Episode 3: The Women of Sparta, Part 2

Why did king Leonidas pick the specific 300 warriors that he did to fight the Persians (and to face certain death) at Thermopylae? To this day, no one knows. In Gates of Fire, I imagined an answer. Leonidas chose his Three Hundred-including himself, for he knew he too would die in the coming battle-not for their own courage but for the courage of their women. In today’s video we’ll investigate further the mindset of these wives and mothers, sisters and daughters of the ancient world’s premier warrior culture.
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[@HarshRealityNewsletter]

I read Gates of Fire while on my second tour as an infantryman in Iraq. It really helped to keep my mind right when politics was dominating the battlefield. I appreciate your work and will read your other books as well.

[@brentcantrell9334]

I love Pressfield. He inspires me to finish writing. Thank you for giving me a legacy to leave my children. You are very kind to write and share your knowledge.

[@peterbrockwell2009]

I've read Steve's GoF twice, but still find this scene exquisitely beautiful. The women of GoF are extraordinary. I love that Arete claims Rooster's child as the illegitimate offspring of Dienekes even though she knows that this will doom her husband. I just read through the Wikipedia page on GoF, and there is no mention of the women! I might give thought to editing it myself. Such a beautiful, moving, novel.

[@AleksCanard]

Despite this story being fictional, I'd totally believe it as the real reason Leonidas picked his men given what's talked about in your previous video.

[@StevePressfield]

Thanks Aleks. It's definitely one of the scenes that seems to resonate most with people. Thanks for joining in.

[@lunamoondrop]

cool story :)

[@themachinemr.d6709]

We Greeks know why he chose only 300 Spartans to go into battle. Had you seen the original movie The 300 Spartans done back in the 60's or had a Mother who was very knowledgedable about Greek history, you would have learned why. It was during the high holy days and the Spartan counsel refused to allow him to take the full army of Sparta with him because of this holy time, that is why he took his own personal guard of 300 Spartans~!

[@greenfoxillustration]

Fuck! this Is so interesting and inspiring as a woman! Thanks for doing these their great! *sends to closest female friends*

[@roxanneroshanak1831]

Good work, very nice, thank you very much. But are you sure that Leonidas and his 300 went to that suicidal battle to become an example or give time to the rest of the greek cities to prepare for the war? Have you ever heard about the theory of a consiracy against the Spartan king Leonidas? Many questions on that battle have brought life to that theory. Even the historians of that time were wondering why the Efori (council of 5 seniors who share power with the 2 kings) of Sparta sent ONLY 300 men to battle! They wanted to get rid of him and his supporters. It was no coincidence that all 300 of his warrios had sons. Then again thank you very very much for your work on Sparta and Spartan women. Athens or Sparta? I vote for Sparta!!!

[@shrapmagnet]

Every US military wife and mother should watch this.

[@StevePressfield]

You can get this delivered directly to your email if you'd like - subscribe through the website. StevenPressfield.com

[@juju1896]

The backbone and the glue. That's the role of women in every culture. Always has been.

[@themachinemr.d6709]

Mr Pressfield, completely fictional is correct. Please read my comment below to know why Leonidas chose only 300 Spartans to go to Thermopylae. You're very welcome.

[@shadowbaby4238]

#gatesoffire

[@TheRealTomahawk]

They stole from the Old Testament. They knew about Shem Ham and Japheth the Spartans themselves being brothers of the Jews from Simeon or Levi

[@samspade2657]

This is why I would never have a female (feminist) editor. Perpaps you are giving a bit too much credit to the females.

[@samspade2657]

Spartan women owned 40% of the land. Aristotle reported that Sparta had become a "gynocratia" and that the Spartan women behaved shamefully when Thebes successfully invaded Sparta.

[@andrewwright1374]

I agree with you that selflessness and stoicism are admirable qualities but I also think there is a certain amount of telling people what they want to hear. If Sparta was the ultimate warrior society, it was also the one with the highest proportion of slaves in Ancient Greece. This warrior ethic was confined to a very small number of elites: acoup.blog/2019/08/23/collections-this-isnt-sparta-part-ii-spartan-equality/. I also think that struggle and warrior archetype are conflated here. Many people struggle and the struggle, particularly selfless struggle is admirable. Struggle doesn't mean that they are all warriors.

[@blue_mara]

I really don't resonate with this message. Suppression of grief and other emotions leads to disconnection and suffering. Grief needs to be expressed and shared for us to make room for inspiration, joy and connection. Life of suppression will get us nowhere.

[@FirstnameLastname-ys1up]

Warrior culture.

[@blincx1]

It was the old time, where everybody hide their grief and tears, not like today where we go out and yelling to show our tears to someone, anyone. In matter of fact, that started to became popular just 40-50 yrs ago. Before that, it was keep your grief to yourself and the tears are sign of weakness. I still behave like that to this day.

[@mrkalamo]

I think it’s intended in the context of dealing with a crisis. The women are as much a part of the army as the soldiers, so they need to respond to loss in the same way a soldier would in the heat of battle. In Gates of Fire, there’s a scene after a battle where the Spartans take stock of who has died, and the warriors are moved to tears and involuntary body movements. So the grief is still expressed, but when the crisis is over. For the women, their crisis is done once the war is over.