BIOGRAPHY OF LEONIDAS,Leonidas of Sparta Biography: Warrior king of the Greek city-state of Sparta ,LEONIDAS

                                                    
                                                   BIOGRAPHY OF LEONIDAS
   
The real life exploits of Leonidas of Spartaand his 300 warriors at Thermoplyae have given rise to the myth of the Spartan superhero– the supremely disciplined man of few words who had a body of steel, could endure anyhardship and would fight to his last breath. Such men really did exist and chief amongthem was Leonidas, the Spartan king who defied the might of Persia, saving Greece from annihilation.we discover thereal life Leonidas.

Early Years

Leonidas was born around 540 BCE in the Greek city of Sparta. At that time Greece was made up of hundredsof city states, of which Athens and Sparta were the largest. Leonidas’ father, Anaxandrides, was theking of Sparta. For the Greeks, warfare was the supreme statementof a citizen. It is what made a man and gave him the rightto be a part of his city. Every Greek, in every city state was obligedto military service from the age of twenty until the age of forty-five. In order to prepare for that life, boys wereput into a military training camp, known as the Agoge, from the age of seven. There was only exception to this compulsorymilitary training – the first-born son of the king of each city state. His upbringing would be focused on groominghim for the power that he would inherit on his father’s death. Leonidas, however, was the third son of Anaxandrides. His older half-brother, Cleomenes I was firstin line to be the next king of Sparta. As a result, Leonidas spent his formativeyears learning how to become a Spartan warrior.

 Between the age of seven and twelve, Leonidasunderwent a training regimen, along with a group of other boys, under the supervisionof a warden who was called the paidonomos, which literally translates to ‘herder ofboys.’ This was a highly respected Spartan, drawnfrom the highest social class. His authority allowed him to punish any whomisbehaved, and to this end he was accompanied by a whip wielding squad of youths who wereready to eagerly mete out his punishments. As the system was designed to produce effectivewarriors, great emphasis was placed on a rough and tumble lifestyle. The boys were divided into bands and theychose as their leader the best fighter. Meanwhile the paidonomos would keep a closeeye on their antics, meting out punishment to any who got out of line. Spartan boys in the Agoge were not permittedto wear shoes. It was believed that leaping, jumping andrunning were accomplished more swiftly barefoot. The boys were also allowed just one cloakthroughout the year.

This was designed to force them to grow accustomedto sweltering summers and freezing winters, making do with what little covering they had. Food for the boys was strictly rationed, onthe belief that a lean, hungry man fights far more effectively than a fat, satiatedone. Also, being able to go a long time withoutfood would make for a better prepared warrior. Theft was severely punished – unless itinvolved the stealing of food. The logic behind this was that by learningto pilfer food the boys would be practicing the skills of foraging that would be neededwhen on military campaign. As well as their training to become warriors,the boys were also taught to read and write. In fact, the Spartans gained a reputationas men of learning, who loved music, poetry and dance. The age of twelve was a watershed year inthe life of a young Spartan. He was now placed in a band of about a dozenof his peers, to live under the headship of one drawn from his ranks, the eiren, or prefect. The one chosen was the smartest, the mostbattle ready and cunning. Though there is no record that Leonidas wasput in this position, it is quite likely that he, being the son of the king and given thefuture battle prowess that he displayed, did indeed serve as an eiren during his teen years. The other boys had to give their absoluteobedience to the eiren.

 They were to act as his servants, collectingfirewood and fetching vegetables using their thieving skills. Also, at the age of twelve, Spartan boys weretaken under the wing of an erastes, or ‘admirer’, to receive a form of mentoring. Whereas in other Grecian city states thisrelationship was a sexual one, this was not the case in Sparta. Desire for the body rather than the soul ofa boy was considered to be the height of shame. At the age of eighteen, the Spartan youthbecame a melleiren, a title which means ‘nearly an eiren’. His military training was now stepped up ashe came close to entering military service. And so, by the age of twenty, Spartan societyhad moulded Leonidas into an agile, battle-ready military machine, full of self-confidence,discipline and a killer instinct. He was ready to make his mark on the fieldof battle. Leonidas had trained to be a hoplite warrior. Hoplites were experts in using the short ironsword and round shield and spear. They fought in tight phalanx formation inwhich they would approach the enemy with shield overheads to form a tortoise-shell like defenceto the oncoming barrage of arrows.

