Original subtitles

Narrator: the spartans --

The greatest warriors Of ancient greece.

"Spartans" became a byword For heroism and courage.

Narrator: These fearless fighters

Carved their names into legend

At thermopylae...

In an epic battle

That changes The course of history.

What the spartans achieved at Thermopylae was immortal glory.

Narrator: ancient sources claim 300 spartans

Hold off an army Of more than 1 million men,

But how much of this Blood-soaked tale is true?

For thousands of years, people Have wanted to know the truth

Of what actually happened here.

Narrator: today, investigators Use satellite technology

And weapons tests

To reveal the secrets Of this monumental clash.

♪♪

-ah! -oh!

Narrator: to unlock the truth Behind these ancient warriors,

We'll rebuild the battlefield Of their greatest conflict --

Reconstruct their lost city In the mountains

And reveal the hidden evidence Of their courageous last stand.

--captions by vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

Thermopylae, central greece --

Today, the kallidromo mountains

Loom over a peaceful landscape,

But 2,500 years ago,

These slopes ring With the sound of war.

The battle of thermopylae Has become

One of the most famous Battles in history.

Narrator: At this ancient battlefield,

Two great armies collide

In a clash Of extraordinary proportions.

Legend has it that in 480 b.C.,

The persian king xerxes Invades greece

With an army Of more than 1 million men.

To reach the greek capital,

They have to squeeze through The narrow coastal pass

At thermopylae,

But one thing stands In their way --

300 elite spartan warriors Armed to the teeth.

♪♪

The 300 spartans hold off The persian forces for 3 days,

Killing tens of thousands.

Is there any truth to this Incredible war story?

[ indistinct shouting ]

Historian ian macgregor morris Is on a quest to discover

What really happens At thermopylae.

He wants to know where reality Lies within the legend,

But the stories Come from ancient texts

Written after the fighting ends.

Morris: the writers Were not at the battle,

So we always have to be Very careful reading them.

Narrator: ian first wants to Examine why the spartans

Take on what seems Like a suicide mission.

His investigation starts here at The ancient sanctuary of delphi.

This is where the spartan road To war begins.

Morris: delphi was a crucial Place in the lead-up to the war.

It was a site of gossip, People spreading ideas,

Rumors of the coming threats.

♪♪

Narrator: in 480 b.C., sparta Is just one small city-state

In a divided greece.

Persia is a superpower

That's conquered two-thirds Of the known world.

Now it's hell-bent On crushing greece.

Legend says that the spartan King and commander, leonidas,

Sends emissaries to delphi

To seek advice On the gathering storm.

They gain an audience With delphi's magical priestess.

Known as the oracle, she Can supposedly tell the future.

Before any major undertaking,

Spartans would ask The approval of the oracle.

Narrator: 2,500 years ago,

Delphi is home to a grand temple Dedicated to apollo,

The god of truth and prophecy.

Legend has it that deep In the bowels of the temple

Is a forbidden room -- The inner sanctum of the oracle.

Here, the essence of apollo Leaks through the floor,

Sending the priestess Into a deep trance.

♪♪

She predicts that if The spartans fight persia,

Either their city Will be destroyed,

Or their king will die.

♪♪

Can this prophecy of doom

Convince the spartans To go to war?

To find out, ian first Wants to discover

If there's any truth behind The story of the priestess.

Incredibly, the fumes That fuel the oracle's visions

Could have A real-world explanation.

Ian searches for evidence On the mountainside

Where delphi is built.

This jagged spike of rock Is a clue.

Morris: and what we see here Is evidence of a fault line

Running under the landscape Through this part of greece.

It is evidence of great Geological activity.

Narrator: earthquakes have Shaken these mountains

For thousands of years.

They push rocks like this Out of the ground.

Ian thinks the same Seismic activity

Could be responsible For the oracle's visions.

Morris: ruptures caused By this violent movement

Could have released Trapped gases,

And these vapors emerging From the earth

Could've inspired the legends

And the stories of the Intoxication of the priestess.

Morris: these hallucinogenic Vapors send the oracle

Into an otherworldly trance.

