"Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World"

[Jona Lendering]

The entire emperial Persian army was delayed for 7 days .No mop up there

The first four of these don't count, because that break was necessary to synchronize the action with Artemisium, see Diary (absolute dating is contested, but the relative sequence of events is established).

and spartans don't "retreat" or retreat.

The are many Spartan retreats, known from different authors, and there was no disgrace. Examples: Cleomenes in his war against Argos, Dorieus returning from Cinyps, Pausanias ordering a retreat to the mountains in the prelude to Plataea (contested by a commander), Agis being forced by his own men to retreat in the prelude to Mantinea. Leonidas could have ordered a retreat, no problem.

Dying in battle was what they lived for.Their self purpose in life.

I think that this is exaggerated. The Spartans honored those who died in battle, but did not seek death. If that were true, Spartan's foreign policy would have been a lot more aggresive. The truth, paradoxical perhaps but logical, is that Sparta tried to evade war; it's foreign policy was more peace-loving than Athens, which in the fifth century can be seen as one of the most aggresive city-states. The Spartan government hesitated to declare war in 431 until it was forced to see that Athens was becoming too powerful after its alliance to Corcyra, which would not have occured if Corinth had not created a lot of problems.[/url]