responsible for the Oracle's visions.
05:53Ruptures caused by this violent movement could have released trapped gases.
05:59And these vapors emerging from the earth could have inspired the legends and the stories of the intoxication of the
06:05priestess.
06:07These hallucinogenic vapors send the Oracle into an otherworldly trance.
06:14For the ancient Greeks, it's a terrifying and convincing spectacle.
06:19We have this evidence that it had a very real impact on people's lives.
06:23Again and again in our sources, the Spartans regularly sent officials here to ask key questions of the priestess.
06:31Ian thinks there's a grain of truth to the story of the Oracle.
06:35The prophecies of the priestess were taken very, very seriously indeed.
06:39The Oracle the Spartans received did not give them much choice.
06:43It made the actions of Leonidas absolutely necessary.
06:48The Spartan king believes in the Oracle's premonition of his death.
06:54For him, it's a sign of his destiny that he must sacrifice himself in battle to save Sparta from Persian
07:03tyranny.
07:05Driven by the prophecy, Leonidas readies his troops for war.
07:13Convinced they're marching to their deaths, he selects only experienced warriors
07:19who leave behind sons to keep their lineage alive.
07:26It's clear they can't face the coming threat alone.
07:32But in the lead up to battle, many Greek states would rather submit to Persia than take on Xerxes' huge
07:39army.
07:41With the invasion of Xerxes, only certain Greek states saw a mutual interest in fighting side by side.
07:48But Ian believes Leonidas taking a stand against the invaders.
07:55Inspires rival states to join Sparta at war.
08:00He made a very deliberate choice to symbolically resist Persia.
08:05This in itself is an incredibly heroic stance to encourage the rest of the allies to come together.
08:14In the summer of 480 BC, Leonidas mobilizes 300 of his finest warriors.
08:27On the road to war, other forces join them from all over Greece.
08:36As Leonidas marches over 200 miles to Thermopylae, he picks up troops from over 30 Greek states.
08:45The 300 Spartans fighting alone is a modern myth.
08:51On the eve of battle, the Greeks are 7,000 strong.
08:57The Spartans will form the front line against the gigantic Persian army,
09:02which is said to be the largest in the world.
09:07Legend has it they hold off the relentless enemy attack for three days.
09:12But are the stories accurate?
09:16Now investigators can finally reveal the secrets of how Leonidas and his warriors fight back against Annihilation.
09:40Thermopylae, Greece. 480 BC.
09:45King Leonidas marches here with 300 elite Spartan warriors,
09:51joined by 7,000 Greek troops.
09:56Ancient sources estimate the opposing Persian army to consist of one million men.
10:05It's said the Spartans fight them off for three days.
10:10It's an incredible feat, but is it true?
10:15Ancient writers say the Spartans make their stand at a narrow pass, flanked by mountains and the sea.
10:23They claim it's key to the Spartan battle plan.
10:28Ian McGregor Morris, an expert on Sparta, has come to the battle site to see if legend matches up with
10:34reality.
10:36Below me is a battlefield of Thermopylae.
10:39But what we see here is utterly different from what is described in our sources.
10:44The sea is miles away. The cliffs are not particularly steep here.
10:50It seems like the sources are flawed.
10:53But in the 2500 years since the battle, the scenery here has changed dramatically.
11:03Blowing away the modern landscape reveals a mix of salt, sediment and marine fossils.
11:11A clue that this isn't always dry land.
11:15It leads to a shelf of brilliant white travertine rock laid down by mineral rich hot springs.
11:23At the time of the battle, this is 60 feet lower and right on the water line, creating a narrow
11:32strip of land between the sea and the mountains.
11:36This hidden landscape fits the description of the battlefield.
11:41Is this really where the Spartans face off against the Persians?
11:46Where I'm standing would have been the coastline in 480 BC. Opposite me, sheer cliffs.
11:53Ian thinks the landscape is a key factor in the Spartan battle plan.