For the ancient greeks,

It's a terrifying And convincing spectacle.

We have this evidence That it had a very real impact

On people's lives.

Again and again in our sources,

The spartans regularly Sent officials here

To ask key questions Of the priestess.

Narrator: ian thinks there's A grain of truth

To the story of the oracle.

The prophecies of the priestess Were taken very,

Very seriously, indeed.

The oracle the spartans received Did not give them much choice.

It made the actions of leonidas Absolutely necessary.

♪♪

Narrator: the spartan king

Believes in the oracle's Premonition of his death.

For him, It's a sign of his destiny,

That he must sacrifice himself In battle

To save sparta From persian tyranny.

Driven by the prophecy,

Leonidas readies His troops for war.

Convinced they're marching To their deaths,

He selects Only experienced warriors

Who leave behind sons To keep their lineage alive.

♪♪

It's clear they can't face The coming threat alone...

♪♪

...But in the lead-up to battle,

Many greek states Would rather submit to persia

Than take on xerxes' huge army.

With the invasion of xerxes, Only certain greek states

Saw a mutual interest In fighting side by side.

Narrator: but ian believes Leonidas taking a stand

Against the invaders

Inspires rival states To join sparta at war.

♪♪

Morris: He made a very deliberate choice To symbolically resist persia.

This in itself is an incredibly Heroic stance

To encourage the rest Of the allies to come together.

♪♪

Narrator: In the summer of 480 b.C.,

Leonidas mobilizes 300 Of his finest warriors.

♪♪

On the road to war, other forces Join them from all over greece.

♪♪

As leonidas marches Over 200 miles to thermopylae,

He picks up troops From over 30 greek states.

The 300 spartans fighting alone Is a modern myth.

On the eve of battle, The greeks are 7,000 strong.

♪♪

The spartans will form The front line

Against the gigantic Persian army,

Which is said to be The largest in the world.

Legend has it, they hold off The relentless enemy attack

For three days, But are the stories accurate?

Now, investigators can finally Reveal the secrets

Of how leonidas and his warriors Fight back against annihilation.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Thermopylae, greece, 480 b.C. --

King leonidas marches here

With 300 elite spartan warriors

Joined by 7,000 greek troops.

♪♪

Ancient sources estimate The opposing persian army

To consist of 1 million men.

It's said the spartans Fight them off for three days.

It's an incredible feat, But is it true?

♪♪

Ancient writers say The spartans make their stand

At a narrow pass flanked By mountains and the sea.

They claim it's key To the spartan battle plan.

Ian macgregor morris, An expert on sparta,

Has come to the battle site

To see if legend Matches up with reality.

Morris: below me is The battlefield of thermopylae,

But what we see here Is utterly different

From what is described In our sources.

The sea is miles away.

The cliffs are not Particularly steep here.

Narrator: it seems like The sources are flawed,

But in the 2,500 years Since the battle,

The scenery here Has changed dramatically.

♪♪

Blowing away the modern Landscape

Reveals a mix of salt, Sediment, and marine fossils,

A clue that this Isn't always dry land.

It leads to a shelf of brilliant White travertine rock

Laid down by Mineral-rich hot springs.

At the time of the battle, This is 60 feet lower

And right on the waterline, Creating a narrow strip of land

Between the sea And the mountains.

This hidden landscape fits the Description of the battlefield.

Is this really where The spartans face off

Against the persians?

Where I'm standing would've been The coastline in 480 b.C.

Opposite me -- sheer cliffs.

Narrator: ian thinks The landscape is a key factor

In the spartan battle plan,

But hot springs have helped Bury the original battlefield

In a strange Sulfurous landscape,

Making it tough for ian To be sure he's at the spot

Where the fighting takes place.

He climbs to higher ground

Searching for the evidence He needs

And finds what could be The remains of an ancient wall.

The legend says the spartans Use it to defend their camp.

These large blocks, We can see their size

And how they've been shaped,

Are typical of the years Of greek history

Before the invasion of xerxes, And where we are here,

Just above The pass of thermopylae,

It's highly probable That this is the wall

That our ancient sources Mention.

