09-25-2009, 06:08 PM
Quote:I will stress this for a hundredth time: We,today (not to say "historians") tend to oversimplify ancients,exaggerate those few known facts, and worst of all make anecdotes into rules...
This was exactly my problem with Gates of Fire, a book I generally liked. Pressfield took the notion of sparta as a "barracks state" and made the characters interact like US marines in a barracks. In my opinion this was a mistake. Spartiates were not like american conscript soldiers, they were far more like the Victorian officer class if we must have a modern model.
As to 300, you mean that the Spartans did not shout every sentence at the top of their lungs? :roll:
Paul M. Bardunias
MODERATOR: [url:2dqwu8yc]http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=4100[/url]
A Spartan, being asked a question, answered "No." And when the questioner said, "You lie," the Spartan said, "You see, then, that it is stupid of you to ask questions to which you already know the answer!"
MODERATOR: [url:2dqwu8yc]http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=4100[/url]
A Spartan, being asked a question, answered "No." And when the questioner said, "You lie," the Spartan said, "You see, then, that it is stupid of you to ask questions to which you already know the answer!"
