Leonid I is one of the kings of ancient Sparta in Greece. The only act thanks to which he entered the annals of history was the unequal battle of Thermopylae, during which he died heroically. This battle is the most famous of the history of the second Persian invasion of Greece. Later, the hero became a model of military prowess and patriotism.
Spartan king Leonidas: biography
What is known about him today? The main information from the life of the Spartan king Leonidas I has survived to this day thanks to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. He came from the Agiad family. According to the data that Herodotus cites in his work "History", the roots of this dynasty go back to the legendary ancient Greek hero Hercules, the son of Zeus.
The exact date of birth of Leonidas I is not determined, presumably it is the 20s. 6th century BC e. Almost nothing is known about his life. In his youth, he received good physical training, like other Spartan boys. This is also evidenced by the fact that at the time of the historic battle of Thermopylae, he was no longer young - he was 40-50 years old, but the physique of the Greekthe warlord was burly and athletic.
His father, Alexandrides II, was the first representative of the agiads. He had 4 sons - Cleomenes, Doria, Leonidas and Cleombrotus. The first wife, the daughter of Alexandrida's sister, could not get pregnant for a long time, but he did not want to part with her. Then the representatives of the government board of Ancient Sparta allowed him to become a bigamist so that the line of kings would not stop. From the second wife Cleomenes was born, and a year later the first wife Alexandrida gave birth to the other three sons.
Ascension to the Throne
After the death of his father Leonidas I in 520 BC. e. The popular assembly decided to elect Cleomenes as king of Sparta. Doria did not agree with this and left the state. He tried to establish his settlement in Africa, then in Sicily. After 10 years, he was killed, and in 487 BC. e. Cleomenes also died.
The cause of death of the latter is not known for certain. According to one version, he lost his mind and was arrested at the initiative of his brothers, and subsequently committed suicide. According to another hypothesis, Cleomenes was killed on the orders of the government board or Leonid I. After this tragic event, the latter was able to become the full ruler of Sparta. The years of the reign of King Leonid - 491-480. BC e.
Family and children
The wife of King Leonidas - Gorgo - also belonged to the Agiad family. She was the daughter of his half-brother, the ruler of Sparta, Cleomenes I. In those days, marriages between close relatives were the norm in society, it was forbidden only to children from one mother. Childbearing in Sparta was greatly encouraged, and motherhood was the main purpose of a woman. There is even a historical anecdote, according to which, when asked how Greek women manage to manage their spouses, Gorgo replied: “We are the only ones who give birth to husbands.”
The wife of the Spartan king was beautiful, for her big and languid eyes she was called Volooka from childhood. At the age of 17, when her mother died, the girl was raised by her aunt, who instilled in her a love of poetry.
According to some researchers, Gorgo was not the first wife of Leonid. Before her, he had been married for 15 years to Mnesimacha, who bore him two daughters and two sons. Both boys died at an early age. The eldest daughter Dorida was 18 and the youngest Penelope 15 when Leonidas, at the urging of his older brother and elected officials, divorced their mother and married Gorga. This was done for political reasons.
The Spartan king was very worried about this, as he had a good relationship with his former family. He often visited his ex-wife and children. Mnesimacha never remarried as she loved him just as much.
The year Leonidas was killed, Gorgo gave birth to her only child. After the Battle of Thermopylae, Plistarch, the son of Leonidas I, became the successor of his father. The uncle, Cleombrotus, was appointed regent for the boy, and after the death of the latter, his son Pausanias. Plistarchus left no children behind, and the lineage of Leonidas, king of Sparta, ended.
Greco-Persian Wars
At the end of the VI century. BC e. The Persian Empire has become a powerful power with claims to world domination. It included such developed territories as Egypt, Babylon, Lydia, Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor. The beginning of the Greco-Persian wars is associated with the anti-Persian uprising in 500 BC. e. (Ionian revolt). After 6 years it was suppressed. According to Herodotus, this was the impetus for the Persian attack on the Balkan Peninsula.
