From Deseret News archives:
300 Spartans
Persian expansion and the desire to punish the Athenians for their role in an uprising in Asia Minor brought about the wrath of the Persian King Xerxes I and the battle of Thermopylae.
Social Classes
The Spartan existence as free men required the subjugation of their neighbors, the Messienians or helots. The conquered helots provided the manpower that supplied the labor force, enabling the Spartans to dedicate their lives to fitness and the art of war.
The Spartan middle class, or the perioikos, were tradesmen that dealt with commerce. They were allowed to own property but were not allowed citizenship and had no political rights.
Spartan vs. Messienian (helots) population: 25,000 to 500,000*
*at the height of Sparta's power
Each year Sparta would declare war on the helots to ensure an agricultural work force and to extract potential troublemakers.
Under Spartan rule, women had unprecedented freedom in Greek culture and were allowed to own property and engage in commerce.
The battle Thermopylae 480 B.C.
A small force of Greeks (7,000), under the command of the Spartan king Leonidas, determined that the best place to attempt to stall the Persian advance was on the thin strip of land along the coastline at Thermopylae. At this point the passage between steep cliffs and the shoreline narrows to about 50 feet, making it a defensible position for a small force holding off a far superior number.
Xerxes soon arrived with his force of 250,000 men. His scouts reported scenes of Spartans grooming their hair (a beautifying ritual practiced during wartime) and doing calisthenics. Not at all the state of chaos Xerxes expected from a severely outnumbered force.