Just as Leonidas was about to enter militaryservice, news reached him that his father, the King, had died. His brother, Cleomenes I now inherited thethrone. So, while one brother took on the mantle ofsupreme rulership over the city-sate, the other inherited the role that he had givenhis entire life to – that of a Spartan warrior. The Spartans army was divided into age groups,spanning ten years. Within these divisions, the basic groupingof men was into mess groups of about fifteen men. It was with these men that Leonidas livedduring his twenties. It was also around this time that Leonidasmarried the daughter of his half-brother Cleomones. She was named Gorgo and was by all accountsa beautiful and politically astute woman. After a few years, they had a son, who theynamed Cleombrotus. Becoming KingBy 490 BCE things were not going well for Leonidas’ older half-brother, Cleomones. Over the last three years, Grecian city stateshad, one by one, succumbed to the invading Persians. The capitulation of these powers was a sourceof outrage to the proud Spartan king and, in 491, he attempted to overthrow a neighbouringking who was about to concede to the Persians. But when their king’s plans to oust a dulyappointed fellow king was revealed, the people of Sparta were not happy and Cleomones wasforced to flee the city.

 He then set about gathering a formidable armyin the surrounding territories. Wisely, the Spartans allowed him to returnbut, believing that their king had gone insane, had him thrown into chains. Apparently, this order was carried out onthe directions of Leonidas. Cleomones was placed under the guard of theHelot slave class. The imprisoned king managed to persuade oneof his captors to lend him his dagger. With that he apparently committed an appallingsort of hari-kari, slicing himself into pieces from his feet upward. When Cleomones had taken the throne thirtyyears previously, his half-brother Dorieus, who was older than Leonidas, was incensedthat the throne had passed him by. Finding it impossible to remain in Sparta,he attempted to establish a colony in Africa. When this failed, he went to Sicily wherehe met an untimely death. So, it was that, on the death of Cleomonesin 490, Leonidas was next in line for the throne. The Persian ThreatImmediately upon ascending the throne, Leonidas was thrown into the heat of conflict. For years the Persians had been threateningGreece and now, the situation was at a critical point. Swift action was needed – and Leonidas provedto be the right man to deliver it.

 The goal of the Persians was the absolutesubjection of Greece. They already ruled over a number of Greekcities on the coast of Asia. The continued existence of other Greek citystates was a beacon of light for those already engulfed by the Persians, making them dreamof independence. This was not acceptable to Persian king Xerxes. To crush all Grecian resistance, Xerxes hasgathered together a massive force, consisting of 1207 warships, and as many as 1, 700,000warriors. In stark contrast, the Greeks were badly disunited. Of more than one hundred city states, only31 had agreed to stand and fight against the Persians. The kings of these 31 states met and sworean oath to fight the Persians and to punish any cities that went over to the Persian side. Still, with the key states of Thessaly andBoiotia supporting Persia, there was no active resistance to the invaders right down to thecity of Athens. The Spartans had taken on the mantle of leadershipin the resistance. The city was recognised as being in a positionof moral, political and, above all, military pre-eminence in all of Greece. Under Leonidas, the Spartans were absolutelydetermined to fight, to conquer or to die. The alliance with other resisting city-statesallowed Leonidas to put around 60,000 men into the field. King Xerxes of Persia believed that his overwhelmingsuperiority in numbers would guarantee the victory. It was his strategy to keep his naval fleetand his infantry closely connected. The infantry thus marched along the shoreand the Persians even dug a canal through Mount Athos to allow the ships to stay closewhen the army got inland.

 By August 18th, 480, Xerxes had overrun Macedonia,and Thessaly. His army had now arrived at the place calledThermopylae, a narrow pass between Thessaly and the ocean. Leonidas knew that he could never defeat theentire Persian army. But he believed that if he could inflict adevastating blow of such magnitude that it decimated a portion of that army, the psychologicaldamage would be such that the Persians would withdraw. But not everyone was convinced that this strategywould work. Undermining Leonidas’ strategy was the oracleof Apollo at Delphi, who was considered to have a hotline to the Gods of Greece. When the Spartans had approached the Oracleasking whether they should resist the Persians the reply that came back was . . .Either the king of Sparta must die or the Spartans themselves must be conquered, fornothing can stand before the might of the Persian king. Each successive city state that approachedthe Oracle was likewise given a premonition of doom. Still, Leonidas was not deterred.

