re: #129 Kragar

Don’t diss Leonidas. His plan at Thermopylae was sound, since the Greeks could face the Persian army only at places that limited the massive Persian numerical advantage. So he chose just such a position and defended it.

Moreover, while the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC was ultimately halted by a major Greek victory at Salamis, the Greeks could not have counted on that sort of devastating win at the outset of the campaign. Another reason Leonidas decided on a defensive stand at Thermopylae was that the other (and more likely) way the coalition of Greek cities could survive would be for the Persians to run out of supplies. Xerxes had at least 120,000 men under his command and an army that huge could not afford to the stay in once place for long. Thus Xerxes desperation to break through at Thermopylae: His army needed to either push on or give up. as it would strip the area bare if stayed there too long.