11:59But hot springs have helped bury the original battlefield in a strange sulfurous landscape.
12:05Making it tough for Ian to be sure he's at the spot where the fighting takes place.
12:11He climbs to higher ground, searching for the evidence he needs.
12:16And finds what could be the remains of an ancient wall.
12:20The legend says the Spartans use it to defend their camp.
12:25These large blocks, we can see their size and how they've been shaped, are typical of the years of Greek
12:30history before the invasion of Xerxes.
12:32And where we are here, just above the part of Thermopylae, it's highly probable that this is the wall that
12:38our ancient sources mention.
12:41For Ian, the wall is further proof that the sources are accurate.
12:46At the bottom of this slope is where the Spartans clash with the Persians.
12:50The location of the wall implies that many of the details we read in those ancient sources all tie in
12:57with what we actually find here.
12:59Now that he's found the right location, Ian thinks the Spartan decision to fight here is an ingenious tactic.
13:10When he reached Thermopylae, Leonidas knew with comparatively few men, the best way to stop the Persians was to block
13:17the road at the narrowest point that couldn't be outflanked.
13:22Ian uses geological data to reconstruct the coastline in 480 BC.
13:30He marks out the dimensions of the ancient past to calculate how many men it would take to defend.
13:38We see how close we are to the cliffs here.
13:41In this space, we could fit perhaps 20 Spartan warriors in a line, a wall of bronze blocking the road
13:50into Greece.
13:53The data reveals a narrow battlefield that suits the small Spartan army.
13:59But it plays havoc with the Persian plan of attack.
14:03The Persians could not utilize their huge numbers.
14:06The narrowness of the road meant that the Persians were funneled in to face the Greek line.
14:12A narrow battlefield means the Persians can't overwhelm the Greeks with their huge numbers.
14:19But does it really help the Spartans to fight off a million men?
14:26A clue lies in a long lost structure that the Persian king builds on his way to Thermopylae.
14:36To move his army into Greece, Xerxes must cross a mile-wide stretch of sea separating Asia from Europe.
14:49According to legend, he anchors 700 ships in the strait and has them lashed together with thick ropes.
14:59His men lay wooden planks across the top and cover them with earth to make a roadway.
15:08This creates two huge pontoon bridges that carry the massive Persian war machine into Europe in just seven days.
15:20But do the Greeks really face the biggest army in the ancient world?
15:25Ian looks for answers in carvings on the tomb of Xerxes, the Persian king.
15:31There are 30 different peoples illustrated on this relief, including the wealthiest nations in the known world.
15:38This indicates the vast resources that Xerxes could call upon when he wanted to raise an army.
15:45Xerxes certainly has the means to assemble a massive military force.
15:51But Ian thinks the size of his army is wildly exaggerated.
15:56How would you supply them with water, with food, with necessary medicines?
16:01The reality of logistics and necessity means that he would have been marking the most 100,000 rather than millions.
16:11The Persian army may not be a million strong, as the ancient texts claim.
16:18But it's still over 10 times larger than the Greek force.
16:24It's said that before Xerxes attacks, he gives the Spartans one last chance to surrender.
16:33Some sources tell us that the final demand of Xerxes was simply that the Spartans surrender their arms.
16:39Supposedly, Leonidas replied, come and take them.
16:42The stage is set for one of the most famous battles in history.
16:47To stand a chance, the Spartans must not only hold their line, but kill thousands of Persians in the process.
16:57Can 300 Spartans really take the fight to an enemy of such massive proportions?
17:04What makes them the most effective military force on the planet?
17:23The battle of Thermopylae.
17:27A Spartan-led Greek force of 7,000 men take on what investigators believe are 100,000 invading Persians.
17:39Legend says the Spartans fight off this gigantic enemy for three days.
17:44Can it be true?
17:46When we look at the size of the two armies, we might expect the Persians to overcome the Greeks very
17:51quickly.
17:51But that's not what happened.
