μιας και είσαι φαν της ιστορίας Eidolon (εγώ δεν είμαι το ομολογώ) θέλω να σχολιάσεις τα παρακάτω σχόλια.
<span class="bbcode_spoiler">You... realise that slavery was rife throughout the Greek states at the time but was not within the persian empire?
That women were just another form of property to greeks?
That warfare was a daily occurrence; the greeks had to stop fighting each other in order to fight the Persians.
Greek "culture" didn't arise until after the Persian Empire and the greek city states unified. Meanwhile the Persian empire invented hospitals, made contributions to maths and science. The Babylonians invented a lot of maths.
"I've been laughing for hours at your claims that the Persian Empire was the first to acknowledge human rights"
It's not my claim. Here's a link to the citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire#cite_note-cyv-27</span>
<span class="bbcode_spoiler">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Greece#Women_in_Ancient_Greece
Womens rights were virtually identical to those of greek slaves. They were considered part of the household, as the slaves were. Like a chair or a table.
Persian soldiers like the immortals were highly trained and relatively wealthy free men. The mass of the army were made up of levies from the satraps and these were also free men. They had to buy their own weapons and armour, and therefore were paid soldiers.
As I said. Persians were Zoroastrian and Zoroaster explicitly forbade slavery.
"Zoroaster emphasized the freedom of the individual to choose right or wrong and individual responsibility for one's deeds."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroaster
The simple truth is at this time, the Greeks and the rest of the world were little more than barbarians and it was the Persian Empire which was the heart of civilisation.</span>
<span class="bbcode_spoiler">It should be well-known that the Greeks started the 'Ionian Revolt' INSIDE The Persian Empire AS A "FALSE FLAG" WAR. Much akin to the US, 9/11 and Afghanistan/Iraq, today...
And Greek women were Property according to every citystate except Sparta, where women could vote and hold land. But the Spartans were Fascist-Socialists dragged into Athenian wars by misinformation and ambition...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_I_of_Caria "queen of Halicarnassus,[1] a city of Dorian Greeks and Carians in the Achaemenid satrapy of Caria and of the nearby island of Kos, in about 480 BCE.[1] She fought for her overlord Xerxes I, King of Persia against the free Greek city states during the second Persian invasion of Greece.[2] She personally commanded her contribution of five ships at the naval battle of Artemisium[3] and in the naval Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE. She is mostly known through the writings of Herodotus, who praises her courage and the respect in which Xerxes held her.[4]"
This WOMAN was rewarded as any typical Admiral would be for her Strategic wisdom, deception and bravery in COMBAT! A combat she lost, and was blamed for by the other Admirals who DID NOT fight as effectively.
Her "overlord", ignored male Chauvanism and honoured his loyal subject the proper ranks befitting her Civic Service.
All that she could maintain her Liberal, yet "oppressed" citystate...Do you smell any bullshit from the Greeks? I do.
Even some Greeks don't believe your ignorance
"Opinions about Artemisia[edit]
Herodotus had a favourable opinion of Artemisia, despite her support of Persia and praises her decisiveness and intelligence and emphasizes her influence on Xerxes.
Polyaenus says that Xerxes praised her gallantry. He also in the eighth book of his work Stratagems, mentions that when Artemisia (he may have referred to Artemisia I, but most probably he referred to Artemisia II) wanted to conquer Latmus, she placed soldiers in ambush near the city and she, with women, eunuchs and musicians, celebrated a sacrifice at the grove of the Mother of the Gods, which was about seven stades distant from the city. When the inhabitants of Latmus came out to see the magnificent procession, the soldiers entered the city and took possession of it.[41]"</span>
<span class="bbcode_spoiler">It's weird how people now have this idealized view of the Spartans because of the movie. Spartans were pretty much the Nazi Germany of Ancient Greece. They were tyrannical to non-citizens, practiced eugenics, and were highly militaristic. Though their armies were indeed feared, they were never very numerous. Sparta was run mainly by slaves - the Helots - who constituted the bulk of the population. All the Spartiates (the actual Spartan citizens) did was fight and rule. Everything else, from farming to caring for children, were done by Helots. Think of the Capital from the Hunger Games and you'll get a clearer picture of what the Spartans truly were like.
+S.W.H.T.L.C. The perioeci of Peloponnesus weren't "reinforcements". They were armies from city-states subjugated by the Spartans forced to fight for them. They traditionally constitute the bulk of the Spartan armies at a ratio of 1 Spartan for every 3 perioeci. Not to mention other city-states not under the Spartan hegemony who also stayed and fought in greater numbers (e.g. the Thebans who later destroyed the Spartan hegemony, Phocians, and Thespians). To lay all the credit on Spartans is like claiming that D-Day was won purely by Canadians.
+George Krontiris Maybe you're confusing Persians with modern Iranians. Like most Americans and the movie did apparently. Persians were NOT Muslims originally. They only became Muslims after the Arabs conquered them centuries later. At the time of the Battle of Thermopylae they were still Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism is a very humanistic religion (to the point that some scholars believe Jesus was influenced by it). It tolerates and even embraces other religions (since they believe all other religions are simply different faces of the same god). They also allowed conquered states to pretty much continue as they were, becoming semi-autonomous regions governed by local representatives (satraps). And Zoroastrianism does indeed forbid slavery, though it was still practiced at times within the Persian Empire.
Remember the story of how the Jews were freed from slavery under Babylon and returned to Israel in the Bible? Guess who did that? Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire. He did it without expecting anything in return. And he did it to all the religious minorities that Babylon had enslaved over the years. He is the only non-Jew who is celebrated as a Messiah by the Jews.
The relationship between Greeks and Persians, despite the Greco-Persian wars, was also generally genial. The Greeks referred to the Persian king as the "Great King". Persians in turn admired Greek martial discipline and hired Greek mercenaries (including Spartans) several times for other wars. Persians were also called upon to mediate and enforce peace treaties between the perpetually warring Greek city-states at times.
The movie 300 doesn't mention, for example, that after killing the unarmed heralds (who were actually also Zoroastrian priests) sent by Persia, Spartans actually regretted it. Ancient Greeks were a superstitious lot, and when they started getting bad omens from oracles and at sacrifices they believed that the gods were punishing them for what they had done. They actually sent two Spartyans (Sperthias and Boulis) to the Persian king, both of whom were willing to die and were expecting to die as compensation for what Sparta did to the envoys. But the Spartan king, Xerxes, refused to have them killed.
Consider this quote from Queen Gorgo (Leonidas' wife) as written by Plutarch: "When asked by a woman from Attica (the region ruled by Athens), 'Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?', she said: 'Because we are also the only ones who give birth to men.'"
Women in Ancient Greece were indeed treated generally like the property of men. While not quite slaves, they were only a slightly higher step up. Sparta was the exception, and only because Spartans preferred strong women so they could give birth to stronger children.
Also while Spartan women were treated more equally than other Greek city-states, Spartans were NOT a romantic people, and they did NOT marry for love. They viewed that as a weakness. Remember that the English words "spartan" (harsh, cold, rigid, strict, austere, bare) and "laconic" (short and concise wording, "no frills" speech) referred to them. Adultery was also not a crime in Sparta, and it is sometimes actually encouraged by the husbands, when their wife's partner has desirable qualities (i.e. "good genes"). Thus the "love story" as well as the adultery angle between Leonidas and his queen is ridiculous as heck.</span>
