Thermopylae Revisited - Kolonos Hill and the 300 Spartans (11) - The Review

First of all, sorry for the wonky screen!
This video is intended to clear up some of the arguments surrounding what happened at Thermopylae; the locations and events as they occurred.
This video was recorded in 1080 HD on Monday 02 April 2018.
Thermopylae satellite map: Wally@Dreamworks Distribution Ltd. Imagery ©2018 CNES / Airbus. Map Data ©2018 Google

[@sangweeni304]

I can tell how much you love history and as someone who also loves history I am extremely jealous. I can’t only imagine the energy and history permeating from that battlefield field. This video really touches the soul.

[@jamescobrien]

Great video, never heard it explained such vivid detail with geography. I feel like watching 300 now.

[@MOLONLABE480]

Great to see a Person where is Interest in the Hellenic History. Thank you keep doing. If you want see my Hoplite video at Thermopyle and Athens

[@StephenMaybury72]

You have got some great videos, I shall spend some time watching them, thank you.

[@MOLONLABE480]

@@StephenMaybury72 You are welcome Thanks

[@OnkelFolie]

in ur history? are u a 2500year old spartan or what? :D

[@MOLONLABE480]

@@OnkelFolie Thank you for the misspelling I wrote.

[@taybak8446]

This was absolutely fascinating and I do appreciate your videos. I've watched all 11 on Thermopylae and am touched by your dedication. I've been a lover of Greek myths and history since aged 13. I'm now 54. So your videos were very helpful as a guide and I plan to visit someday soon. Maybe this September before the world goes to bits in a another world war. Cheers!

[@gairmac33]

so grateful for your videos here. So well done, interesting and thorough. Hopefully I'll get to this site myself - to FEEL for myself the incredible drama that took place there...

[@martinstone4846]

Brilliant. Can see why the Persians had a tough time. Great planning by the Greeks. Would have liked to see more of Kolonos hill. Great vid all the same.🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@jumo004]

Thank you for posting and for all your dedicated research.

[@lupecitaproductions9698]

Spectacular demonstration. Thank you so much!

[@14714623]

This is super interesting. Thx for breaking this down. Well done 👍🏻

[@arnaudseche8834]

Hi, thanks for this video. I went there this year, amazing place. When you touch and smell the sand and earth, you can imagine all the epic battles that took place there. I will go back there with my son and father next year, both are in love with Greek history too. Best regards.

[@christophloewen174]

Helpful. Thanks for posting!

[@albibushi3006]

Thanks for the video. Very helpful and informative.

[@omniking3479]

I appreciate people who travel with a higher purpose,thank for the footwork I couldn't undertake.

[@davidhanna8029]

Great debriefing! I found it particularly valuable in differentiating the Anopaia Path from other tracks in the vicinity. Re the first gate and the location of the Persian camp: based on the information board, the south-western corner of the camp is at the entrance to the Asopos River gorge. Taking Leonidas' memorial (the statute) as a reference point that makes it 8kms (as the crow flies) from the memorial to the entrance of the gorge (based on Google Earth). I had originally believed that the Persian camp was much further east (towards Leonidas). There is a river course with a gully or reentrant (?) close to the hot springs facility but Google Earth shows that this is not the Asopos Gorge. Perhaps that is where the confusion arises. If that surmise is correct, then the first gate might be as much as 3km westward of the Leonidas monument, and positioned at the entrance to the pass. None of that makes any difference to the location of the battle, but it is interesting that the Persian camp is much further from the battlefield than I initially assumed. The more distant location makes sense given the size of the invasion force and its needs. Thank you for your review which has been very helpful indeed. I had no idea the battle took place in such an impressive location. One day, perhaps that location and the men who fought there will be commemorated in a film that is worthy of them both. Too bad Dimitri Tiompkin is no longer with us to compose the music for it. Thanks again.

[@beallglory]

Great explanation, thank you

[@cato451]

Great video. I love Thermopylae and the history of the battle. Where I live in California there is a very narrow section of flat ground bookended by ocean and mountains. Every day I drive this section I think of Thermopylae. I must visit the real place some day.

[@mauronistri3929]

I need to thank you so much from Italy, Florence. Great video, great work. Very usefull mapping. It should be recommend to everyone before visiting the place. Because it's quite different by what we imagine (and also by the movie). I visited the plas as young and understood nothing about the place and the facts. I just knew Termopili was a mountain pass. And i watched a large plain over there. When i left the place i was so puzzled

[@MrFoxp2010]

A lot of casualties for such a small space, bodies must have been piled up.

[@VALDIGNE]

I am going to Thermopylae tomorrow. Thanks for the video.

[@StephenMaybury72]

I hope you have a great time investigating the area. Have a wonderful trip, I'm jealous I'm not there too! :-)

[@VALDIGNE]

Thank you Stephen for your kind words. I investigated the area, the Persian camp is today a Gypsies camp so my girlfriend didn't want to get out of the car. I wonder what King Leonidas would have said if he saw the area today :)

[@StephenMaybury72]

Ha! She should have got out of the car, I'm sure it's very safe there. :-)

[@MrDb406466]

Great video and very informative! I like how you used the current Google map! I wonder what treasures you would find with a metal detector? Thanks for posting this!