17:53Day one of the battle.
17:55The Spartan front line tears into the Persian infantry.
18:00They were well-drilled, they were professional, and they knew what they were expecting.
18:04The narrow terrain at Thermopylae helps them to even the odds.
18:10But how do these warriors cut down such a formidable enemy?
18:16The Persian army is a sea of light weapons.
18:20Bows, spears, and daggers.
18:24The Spartans are built like tanks.
18:28Beneath their bronze shields is a thick layer of shock-absorbing wood.
18:33Their hand-molded bronze armor covers their face and body.
18:39Their iron swords are short, but deadly in close combat.
18:47Their long wooden spears with vicious double tips are lethal weapons.
18:53Armed to the teeth, the Spartans fear no one.
19:01The Spartans fear no one.
19:01Ex-Royal Marine Dr. Nick Fields studies the tactics of the soldiers on the Spartan front line.
19:08He thinks their success is due to a tight military formation where fighters close ranks and lock shields.
19:16It's called the phalanx.
19:23As the phalanx is formed, the front line becomes a wall of shields that can defend and attack.
19:29The shield is the phalanx.
19:31And you can see why here.
19:33They're overlapping, protecting the man from the bottom of his helmet to his knee.
19:40The spear is used to thrust over the top rim.
19:45So it can only be used in one direction, to jab, jab, jab, jab.
19:51It's a formation that relies on discipline, coordination, and trust.
19:55The shield only covers half his body.
19:59And therefore, he has to rely on the man standing next to him, to the right, to actually cover the
20:05exposed side.
20:06And therefore, it's very important they actually keep the formation.
20:10Locked into their ranks, the Spartans form an impenetrable barrier.
20:15But they don't wait for the Persians to engage.
20:18For your time!
20:20The phalanx is a war machine that can advance on the enemy.
20:24From the Persian point of view, it must have been, psychologically speaking, quite a frightening effect.
20:31And all you see is this mass of bronze and spear points advancing towards you.
20:38It would have just simply rolled over the Persian line.
20:42No contest.
20:47The phalanx crushes the first waves of Persian infantry.
20:53Determined to break the Spartan line, Xerxes sends in the immortals.
20:59These elite warriors are just as tough as the Spartans.
21:03Armed with spears and large shields.
21:07But at the moment of impact, the phalanx has a final advantage.
21:13The Spartan spear is nearly three feet longer than the Persian spear.
21:19This was a far better weapon when it came to actually coming into close combat.
21:24You can see even from that distance, he can have a clear shot at our exposed face of our Persian
21:32warrior there.
21:33Nick believes the Persians have no answer to the power of the phalanx.
21:38Xerxes would have expected the battle to be over in five minutes.
21:41But the Spartans had the best military hardware available at the time.
21:52In close combat, the Persians crush against the Spartan shields and right into their spears.
22:02Even large volleys of Persian arrows can't penetrate the Spartans' tight formation.
22:11Even for Xerxes' unstoppable force, the phalanx is an immovable object.
22:22Their superior tactics and lethal hardware give the Spartan soldiers a huge advantage over their Persian rivals.
22:30But for Nick, it's warrior unity that keeps it all together.
22:35The phalanx represents this idea of a community, but a community on the battlefield.
22:41They knew the guys even to the left of them, to the right of them, behind them and in front
22:45of them.
22:46That was the strength of the Spartans.
22:50The Spartans are brutally efficient fighting machines.
22:55At the end of the first day, their determination to fight on is as strong as ever.
23:02What gives these men such a brutal killing instinct in the face of endless assault?
23:10Incredible evidence from the lost city of Sparta reveals a remarkable warrior society like nothing ever seen.
23:22The Spartans must fight against the enemy of Sparta and the most missing.
23:27The Spartans must let them fight against the enemy of the battle.
23:32Day 2 of the Battle of Thermopylae.