Narrator: for ian, The wall is further proof

That the sources are accurate.

At the bottom of this slope

Is where the spartans clash With the persians.

Morris: the location of the wall Implies that many of the details

We read in those ancient sources

All tie in with what We actually find here.

Narrator: now that he's found The right location,

Ian thinks the spartan decision To fight here

Is an ingenious tactic.

Morris: When you reach thermopylae,

Leonidas knew With comparatively few men,

The best way to stop The persians

Was to block the road At the narrowest point

That couldn't be outflanked.

Narrator: Ian uses geological data

To reconstruct the coastline In 480 b.C.

♪♪

He marks out the dimensions Of the ancient pass

To calculate how many men It would take to defend.

We see how close we are To the cliffs here.

In this space,

We could fit perhaps 20 spartan warriors in a line,

A wall of bronze Blocking the road into greece.

The data reveals A narrow battlefield

That suits The small spartan army,

But it plays havoc with The persian plan of attack.

The persians could not utilize Their huge numbers.

The narrowness of the road meant That persians were funneled in

To face the greek line.

Narrator: a narrow battlefield Means the persians

Can't overwhelm the greeks With their huge numbers,

But does it really help The spartans

To fight off a million men?

A clue lies in A long-lost structure

That the persian king builds On his way to thermopylae.

♪♪

To move his army into greece,

Xerxes must cross a mile-wide Stretch of sea

Separating asia from europe.

♪♪

According to legend, he anchors 700 ships in the strait

And has them lashed together With thick ropes.

His men lay wooden planks Across the top

And cover them earth To make a roadway.

This creates Two huge pontoon bridges

That carry the massive Persian war machine

Into europe in just seven days.

♪♪

But do the greeks really face

The biggest army In the ancient world?

Ian looks for answers In carvings

On the tomb of xerxes, The persian king.

Morris: There are 30 different peoples

Illustrated on this relief,

Including the wealthiest nations In the known world.

This indicates The vast resources

That xerxes could call upon When he wanted to raise an army.

Narrator: xerxes certainly Has the means to assemble

A massive military force,

But ian thinks the size of His army is wildly exaggerated.

How would you supply them With water, with food,

With necessary medicines?

The reality of logistics And necessity

Means that he would've been Marching,

At the most, 100,000 Rather than millions.

♪♪

Narrator: the persian army may Not be a million strong

As the ancient texts claim,

But it's still over 10 times Larger than the greek force.

♪♪

It's said that before Xerxes attacks,

He gives the spartans One last chance to surrender.

Some sources tell us That the final demand of xerxes

Was simply that the spartans Surrender their arms.

Supposedly, leonidas replied, "Come and take them."

Narrator: The stage is set for one of the Most famous battles in history.

To stand a chance, the spartans Must not only hold their line,

But kill thousands of persians In the process.

Can 300 spartans Really take the fight

To an enemy Of such massive proportions?

[ chatter ]

What makes them the most Effective military force

On the planet?

♪♪

Narrator: The battle of thermopylae.

A spartan-led greek force Of 7,000 men

Take on what Investigators believe

Are 100,000 invading persians.

♪♪

Legend says the spartans Fight off

This gigantic enemy For three days.

Can it be true?

When we look at the size Of the two armies,

We might expect the persians

To overcome the greeks Very quickly,

But that's not what happened.

Narrator: Day one of the battle --

The spartan front line tears Into the persian infantry.

They were well-drilled. They were professional,

And they knew What they were expecting.

Narrator: the narrow terrain At thermopylae helps them

To even the odds,

But how do these warriors cut Down such a formidable enemy?

♪ ahh

The persian army Is a sea of light weapons --

Bows, spears and daggers.

The spartans are built Like tanks.

Beneath their bronze shields

Is a thick layer Of shock-absorbing wood.

Their hand-molded bronze armor Covers their face and body.

Their iron swords are short, But deadly in close combat.

♪♪

Their long wooden spears With vicious double tips

Are lethal weapons.

Armed to the teeth, The spartans fear no one.