[@egooidios5061]

Ehem. For your consideration. Owing a metal detector in Greece requires a licence from the Police, cultural ministry, and quite a bunch other services. That's for owing one. And when you own one, in order to use it, you need to have special permit from the cultural ministry. A representative may or may not be with you in the place and time where you stated that you will use it. If there is no representative with you and you happen to want to dig somewhere cause you located something, it is not allowed if there is no representative authority with you. AKA, no it's not that simple. Theft of antiquities was and is a big illegal activity in Greece and authorities hunt it more meticulously than the drug trade. Other than that you are right, if you had a metal detector you would find a lot of things everywhere...in Greece it's hard to dig for a new 4km highway and not stumble into an ancient village. By amcinet meaning anywhere from 2500 to 5000 years old as anything newer is considered late history around here

[@dimitristsiokos154]

A big thank you from greece

[@halaloola12]

Love your videos and the way you explain it all ..amazing photos also....would the battlefield be that level or is it buried under what is currently there?

[@SunTzu2024]

Great video thank you for doing that. Absolutely sickening that they’re just destroying that area. When it should be nothing but preserved and protected

[@robcook3954]

I agree. Does anybody know why the battlefield is not being preserved ? I just visited the site this past week. It gave me the chills.

[@dbouloubasis]

Nice video. The water chanels you mention was use by Leonidas in order to make the area full of mud. In than way he could avoid the use of any battering ram against the Fokian wall. Unfortunatelly the actual battlefield is 8 meter below!

[@eltiosam2036]

Perfec explicacion 👍

[@pierrepoitras1798]

Has anyone ever walked the path the Persians took to encircle the Spartans and their allies? I wonder if a metal detector would pick up anything.

[@MrFoxp2010]

Any idea if there was ever any excavations done on this site, any interesting finds?

[@deggmayne]

Right on! Thanks for this research and great video. I'd love to plan a trip there. Did you sit in the hot springs? And also are you allowed to camp overnight on the battlefield? I bet there's some amazing energy there.

[@StephenMaybury72]

I did not go into the hot springs but could have done. On the Xmas Day trip there were plenty of people taking a dip, and also where the springs appear at the far corner you can go and sit inside the water. I'm not sure about camping (a tent) but there were quite a few people with camper vans parked up on the battlefield so I would assume yes, it's probably fine. The area is not fenced off at any point so access is easy. And yes, the energy is pretty intense in places.

[@deggmayne]

@@StephenMaybury72 Sounds good thank you! It's awesome seeing your videos and knowing what really happened there years ago. History is amazing! I wonder if any of the Spartan soldiers soaked in the hot springs right before battle.... Also do you know how many soldiers on each side died during that battle?

[@StephenMaybury72]

@@deggmayne Herodotus puts the number of casualties at 20,000 Persians and 4,000 Greeks

[@hliasfasilakhs6765]

Great job! thank you for doing that. you may research past lifes. who knows you maybe a spartan then. ill visit tommorow the site. thank you.

[@gregstacks576]

Would it be possible to contact you via email or telephone to ask questions regarding your experience there and the knowledge you’ve obtained during your visits?

[@dougiecameron492]

Bucket list for sure

[@LeonidasLost480]

Stephen, Thanks as always for this video. Thermopylae has been an interest to me for over 60 years and it's great to see how new technology and mapping help us to imagine the battle. Of course for all future generations the true story will be that of "The 300" film but that is better than nothing. I have 2 questions. Bearing in mind the difference in sea level and the ground where Leonidas fought is well over 20 feet down, do you you really think the Phocian wall you refer to is the the one the Greeks rebuilt as soon as they got to the site? Also have you ever heard of any serious archaeological work in relation to digging deep trenches to see if anything is there? This last idea could be quite daft for say a 5 day event including the Persians marching through after the battle. It's not like Troy which is much older but was an established city.

[@StephenMaybury72]

Hi.. I have never understood this notion that the battlefield was 10, or 20, or 30, or even more, feet below the current ground level. It was not. The Phocian wall alone proves this to be false. The papers put forward stating such depth do not have any proof of these claims. I may have to do another video regarding this issue. I can assure you the stones used on that wall, and the building methods used, are consistent with the post-Mycenean era, and are typical of many sites in Greece during that time period, and even the Bronze Age itself. Although the stone shapes were different, such walls were common in Greece at least as far back as 5000 BC (See the videos on Dimini). Digging deep trenches, therefore, is unnecessary. Excavations have been carried out on the site and thousands of artefacts discovered, many of which are on display at the museum across the road, some are in Athens, and most are locked away. I know of no archaeologists that were forced to dig 20 feet down to retrieve these artefacts.

[@samuelctome]

Great great video!

[@troyseagondollar4565]

Why, how, and, when did the sea recede?

[@ImSpun13]

How, when, and why did the sea get so far away? Also, how far is it now from where it was 2500 years ago?