The first military campaign was organized by them in 492 BC. e., but due to a strong storm, the Persian fleet suffered heavy losses, thanks to which the Greeks received a respite lasting 2 years. In many cities of the ancient Greek state, defeatist moods formed among the population, and only Sparta and Athens showed determination to fight the formidable enemy. In both cities, the ambassadors of the Persian king Darius I were executed, who arrived there with a proposal to recognize the power of the Achaemenid dynasty.
Up to 480 B. C. e. fate favored the Greeks. The Persians were defeated in the Battle of Marathon, as a result, the Greeks had the opportunity to prepare for a future war and build their own fleet. In addition, the forces of the Persian state at that moment were sent to suppress uprisings in Egypt and within the country.
Battle of Thermopylae
In 481 BC. e. at the congress in Corinth, a common defensive alliance of the Hellenes (Sparta and Athens) was created. The supreme command of the land and sea forces was transferred to the Spartan king Leonidas. When the Persians approached the bordersGreece, it was decided to meet them in the Tempe Gorge, on the border of Macedonia and Thessaly. The Thermopylae Gorge was chosen as the second line of defense.
In the narrowest part of the gorge then only one cart could pass. In addition, there were old defensive structures built once to protect against Thessalian raids. In ancient times, this was the only overland route from northern Greece to its middle part.
To conduct a defensive operation, about 7,000 warriors from various regions arrived, among whom was a small elite detachment of Spartans numbering 300 people. This military unit was never disbanded, even in peacetime. It was used mainly within Sparta and could be quickly mobilized for foreign policy purposes. Other allies refused to help Leonid on the pretext that it was necessary to complete the Olympic Games, the beginning of which coincided with the military campaign.
When the Persian king Xerxes I approached the Thermopylae Gorge with his huge army (according to modern historians, it numbered from 70 to 300 thousand soldiers), most of the commanders of the Hellenic detachments decided to retreat. The countless army of the Persians struck fear into the hearts of the Greek military leaders. In such a difficult situation, the Spartan king Leonidas I was forced to make the only possible decision for himself: to defend the gorge, even if there was no chance of surviving the battle.
Death
Xerxes I gave the Spartan king 4 days to think, waiting for them to catch upthe rest of the Persian army. On the fifth day, he sent his detachments of warriors from Media and Kissia to the gorge, the number of which greatly exceeded the Greek unit. This attack, as well as the next two days, was repulsed. The long spears and heavy shields of the Greeks gave them a distinct advantage over the Persians, who had shorter spears, braided shields and armor made from woven linen. According to some estimates, about 10,000 Persians were killed during these defensive battles.
The Greek detachment consisted entirely of heavy infantry, which easily blocked the narrow passage of the Thermopylae Gorge. The Spartans also used a cunning strategy: they pretended to retreat so that the Persians would pursue them. Then they suddenly turned and attacked, catching the enemy by surprise.
The outcome of the Battle of Thermopylae was decided by the oversight of a detachment of the Phocians, who were supposed to defend another mountain path leading around the mountain. According to Herodotus, a traitor from the Thessalian tribe showed this road to the Persians, but modern historians believe that the Persian reconnaissance detachments themselves could have learned about its existence. At nightfall, Xerxes sent his soldiers along a mountain path to attack the Greeks from the rear. The Phokians noticed the Persians too late and, without offering any resistance, fled.
Of all the allies of the Spartan king Leonidas, by the end of the battle, only 2 small detachments remained. According to one legend, he even insisted that the allies retreat from Thermopylae in order tosons could continue the family line and save the Greek army for subsequent battles. At that time, there was already a shortage of warriors in Sparta, so King Leonid formed his detachment only from those men who already had children.
During a fierce fight he was killed. The culmination of this event was the struggle for the body of the hero. The Greeks managed to recapture it from the Persians, and they retreated to one of the hills. The entire detachment of Leonidas was destroyed, except for two Spartans who did not participate in the battle. Upon returning to their homeland, dishonor awaited them, one of them was given the nickname Coward, and the second committed suicide.