♪♪

Ex-royal marine dr. Nic fields

Studies the tactics Of the soldiers

On the spartan front line.

He thinks their success is due To a tight military formation,

Where fighters close ranks And lock shields.

It's called the phalanx.

[ man shouting in latin ]

As the phalanx is formed,

The front line Becomes a wall of shields

That can defend and attack.

The shield is the phalanx, And you can see why here --

The overlapping, Protecting the man

From the bottom of his helmet To his knee.

The spear is used to thrust Over the top rim,

So it can only be used in one Direction to jab, jab, jab, jab.

♪♪

Narrator: it's a formation That relies on discipline,

Coordination, and trust.

Fields: the shield only covers Half his body,

And therefore, he has to rely On the man standing next to him,

To the right, to the actually Cover the exposed side,

And therefore, it's very Important they actually

Keep the formation.

Locked into their ranks,

The spartans form An impenetrable barrier,

But they don't wait For the persians to engage.

[ man shouting in latin ]

The phalanx is a war machine That can advance on the enemy.

Fields: From the persian point of view,

It must have been A, psychologically speaking,

Quite the frightening effect,

And all you see Is this mass of bronze

And spearpoints Advancing towards you.

It would've just simply Rolled over the persian line,

No contest.

♪♪

Narrator: The phalanx crushes the first Waves of persian infantry.

Determined To break the spartan line,

Xerxes sends In the immortals.

These elite warriors are Just as tough as the spartans,

Armed with spears And large shields,

But at the moment of impact,

The phalanx has A final advantage.

The spartan spear Is nearly 3 feet longer

Than the persian spear.

This was a far batter weapon

When it came to actually Coming into close combat.

You can see even From that distance,

He can have a clear shot At our exposed face

Of our persian warrior there.

Nic believes the persians Have no answer

To the power of the phalanx.

Xerxes would've expected The battle to be over

In five minutes, But the spartans had

The best military hardware Available at the time.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: in close combat,

The persians crush against The spartan shields

And right into their spears.

Even large volleys Of persian arrows

Can't penetrate The spartans' tight formation.

♪♪

Even for xerxes' Unstoppable force,

The phalanx Is an immovable object.

♪♪

Their superior tactics And lethal hardware

Give the spartan soldiers A huge advantage

Over their persian rivals,

But for nic, it's warrior unity That keeps it all together.

Fields: the phalanx represents This idea of a community,

But a community On the battlefield.

They knew the guys either To the left of them,

To the right of them, Behind them,

And in front of them.

That was the strength Of the spartans.

Narrator: The spartans are brutally Efficient fighting machines.

At the end of the first day,

Their determination to fight on Is as strong as ever.

What gives these men Such a brutal killing instinct

In the face of endless assault?

♪♪

Incredible evidence from The lost city of sparta

Reveals a remarkable warrior Society like nothing ever seen.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: day two of the battle Of thermopylae --

Once again, the spartans Use their superior weapons

And tactics to slaughter wave After wave of persian infantry.

♪♪

What makes these men Unstoppable killing machines?

♪♪

A clue lies over 200 miles away.

This is sparta, The birthplace of the 300.

Archaeologist maria tsouli Is on a quest to find out

What life is like in 480 b.C.

She uncovers a city That was once the most powerful

In all of greece.

♪♪

♪♪

At the time of leonidas,

Spartan has temples, Monuments,

And a market square At its heart,

Just like other greek cities,

But that's where The similarities end.

Scattered around the center

Are the modest dwellings Of the spartans.

Sparta is no Gleaming metropolis

But a patchwork of basic brick Houses and military barracks,

And unlike other greek cities, It has no wall around it,

Only farmland.

Sparta doesn't need walls.

It has warriors.

Maria investigates how Such a simple city

Can produce fighting machines Like leonidas and his men.

She explores a temple In the heart of the city.

Ancient authors describe How at this altar,

Young spartans have to endure A horrifying initiation rite.

♪♪

Do these barbaric scenes Really happen?

First, maria checks for evidence

That the altar dates To the time of the spartans.

