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Event
A famed holding action and last stand at the pass of Thermopylae, where a small allied force of a few thousand Greeks, and famously 300 Spartans under King Leonidas of Sparta delayed the Persian advance of King Xerxes I during the Greco-Persian Wars.
filed under 480 BCE
Runs throughGreco-Persian Wars2 titles
Patterns the archive sees cinema repeat about the past, and where this title stands on each. Each links to a page setting out what the record shows.
The Free for All FightRepeats
The record: Armies from antiquity until past the Napoleonic period fought in formation because individual soldiers are vulnerable. Battles were usually contests between blocks of men holding together, and the side whose formation broke first usually lost. Further, maintaining clear formations was essential to maintaining battlefield operations and communication, both for commanders to be able to give orders to their subordinate officers as well as for individual soldiers to know where to rally and position themselves.
The initial Persian wave sees the Spartans adopt a rigid phalanx formation to defend the pass at Thermopylae which quickly disappears once the Spartans choose to advance.
Methods and Tactics
Credits, budget, box office and production countries from TMDB.
Availability from JustWatch, via TMDB. It changes often and varies by country.