Xerxes' Revenge
According to the contemporaries of the Spartan king Leonidas, no one felt such strong hatred for him as the Persian ruler. Immediately after the end of the battle, he decided to personally inspect the battlefield. Seeing the corpse of Leonid, he ordered to abuse him - they cut off his head and put the dead man on a stake.
Usually, this was done with the rebels, and not with the soldiers who fell in a fair fight. It was a blasphemous act on the part of Xerxes. Thus, the Persian king wanted to express his personal hostile feelings towards Leonidas, who destroyed two of his brothers and actively resisted.
There is also a legend according to which, at the demand of Xerxes to surrender, Leonidas uttered the catchphrase: "Come and take it." These words were subsequently carved on the basis of a monument built in honor of this commander in Sparta.
The image of the hero inart
The feat of Tsar Leonid I inspired many artists, writers and artists. The image of a hero fighting for freedom at the cost of his life was sung in the works of the English poet R. Glover (the poem "Leonid"), David Mallet, Byron, V. Hugo (the poem "Three Hundred") and others. The name of the king of Sparta from the Agids clan was also mentioned by A. S. Pushkin, V. V. Mayakovsky.
In the painting by the French artist Jacques Louis David "Leonidas at Thermopylae", written in 1814, the commander is depicted in preparation for the decisive battle. Next to his half-naked figure is the altar of the famous ancestor - Hercules. Napoleon Bonaparte was familiar with this canvas of the artist, and when asked if the defeated could be the hero of the picture, he replied that the name of Leonid is the only one that has come down to us through the depths of epochs, and all the rest have been lost in history.
In 1962, director of Polish origin Rudolf Mate made the film "Three Hundred Spartans", dedicated to the exploit of the Spartan king. The most striking scenes in this film are those in which the hero and his associates refuse to surrender to the Persians in exchange for mercy. Inspired by this film, American illustrator Frank Miller created a comic book graphic novel about the event in 1998, which was filmed in 2007 by American film director Zack Snyder.
In 2014, another Israeli director Noam Murro made another film adaptation of the battle of King Leonidas "Three Hundred Spartans: Rise of an Empire", but the largestThe 1962 movie is historically accurate.
Criticism
Before his death, Leonid I knew that the Persians were approaching his detachment from the side where no one expected them. But still he decided to defend himself and die, doing his duty. There were many disputes about the expediency of such a decision even among ancient historians. The rest of the commanders were inclined to think that they should retreat before it was too late. They tried to convince their leader of this as well.
It is possible that the final decision of King Leonidas of Sparta was influenced by the religiosity inherent in him and his compatriots. Even at the very beginning of the Greco-Persian wars, the Delphic oracles predicted that Sparta would be destroyed or their king would die. Leonid himself acted as high priest and understood the meaning of this prediction in such a way that the cost of saving the homeland was his death. On the other hand, defending the Thermopylae Gorge, he provided an opportunity for the allied troops to save their soldiers and gave the rest of the Greek army time to catch up.
In the writings of ancient Greek writers it is also mentioned that before the performance of the king from the city, funeral games were arranged, and one of his parting words for his wife was the wish to find a new husband.
Memory of a hero
Shortly after the destruction of the detachment of the Spartan king Leonid in the Battle of Thermopylae, all the fallen soldiers were buried at the place of their death. In the same place, the contemporaries of the hero erected 5 steles with epitaphs and a stone lion (nameLeonid in Greek means "lion"). This monument is still at the site of the battle.
After 40 years, the remains of the hero were transferred to Sparta, and a festive celebration was held annually near his tombstone, competitions were held and speeches were made. In our time, a monument was erected to the hero in Thermopylae in 1968. The battle scene is depicted on the monument. The Spartan king is still revered and flowers are laid at his monument.
Even in ancient times, this feat became canonical, a kind of moral bar for the Greeks. The hero was mentioned in his works by the Athenian comedian Aristophanes, the writer Pausanias, Plutarch, who wrote his biography, which has not survived to our time. The defeat of the Greeks at Thermopylae was only formal. This battle turned out to be a culturally significant event that had more historical significance than any other victory.
