For me, it's #4 which is the best reason not to tell the tale of Thermopylae as Herodotus tells it. But I also think there's an element of #3 as well: Thermopylae is just not that important. Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea were important and we should tell that story, leaving Thermopylae as a footnote.
For me, it's #4 which is the best reason not to tell the tale of Thermopylae as Herodotus tells it. But I also think there's an element of #3 as well: Thermopylae is just not that important. Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea were important and we should tell that story, leaving Thermopylae as a footnote.
There is another problem with romanticizing Sparta here. I am glad that the USSR helped defeat Nazi Germany for reasons rather similar to those that make me glad Sparta helped defeat Persia. But that doesn't mean there is virtue in a paean to Stalin.
Yeah, and the USSR did a LOT more to help defeat Hitler than the Spartans did (relatively) to defeat the Persian Empire. So we should tell the stories as accurately as we can but not glorify either.
For me, it's #4 which is the best reason not to tell the tale of Thermopylae as Herodotus tells it. But I also think there's an element of #3 as well: Thermopylae is just not that important. Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea were important and we should tell that story, leaving Thermopylae as a footnote.
There is another problem with romanticizing Sparta here. I am glad that the USSR helped defeat Nazi Germany for reasons rather similar to those that make me glad Sparta helped defeat Persia. But that doesn't mean there is virtue in a paean to Stalin.
Yeah, and the USSR did a LOT more to help defeat Hitler than the Spartans did (relatively) to defeat the Persian Empire. So we should tell the stories as accurately as we can but not glorify either.