"Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World"

[Jona Lendering]

the battle was a simple mop-up.

I wonder how you will demonstrate this. It strikes me as an over-simplification. Is it a Spartan wind-up?

No, to Xerxes, it must, IMHO, have been an easy fight, not even a battle. He arrived, his mounted scouts checked the environment as they always did, the mountain tracks were discovered, and after three days, in which neither the archers nor his elite troops had been able to break through that wall in front of him, he ordered his men to use the tracks. It was full moon, things were easy.

The enemy abandoned positions, the tactical aims were achieved, there was little bloodshed ("no harm done to the weak"), except for some 300 Spartans and 600 Thespians who were punished for the harm they had inflicted upon Persian ambassadors. End of story, Persian numbers and superior reconnaisance had again proved to be the key to succes and asha (the divine order that was disturbed by the killing of the ambassadors) was restored.

Here are some aspects from Xerxes' self portrait, the way he wanted to be seen (full text). He had indeed acted like it.

I am of such a sort, I am a friend of the right, of wrong I am not a friend. It is not my wish that the weak should have harm done him by the strong, nor is it my wish that the strong should have harm done him by the weak.

The man who is cooperative, according to his cooperation thus I reward him. Who does harm, him according to the harm I punish. It is not my wish that a man should do harm; nor indeed is it my wish that if he does harm he should not be punished.

As a fighter of battles I am a good fighter of battles. Whenever with my judgment in a place I determine whether I behold or do not behold an enemy, both with understanding and with judgment, then I think prior to panic, when I see an enemy as when I do not see one.