How Did The Spartans Get At Least As Much Credit As The Athenians

The three sources provided give a range of views surrounding the statement ‘The Spartans deserve at least as much credit as the Athenians for the Greek victory over the Persians in 480 - 479 BC. The first source comes from Herodotus’ Histories book 7 extract 220. This passage describes a scene from the battle of Thermopylae and works in favour for the spartans having more credit as it portrays their leadership and military experience. The second source gives given, is again from Herodotus’ Histories, this time from book 8 extract 60. It describes the battle of Salamis and emphasises the importance of Athens’ role in the war. Finally, the third source, once again from Herodotus’ histories, book 9 extract 60 describes the battle of Plataea and

This is because Athens were better at commanding a successful naval battle, in a way the Spartans never could. Without Themistocles persuasion in his speech, echoing the words of Miltiades from the Battle of Marathon, ‘This is your chance to save Greece’, they would not have been able to afford the ‘heavy ships’ that worked as battering rams against the Persians lighter ships. Therefore, the Spartans do not deserve as much credit as the Athenians as the Athenians could still have won the battle of Salamis without Spartan aid. However, Herodotus claims that in Themistocles speech ot the allies, he states, ‘their land forces will keep pace with the fleet’. This acknowledges the fact that Themistocles, and in turn Athens, knew that this would not be the end of the battle. This shows that there is still a need for Sparta and that the Athenians will need their land battle experience in order to completely remove the Persians from the Greek territory. Therefore, the Athenians would need the Spartans, and they should be given credit for their land

Herodotus explains how the Spartans carried on defending Greece even though they were in distress from the continuous shooting of arrows form the Persians. This was not a situation the Spartans were used to as they were more skilled in close combat, whereas the Median soldiers were highly skilled archmen. Therefore, the Spartans should be given more credit than the Athenians for holding the line even in conditions they were not used to, under severe distress. However, the passage later goes on to reveal that the Spartans needed the Athenians help as they were only holding the line. They had no way to penetrate the Persians barricade that they built with their wicker shields and without the Athenians there was not much they could do. Therefore, the Spartans should not get more credit than the Athenians because they were not able to win the Battle of Platea without the