07-31-2006, 09:34 AM
I agree, the Greeks would have recognised Thermopylae as a defeat, just as we British recognised Dunkirk for what it was. Certainly, the legend of both these events grew up afterwards. This doesn't alter the fact that each was a turning-point in history, powerfully affecting the fighting spirit of the nations involved.
You're right, too, in pointing out that the Greeks continued to be on the back foot for a while after the battle, but the confusion and division had existed throughout the early stages of the campaign, so why did this change? I would accept the traditional view that it was because of Thermopylae - and Salamis. Salamis just doesn't capture the imagaination in the same way because the odds were shorter and the navy both won and survived - there is not the dramatic element of the combatants choosing to face certain death.
As you say, the facts aren't available to us; but I feel we should consider psyche as well as logos , even if this means we are, at best, deducing and, at worst, guessing. History must allow for the bizarre and unpredictable action of the human spirit.
There is a story of an island people - I think they may have been of the Friesians - who, when threatened with conquest, armed every available person (men, women and children) and resisted until all were slain. The mass graves with the skeletons in their ill-fitting armour have been recorded and attest the truth of the legend. Truth can sometimes be of a legendary quality.
You're right, too, in pointing out that the Greeks continued to be on the back foot for a while after the battle, but the confusion and division had existed throughout the early stages of the campaign, so why did this change? I would accept the traditional view that it was because of Thermopylae - and Salamis. Salamis just doesn't capture the imagaination in the same way because the odds were shorter and the navy both won and survived - there is not the dramatic element of the combatants choosing to face certain death.
As you say, the facts aren't available to us; but I feel we should consider psyche as well as logos , even if this means we are, at best, deducing and, at worst, guessing. History must allow for the bizarre and unpredictable action of the human spirit.
There is a story of an island people - I think they may have been of the Friesians - who, when threatened with conquest, armed every available person (men, women and children) and resisted until all were slain. The mass graves with the skeletons in their ill-fitting armour have been recorded and attest the truth of the legend. Truth can sometimes be of a legendary quality.
