10-19-2006, 04:33 AM
I'm not a full fledged historian 'yet' but I do know a few little points that could help here:
Egyptians had stored over 7 years of food for an entire city in biblical stories, since Persia is only a little ways north, it's fair to assume they could have stored food long enough for quite a campaign.
The Greeks knew the invasion was coming long enough in advance to BUILD A FLEET. If the Persians put in anywhere near as much effort over such a long time, they certainly could have moved vast amounts of people and supplies.
If Persia had that many soldiers, I don't see why they couldn't move them. Many people of that area were nomadic to begin with weren't they? As long as they had food, they could do it. I don't see why feeding them in Greece would be much harder, granting the above about filling ships full of food.
I would suspect the majority of the food and supplies would have been ferried over later on the same ships, while the first strike would just be crammed people. Believe me it's disgusting how many people can fit in a three story ship without supplies. I once did a calculation for the volume of the entire human race, six billion people, each human taking up a two foot by two foot square six feet tall. The result is that all of humanity existing now could fit in a box less than one mile on each side! The point is; when necessary, LOTS of people can fit in a tight space. With a few hundred triple stacked ships.... I could see hundreds of thousands without stretching too hard.
Egyptians had stored over 7 years of food for an entire city in biblical stories, since Persia is only a little ways north, it's fair to assume they could have stored food long enough for quite a campaign.
The Greeks knew the invasion was coming long enough in advance to BUILD A FLEET. If the Persians put in anywhere near as much effort over such a long time, they certainly could have moved vast amounts of people and supplies.
If Persia had that many soldiers, I don't see why they couldn't move them. Many people of that area were nomadic to begin with weren't they? As long as they had food, they could do it. I don't see why feeding them in Greece would be much harder, granting the above about filling ships full of food.
I would suspect the majority of the food and supplies would have been ferried over later on the same ships, while the first strike would just be crammed people. Believe me it's disgusting how many people can fit in a three story ship without supplies. I once did a calculation for the volume of the entire human race, six billion people, each human taking up a two foot by two foot square six feet tall. The result is that all of humanity existing now could fit in a box less than one mile on each side! The point is; when necessary, LOTS of people can fit in a tight space. With a few hundred triple stacked ships.... I could see hundreds of thousands without stretching too hard.