 He, and every Spartan warrior with him, wouldgive his last breath to keep the Persians out of their beloved city-state. Leonidas did want to meet the overwhelmingPersian force on the open field. It was his intention to withdraw to the spotwhere the Peloponnesian Peninsula joins the land of Attica. This was a very narrow strip of land justa mile and a half long. Here he would set his men to building a defensivewall behind which they would fight Xerxes’ army. The problem with this plan was that it leftAthens completed without any protection. So, against his better judgement, Leonidasagreed to take a small force up to Thermopylae and to engage the Persians at the narrowestpoint of the pass. Here, the great military advantage of thePersians, the use if cavalry, would be negated. Last Stand at ThermopylaeLeonidas decided that 300 Spartan warriors would be selected for the defence of Thermopylae– and they would be led by he himself. Why were just 300 chosen and why these particular300? Firstly 300 was a manageable number for anelite taskforce. Secondly the figure 300 had strong symbolicand practical overtones in Sparta, as it was the fixed number of the regular royal bodyguard.

The bodyguards were known as the hippeis meaningcavalrymen, though in fact they served as infantrymen in the dead centre of the hoplitephalanx, where the commanding king would be stationed. The three hundred hippeis were especiallyselected in an intense completion from among men in the ten youngest adult citizen year-classes,aged between twenty and twenty-nine. Leonidas’ Thermopylae advance guard of 300,however, was to be selected with one crucial additional criterion. Besides being exceptionally brave, skilfuland patriotic, each of the chosen few must also have a living son. This would ensure that a son would be in placeto carry on his father’s name. These heirs would then constitute an elitewithin an elite, bursting with pride to emulate the feat of their late fathers. In addition to the three hundred Spartans,Leonidas took around 4,000 Peloponnesians and around a thousand non-combatant Helots. It is clear that the Thermopylae 300 wereto be, in effect, a suicide squad. The pass at Thermopylae had a flat plain infront of it, and that was where the Persians were encamped. The pass through the mountains to the seawas only six feet wide at points. At the point where the pass widened to fiftyfeet, the Spartans set about repairing an existing wall and making it a much more defensiblelocation. After Xerxe’s vast Persian forces arrivedat the pass’ western end, a three of four days’ delay occurred before he launchedhis assault. In this pre battle pause, it is reported thatXerxes sent a message to Leonidas, demanding that he hand over his arms. The Spartan King replied in just two words– Molon Labe! “Come and get them yourself!” It was also during this lull before the stormthat Persian advance reconnaissance reported back to Xerxes the strange behaviour theysaw among the Spartans. Rather than being anxious of the coming attack,the Greek warriors appeared supremely at ease.

 They busied themselves with bathing, braidingone another’s hair and dancing. The Persians interpreted this as signs offear induced madness until a traitorous Greek in their midst informed the king that theSpartans were not mad. What the Persian spies had seen were the actionsof proud heroes preparing themselves for their final life and death struggle. The person king first sent in the Medes, aforce of about two thousand. But these forces proved no match for the Spartans. They wore neither helmets nor greaves andtheir shields were made of wickerwork. In the confined spaces of the pass, they wereunable to take advantage of their superiority in numbers. When the Medes unleashed a hail of arrowson the defenders, in unison the Spartans lifted their shields overhead to form a defensiveroof over their heads.

The Medes and the ranks of troops that followedthem did the best they possibly could under the judgemental eye of their king. But it was not enough, and they suffered heavylosses. In fact, losses were so great that, on threeoccasions, Xerxes is said to have leapt up in horror from his specially constructed throne,appalled at the carnage and slaughter of some of his best men. From behind the protection of the refurbishedPhaeacian wall Leonidas’ men resisted by fighting in relays. This clever tactic maximized the efficientoutput of their limited resources and energies. Leonidas also managed to pull off a seriesof feigned retreats followed by a sudden about turn, then a murderous onslaught on theiroverconfident and distorted pursuers. Eventually, towards the end of daylight, Xerxesfelt that he had no option but to send in his elite royal bodyguard, the ten thousandImmortals, under the command of Hydarnes. But, once again the attack was to no avail– and it came at the cost of serious casualties.