Mortar on the smaller stones Suggest they're not old enough,

But at the base Of the structure,

She finds traces Of spartan construction.

♪♪

At the edge of the temple, Maria finds more proof --

Foundations of a huge structure

That appears To surround the altar.

♪♪

Maria thinks the presence Of the amphitheater

Confirms the ancient stories.

♪♪

The whipping ritual is more than Just a sadistic spectacle.

Maria believes it prepares Young spartans

For life as warriors.

♪♪

A brutal military regime

Emerges from the ruins Of this lost city.

♪♪

From birth, spartans Are bred for hardship.

Mothers bathe their Newborn sons in wine,

Believing it Will make them tougher.

♪♪

[ dog barking ]

At the age of 7, Boys must leave home

And start their brutal Military training.

[ men shouting ]

Deliberately starved And exposed to the elements,

They learn to outwit And outlast opponents in battle.

♪♪

By the age of 20,

They're lean-and-mean Fighting machines,

Ready to join the army Of sparta.

♪♪

Warriors rule sparta.

It's a city feared Throughout ancient greece.

For leonidas and his men,

A life devoted To military training

Builds up to one moment At thermopylae.

Here, 300 spartans Hold their line

And stand strong against The mighty persians,

But on the evening Of the second day,

The persian king xerxes Discovers a fatal flaw

In the spartan battle plan.

How do the persians finally Break the spartan line,

And how do leonidas And his men respond

When facing certain death?

♪♪

Narrator: dawn on day three At the battle of thermopylae --

For two days, Leonidas and his men

Have fought heroically Against impossible odds.

Now, they gear up once more

To cut down A new persian offensive,

But an incredible discovery From the battlefield itself

Could reveal how the persians Finally defeat the spartans.

♪♪

At the narrow pass,

The spartans hold strong Against the persians,

But there's a clue that they Abandon their safe position.

♪♪

One mile to the south is a hill

Where archaeologists discover Scores of persian arrowheads.

♪♪

The iron is corroded, But they are lethal weapons

Designed to inflict Brutal injury.

They're evidence of a massive Aerial barrage.

Are these the missiles that end The battle of thermopylae?

♪♪

♪♪

Ian macgregor morris thinks The arrowheads could reveal

What happens in the final Moments of the battle.

He's come to athens, Where the ancient finds

Are kept in Controlled conditions.

Morris: these arrowheads are The most significant piece

Of tangible evidence We really have

About what took place there.

We see the three-winged Arrowhead,

Which is probably the most Commonly used form of arrowhead

In the persian army.

The very location these were Discovered,

It was perfectly possible That it was weapons like these,

Maybe even some of these Weapons,

That killed the last Of the spartans

Pretty much as the sources Describes it.

♪♪

Narrator: the arrowheads seem to Confirm how the spartans died,

But they don't reveal Why they die here.

According to legend,

The persians are handed A tactical breakthrough.

Morris: the ancient sources tell Us of the key turning moment

In the battle When a lone traitor

Offers to guide xerxes Through the mountains

In return for gold.

Narrator: If the stories are accurate,

Persian troops outflank The spartan position overnight.

Does a traitor guide thousands Of heavily armed troops

Across nine miles of mountains,

Forcing the spartans to retreat?

Is this really how the fighting Comes to an end?

To figure out, ian hikes up Into the kallidromo mountains.

He uses gps data to investigate.

Morris: each of these points Is a marker.

By tracking these parts,

It's possible To determine routes

That the persians Might've taken.

Narrator: near the summit, He finds an old cattle trail,

A route he thinks The persians could've taken.

The path probably started here, Ascending this slope,

Skirting the southern slopes Of the summit of the mountain

And emerging here behind The greek forces in the pass.

♪♪

Narrator: the spartan phalanx Is finally outflanked.

Facing certain death,

Leonidas orders Almost all the allied troops

To retreat to safety.

But he and his spartans join The remaining allies

To stay and fight,

Choosing this hill For their last stand.

Morris: Leonidas' decision to stay here

Is the moment in history That he is being judged a hero.

He does not want others To fall needlessly with him.

The spartans have no choice.

