05-19-2005, 06:53 PM
Hans Delbrück made an interesting estimate. Had Herodotus been right the tail of Xerxes' army would have been leaving Persepolis the day the van arrived at Thermophylae. Yes, this is based on late 19th century practises and ancient armies may have 'bunched' considerably more, but even if you cut it in half it still shows the idea of millions of Persians is ridiculous.
In fact I'm dubious enough about hundreds of thousands.
In fact I'm dubious enough about hundreds of thousands.
Der Kessel ist voll Bärks!
Volker Bach
Volker Bach