 The gore and bloodshed that engorged the narrowmountain pass was overwhelming. The piles of quickly rotting corpses mounted,the flies swarmed and the stench was palpable. The battle raged into a second day, and stillXerxes was unable to make a breakthrough. By now some 20,000 Persians had fallen tothe Greek resistance and the demoralizing effect on the remains of the Persian armywas telling – why could they not turn back these few rebels? Betrayal and DeathWith his frustration at boiling point Xerxes finally received his break, not through hismilitary superiority but by means of a traitor. Xerxes was approached by a Greek turn-coatby the name of Ephialtes from the city of Malis who was very familiar with the pathscrossing the mountain range. He told the king of another path through themountain that would allow the Persians to bypass the Greek defensive position. Ephialtes offered to escort as many as 10,000Persian troops through that path by night and turn the flank of the Spartans. The Spartans knew of the existence of thisalternative route, but they didn’t know that Xerxes knew about it.

Xerxes gave this special mission to membersof the royal guard of Immortals, and led by Ephialtes, they set out in silence at nightfall,aided by a full moon. After a heroic climb through the Anopaea mountainrange, up to 1,000 metres, they easily brushed off and bypassed the thousand Phaeacian guardsposted by Leonidas. These troops were ill-prepared and were takencompletely by surprise. Leonidas has long been blamed for not postinga stronger reinforcement of the Anopea path. By the morning of day 3 of the conflict, thePersians had the Greeks outflanked. Leonidas was now in a pincer grip, caughtfrom the rear as well as the front. It is at this point that Leonidas, havingrecognized the hopelessness of the situation, gathered his forces together and ordered allof the troops, except the Spartans, to make their escape. Their cities would need them to fight anotherday. But the Spartans were to make their last standthere at Thermopylae. All melted away, except for a group of aboutfour hundred from Thesbes.

When asked by the king why they, too, didnot go, they replied that they have stayed because the Spartans have stayed. They would die with them. The Greeks made their last stand mostly outsidethe Middle Gate wall, enabling them to close directly with the oncoming enemy. Leonidas showed himself a true Spartan bythe words with which allegedly ordered his men to take their early morning meal beforethe final encounter . . . This evening, we shall dine in Hades. The Spartans sold their souls at a heavy cost. The Persian losses at the beginning of Day3 were reportedly heavier even than those sustained on the previous two days. The Greeks, depleted though their numberswere, repeatedly drove the Persians back. Then, inevitably, the 10, 000 of the PersianRoyal Guard of Immortals emerged from the rear. Leonidas fought and died like a man possessed. When his word shattered after one too manydeath blows, he used his hands and mouth to inflict injury upon the enemy. The exact manner of his death is unrecorded,but we do know that, as soon as he fell, the Persians took hold of the body and tried todrag it away.

Seeing this, the Spartans leapt on their kingand attempted to pull him back. Four times the body of Leonidas was draggedaway before the remnant of the Spartan defenders got full possession of it and formed a defensivecircle around it. In this position, with their spears and lancesbroken, their bodies battered and bloodied, and their dead king in their midst, the Spartansresorted to throwing rocks at the surrounding force of Persians. Finally, a massive hail of arrows was launchedand the last Spartans were cut down. Perhaps the greatest testament to the effectivenessof the heroic defence which Leonidas had affected against the Persians was the treatment ofhis corpse by Xerxes. The Spartan king was decapitated and his bodywas crucified. Xerxes then went about trying to hide thetrue number of casualties that his men had suffered. But the great defence by the Spartans couldnot be hidden from history. The deaths of Leonidas and his fellow Spartansgreatly lifted Greek morale. And the vital period that the Spartans hadheld up the Persian advance gave time for the Athenian Greek fleet to wreak havoc onthe Persian navy and eventually led to the defeat of the Persian threat. So, by giving his life so dearly at Thermopylae,Leonidas became the saviour  of his people.