If their king stays, They stay also.

Narrator: But there's a final question --

How do the persian arrows Finally break through

The spartan defenses?

Dr. Nic fields works With archery specialist

Chris varigmarin to Investigate what happens next.

Fields: so what would've Finished them off

In those final minutes Of the battle?

To test the power Of the persian arrows,

Chris takes aim at a wooden Replica of a spartan shield.

The shield is their last line Of defense

Against thousands of archers.

Wow. That's a good shot.

From 50 feet, The light arrow is deadly.

Originally, this shield had A very thin layer of bronze

On its face, but, wow.

That's definitely Gone through.

At the last stand, the spartan Defenses are finally overcome.

♪♪

In a hail of arrows,

3 days of brutal warfare Comes to a bloody end,

Finally handing persian victory To king xerxes.

All the evidence suggests

That the battle stories Of the spartans

Are based on incredible Real events at thermopylae.

The accounts given by The ancient sources

Are remarkable accurate.

The legends reveal that after Slaying all the spartans,

The persians display The severed head of leonidas

To mark their triumph.

With the spartan king Vanquished,

Xerxes can now unleash The full might of his army.

♪♪

He pushes past thermopylae,

Ravaging the greek cities In his path.

♪♪

When he finally reaches athens,

He finds it deserted

And burns it to the ground.

♪♪

♪♪

As xerxes' invasion continues,

The conquest of greece Looks inevitable.

So is the last stand Of the spartans

Just a needless display Of courage?

Some believe that The spartan sacrifice

Is more than Just a heroic death.

Does the courage of the 300 At thermopylae

Help the greeks win the war

And turn the spartans Into legends?

♪♪

Narrator: over three days At thermopylae,

300 fearless spartans And their greek allies

Fight and die at the hands Of a huge persian army.

♪♪

The spartan decision To go down fighting

Looks like a futile gesture,

But does their sacrifice Help the greeks win the war?

A clue could lie here Off salamis,

An island that guards The waters surrounding athens.

Marine archaeologist Yannis lolos

Investigates mysterious Submerged ruins

At ampelakia bay.

In the weeks after thermopylae, Persian naval reinforcements

Clash here With an allied greek fleet.

It's a vicious sea battle that Decides the outcome of the war.

Yannis thinks The sunken remains here

Can reveal how the allies Gain the advantage.

He uses drone technology To help him identify

The strange structures.

♪♪

The foundations of large Square buildings

Stretch out into the water.

Further into the bay, a circle Of stones comes into view.

Yannis Thinks the ruins here

Are part of a huge Defensive structure.

♪♪

This bay is ancient greek Naval station.

Pottery fragments on the beach Suggest an earlier harbor

Is operational at the time Of the invasion.

♪♪

Yannis thinks this natural Harbor conceals the greek fleet

As the persians arrive.

He travels to higher ground To get a defender's view.

♪♪

The hills around the harbor Block their view of the bay.

The persians Sail into the channel

Unaware the greeks are waiting.

Using the same tactics As the spartans at thermopylae,

Greek naval commanders Bottleneck the persians.

Skilled greek marines Ram the persian ships

And destroy their enemies In vicious hand-to-hand combat.

Xerxes is defeated,

And the persians retreat Back home,

But yannis believes Ultimate greek victory

Owes more to the 300 spartans Than just their tactics.

The heroic spartans Sacrifice their lives

To buy greece valuable time.

♪♪

At the heart of the battle Of thermopylae is a true story,

One of courage and unity in The face of overwhelming odds.

The ancient sources Were not writing myth.

They were writing history.

Narrator: the sacrifice Of the 300 spartans

Helps the greeks win an epic war With persia

And allows them to Carry on experimenting

With a strange new idea -- Democracy.

The battle of thermopylae Has often been seen

As a turning point In western civilization.

♪♪

The spartans hold off An entire persian army

In a battle that has its roots In a city unlike any other

And a mysterious temple In the mountains.

They fall in a rain of arrows,

But their glorious defeat On the shores of greece

Lives on in legend.

The spartans are true heroes Of the ancient world.

♪♪

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