The Spartans routinely got their assess kicked, often by folks like the all gay Sacred Band of Thebes. Even the vaunted last stand at Thermopylae was a LOSS as the pass was forced by the Persians. And they didn’t even do that alone. The 700 Thespians died there alongside them AND the Thespians didn’t have this so-called macho warrior culture of “never retreat in the face of death” they just thought it was the right thing to do (which makes them the more heroic in my book).
There was no “culture of freedom” in Sparta. The only reason they had a massive army was to keep their slaves, the helots, from revolting. They literally couldn’t campaign for very long because they were afraid their slaves would rise up and kill everyone they left at home.
The only reason they came out on top in the Peloponnesian war was because the Athenians (who were also assholes) got ravaged by a plague.
Then about 70 years later, some Macedonian comes along and says “Nope, I’m the greatest damn Greek of all time”.
Which is JUST. SO. ODD.
The Spartans routinely got their assess kicked, often by folks like the all gay Sacred Band of Thebes. Even the vaunted last stand at Thermopylae was a LOSS as the pass was forced by the Persians. And they didn’t even do that alone. The 700 Thespians died there alongside them AND the Thespians didn’t have this so-called macho warrior culture of “never retreat in the face of death” they just thought it was the right thing to do (which makes them the more heroic in my book).
There was no “culture of freedom” in Sparta. The only reason they had a massive army was to keep their slaves, the helots, from revolting. They literally couldn’t campaign for very long because they were afraid their slaves would rise up and kill everyone they left at home.
The only reason they came out on top in the Peloponnesian war was because the Athenians (who were also assholes) got ravaged by a plague.
Then about 70 years later, some Macedonian comes along and says “Nope, I’m the greatest damn Greek of all time”.