23:37Once again, the Spartans use their superior weapons and tactics to slaughter wave after wave of Persian infantry.
23:47What makes these men unstoppable killing machines?
23:52A clue lies over 200 miles away.
23:56This is Sparta, the birthplace of the 300.
24:01Archaeologist Maria Suli is on a quest to find out what life is like in 480 BC.
24:09She uncovers a city that was once the most powerful in all of Greece.
24:15If we dig deeper, we find the remains of the four villages of Sparta.
24:24At the time of Leonidas, Sparta has temples, monuments, and a market square at its heart, just like other Greek
24:36cities.
24:37But that's where the similarities end.
24:40Scattered around the center are the modest dwellings of the Spartans.
24:46Sparta is no gleaming metropolis, but a patchwork of basic brick houses and military barracks.
24:55And unlike other Greek cities, it has no wall around it, only farmland.
25:01Sparta doesn't need walls. It has warriors.
25:08Maria investigates how such a simple city can produce fighting machines like Leonidas and his men.
25:17She explores a temple in the heart of the city.
25:21Ancient authors describe how at this altar, young Spartans have to endure a horrifying initiation rite.
25:28The boys should be standing here, and the priestess behind them, whipping them until their blood would fall on the
25:38stones of the altar.
25:40In many cases, the youths lost their lives.
25:46Do these barbaric scenes really happen?
25:50First, Maria checks for evidence that the altar dates to the time of the Spartans.
25:57Mortar on the smaller stones suggests they're not old enough.
26:01But at the base of the structure, she finds traces of Spartan construction.
26:06You can see that there is no mortar used in between the stones, but just mud.
26:13Which is very characteristic from the era of the Thermopylae battle.
26:20At the edge of the temple, Maria finds more proof.
26:25Foundations of a huge structure that appears to surround the altar.
26:28If we put them on a plan, we will see that they are forming a semi-circular construction.
26:35There are quite a large amphitheater, which was constructed all around the sanctuary of Artemis Orthea.
26:43Maria thinks the presence of the amphitheater confirms the ancient stories.
26:49It was constructed to host thousands of people coming here to watch the ceremonies.
26:55This is a very clear indication that the rituals of whipping the Spartan youths in front of the altar is
27:02actually true.
27:05The whipping ritual is more than just a sadistic spectacle.
27:09Maria believes it prepares young Spartans for life as warriors.
27:15This whole ritual was just part of their training and education to make them strong and even suffer to death
27:24for their state.
27:29A brutal military regime emerges from the ruins of this lost city.
27:37From birth, Spartans are bred for hardship.
27:42Mothers bathe their newborn sons in wine, believing it will make them tougher.
27:50At the age of seven, boys must leave home and start their brutal military training.
28:00Deliberately starved and exposed to the elements, they learn to outwit and outlast opponents in battle.
28:12By the age of 20, they're lean and mean fighting machines, ready to join the army of Sparta.
28:23Warriors rule Sparta.
28:25It's a city feared throughout ancient Greece.
28:29For Leonidas and his men, a life devoted to military training builds up to one moment at Thermopylae.
28:37Here, 300 Spartans hold their line and stand strong against the mighty Persians.
28:46But on the evening of the second day, the Persian king Xerxes discovers a fatal flaw in the Spartan battle
28:53plan.
28:55How do the Persians finally break the Spartan line?
29:00And how do Leonidas and his men respond when facing certain death?
29:18Dawn, on day three, at the Battle of Thermopylae.
29:23For two days, Leonidas and his men have fought heroically against impossible odds.
29:30Now they gear up once more to cut down a new Persian offensive.
29:37But an incredible discovery from the battlefield itself could reveal how the Persians finally defeat the Spartans.
29:47At the narrow pass, the Spartans hold strong against the Persians.
29:53But there's a clue that they abandon their safe position.
29:59One mile to the south is a hill, where archaeologists discover scores of Persian arrowheads.
30:10The iron is corroded, but they are lethal weapons designed to inflict brutal injury.
30:21They're evidence of a massive aerial barrage.
30:25Are these the missiles that end the Battle of Thermopylae?
30:35Ian McGregor Morris thinks the arrowheads could reveal what happens in the final moments of the battle.
30:43He's come to Athens, where the ancient finds are kept in controlled conditions.
30:50These arrowheads are the most significant piece of tangible evidence we really have about what took place there.
30:56We see the three-winged arrowhead, which is probably the most commonly used form of arrowhead in the Persian army.
31:03The very location, these were discovered.
31:05It is perfectly possible that it was weapons like these, maybe even some of these weapons, that killed the last
31:11of the Spartans.
31:13Pretty much as the sources described it.
31:19The arrowheads seem to confirm how the Spartans died.
31:23But they don't reveal why they die here.
31:27According to legend, the Persians are handed a tactical breakthrough.
31:32The ancient sources tell us of the key turning moment in the battle, when a lone traitor offers to guide
31:38Xerxes through the mountains in return for gold.
31:43If the stories are accurate, Persian troops outflank the Spartan position overnight.
31:50Does a traitor guide thousands of heavily armed troops across nine miles of mountains, forcing the Spartans to retreat?
31:59Is this really how the fighting comes to an end?
32:04To find out, Ian hikes up into the Caledromo Mountains.
32:09He uses GPS data to investigate.
32:13Each of these points is a marker.
32:15By trekking these paths, it's possible to determine routes that the Persians might have taken.
32:22Near the summit, he finds an old cattle trail.
32:26A route he thinks the Persians could have taken.
32:29The path probably started here, ascending this slope, skirting the southern slopes of the summit of the mountain,
32:38and emerging here, behind the Greek forces in the pass.
32:46The Spartan phalanx is finally outflanked.
32:51Facing certain death, Leonidas orders almost all the allied troops to retreat to safety.
32:58But he and his Spartans join the remaining allies to stay.
33:03And fight.
33:05Choosing this hill for their last stand.
33:09Leonidas' decision to stay here is the moment in history that he has been judged a hero.
33:15He does not want others to fall needlessly with him.
33:19The Spartans have no choice.
33:20If their king stays, they stay also.
33:23But there's a final question.
33:26How do the Persian arrows finally break through the Spartan defenses?
33:32Dr. Nick Fields works with archery specialist Chris Varick-Marin to investigate what happens next.
33:39So what would have finished them off in those final minutes of the battle?
33:44This is a very light arrowhead.
33:46It's very small.
33:47But it is excellent against flash.
33:50Because once it pierces, then these razor sharp cutting blades will cut everything open.
33:58To test the power of the Persian arrows, Chris takes aim at a wooden replica of a Spartan shield.
34:05The shield is their last line of defense against thousands of archers.
34:10Wow, that's a good shot.
34:13From 50 feet, the light arrow is deadly.
34:16Originally, the shield had a very thin layer of bronze on its face.
34:22But, wow, that's definitely gone through.
34:26At the last stand, the Spartan defenses are finally overcome.
34:31As you're on that hill, you don't have any cover for the arrows because they're coming from all sides.
34:40If you have enough of them, everybody dies.
34:44In a hail of arrows, three days of brutal warfare comes to a bloody end.
34:50Finally, handing Persian victory to King Xerxes.
34:55All the evidence suggests that the battle stories of the Spartans are based on incredible real events at Thermopylae.
35:03The accounts given by the ancient sources are remarkably accurate.
35:09The legends reveal that after slaying all the Spartans, the Persians display the severed head of Leonidas to mark their
35:18triumph.
35:21With the Spartan king vanquished, Xerxes can now unleash the full might of his army.
35:32He pushes past Thermopylae, ravaging the Greek cities in his path.
35:43When he finally reaches Athens, he finds it deserted and burns it to the ground.
35:57As Xerxes' invasion continues, the conquest of Greece looks inevitable.
36:06So is the last stand of the Spartans just a needless display of courage?
36:12Some believe that the Spartans' sacrifice is more than just a heroic death.
36:18Does the courage of the 300 at Thermopylae help the Greeks win the war?
36:24And turn the Spartans into legends?
36:41Over three days at Thermopylae, 300 fearless Spartans and their Greek allies fight and die at the hands of a
36:51huge Persian army.
36:53The Spartan decision to go down fighting looks like a futile gesture.
37:01But does their sacrifice help the Greeks win the war?
37:05A clue could lie here, off Salamis, an island that guards the waters surrounding Athens.
37:13Marine archaeologist Yanis Lolos investigates mysterious submerged ruins at Ampelakia Bay.
37:21In the weeks after Thermopylae, Persian naval reinforcements clash here with an allied Greek fleet.
37:29It's a vicious sea battle that decides the outcome of the war.
37:33That was the zero hour in Greek history.
37:40Yanis thinks the sunken remains here can reveal how the allies gain the advantage.
37:46He uses drone technology to help him identify the strange structures.
37:51That's to see if you can fly over there.
37:57The foundations of large square buildings stretch out into the water.
38:02Further into the bay, a circle of stones comes into view.
38:07It has a diameter of seven and a half meters, which can be interpreted with certainty as a watch tower.
38:18Yanis thinks the ruins here are part of a huge defensive structure.
38:23These large structures belong to the whole fortification system of the town.
38:30This is a fortified town with a harbor.
38:36This bay is an ancient Greek naval station.
38:41Pottery fragments on the beach suggest an earlier harbor is operational at the time of the invasion.
38:48This wall fragment of a pot of the 5th century, judging from the quality of the black glaze.
38:58This is the harbor of the Battle of Salamis and the launching point of the allied Greek fleet.
39:09Yannis thinks this natural harbor conceals the Greek fleet as the Persians arrive.
39:17He travels to higher ground to get a defender's view.
39:22The allied Greek fleet was anchored in the bay of Abelaki.
39:29The Persians, they could not see the fleet, certainly from over there,
39:35as they entered the straits from the south.
39:41The hills around the harbor block their view of the bay.
39:45The Persians sail into the channel, unaware the Greeks are waiting.
39:52Using the same tactics as the Spartans at Thermopylae,
39:56Greek naval commanders bottleneck the Persians.
40:00Skilled Greek marines ram the Persian ships and destroy their enemies in vicious hand-to-hand combat.
40:08Xerxes is defeated and the Persians retreat back home.
40:13But Yannis believes ultimate Greek victory owes more to the 300 Spartans than just their tactics.
40:21The battle at Thermopylae gave time for the Greeks to get prepared for the next stage of the Persian invasion.
40:33The heroic Spartans sacrificed their lives to buy Greece valuable time.
40:38The fate of Greece was decided here.
40:44At the heart of the Battle of Thermopylae is a true story.
40:49One of courage and unity in the face of overwhelming odds.
40:53The ancient sources were not writing myth, they were writing history.
40:58The sacrifice of the 300 Spartans helps the Greeks win an epic war with Persia.
41:05And allows them to carry on experimenting with a strange new idea.
41:11Democracy.
41:13The Battle of Thermopylae has often been seen as a turning point in Western civilization.
41:20The Spartans hold off an entire Persian army in a battle that has its roots in a city unlike any
41:28other.
41:29And a mysterious temple in the mountains.
41:33They fall in a rain of arrows.
41:36But their glorious defeat on the shores of Greece lives on in legend.
41:42The Spartans are true heroes of the ancient world.
41:49So when the pioneer of distillation colors already지도 okay.
41:51Well for fun.
42:04Also personnages.
42:05The Spartans are true heroes of the Colonel.
42:05Oh God.
42:16Most beasts, one of our list of wars that have triumphed and all over time.
42:17You may or the people of this old fellow Ghosts were aware.
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