[@louplayssongs9508]

I always thought the Phocian wall was that diagonal modern channel you pointed out, so thanks for clearing that up. However, I'm curious, you pointed out the actual location of the Phocian wall which is also diagonal, why do you think that is? What point would there be to building a diagonal wall?

[@StephenMaybury72]

Interesting point Louis, and difficult to understand. Historically the ancient Greeks used the phalanx as a battle tactic, i.e. a square formation. The diagonal formation, known as echelon (and still used today), was not recorded in history until well after the Battle of Thermopylae. However, the wall may have been used for this purpose (assuming there were men on the wall), which (in attack) is to be able to see your comrades without having to turn to one side, and thus / also affords excellent vision range. The most likely explanation in my opinion is that since the wall was higher at the time of the battle (12 feet in many records) - either a stone wall or even wooden posts on top - it was designed to funnel the enemy towards a smaller point where they could be picked off easier and also to narrow the entrance into the Greek camp behind. Basically, as most people are right handed, if you have a line of men on the wall and they are firing arrows at the Persians, the diagonal wall exposes their unprotected right side (their shield would be in their left hand) as they get close to the gate entrance. This means the closer the Persians get to the gate, the higher their casualties.

[@williamwallace897]

@@StephenMaybury72 hi,interesting video im going here in September but I'm stopping in Athens, what's the cheapest way to get to Thermopylae from athens please if you know

[@StephenMaybury72]

@@williamwallace897 Both times I've been to Greece I have rented a car at the airport so I do not know about public transport. I am sure there are buses that can take you from town to town, you'd probably just have to make several stops. However, there might be a direct bus / coach to that area. I am sure you can find out online long before you go. I sincerely hope you enjoy your trip :-)

[@williamwallace897]

@@StephenMaybury72 thank you I will check up on it

[@andersrobertsen7610]

I'm guessing the sea used to come up to where the road is?

[@Alex-jd2yx]

You should also visit Amphipolis tomb which likely held Hephastions remains along with Olympia's remains amongst others and animal remains, because of the Amphipolis tombs findings they are currently undergoing a mass DNA testing of all hellinistic tomb bones testings so until they have completed that task we will know who was in amphipolos tomb and likely connect dots with other family tombs, exciting and scary.

[@incorectulpolitic]

ant updates

[@johnrowley3007]

can anyone tell me how big was the wall in the defence of Thermopylae

[@ShifTac]

With that width, guessibg it would've been 3-4 meters high

[@markrumsfield5835]

Thanks for doing these videos! How did the Sea move so far away from Thermopylae???

[@StephenMaybury72]

It's caused by silting, which occurs very rapidly. The ancients had many great technologies, but none to combat silting. Both Ephesus and Miletus were abandoned because of silting.

[@Hanniballecteurmp3]

Stephen Maybury Sorry to annoy you, but do you think the movie and the game (ac odyssey) are inaccurate depicting the battle near a cliff? The actual site is very flat and I can’t see how, even in 2500 years it changed that much, Thx for the replies ;)

[@georget8008]

@@Hanniballecteurmp3 i will answer your question. I am greek and i have been to Thermopylae hundreds o times. I had the same question when i was a kid. What we were learning in the history class

[@georget8008]

@@Hanniballecteurmp3 i will answer your question. I am greek and i have been to Thermopylae hundreds of times. I had the same question when i was a kid. What we were learning in the history class did not match what i was seeing. Well, the 300 movie is perhaps the most accurate historical movie. The landscape has changed because of the landslides and the materials carried by the river Sperchios. This is not something rare in the greek geography. Other places have also changed dramatically due to similar reason. The capital and harbor of the ancient capital of the macedonian kingdom is currently about 20km far from the sea. Amfipolis, another major harbor in antiquity is now quite a few kilometers away from the sea. You have to understand that Greece has a lot of earthquakes and many rivers which may be small but become wild torrents that carry materials. Thus they change drastically the landscape especially over a period of 2500 years

[@Hanniballecteurmp3]

George T Thank you very much for you anwser my friend, I’m in fact obsessed with the historical accuracy of this event so you help me a lot understanding the situation back then. I’ve alway’s wondered why it was depicted so highly from the sea level. Thank you very much for the time you took explaining me this, and good luck to all the greeks for the actual crisis

[@tuscanyjc]

? can you show where the sea was back in 480BC? Hard to tell the size of the battlefield from today's view. Thx u

[@MsCwebb]

The ancient sea follows the modern day road. 300 to 400 feet across in the narrow areas.

[@totall2952]

cool thanks

[@marial4048]

Can’t this give us an idea that we re finishing up water from earth?

[@tomasgoolmeer4969]

My understanding is that the phonican wall is actually the castle like structure you can see via google maps to the south of the hill. Up the mountain in that clear opening. I think your wrong

[@HerbWalker]

How TALL was that wall?

[@CrowT]

Did the persians at that time have a group of ships just off the shore? Why instead of going on foot along the ridge to out flank the Spartans did they not just engage them in arrow fire from the sea? Or did they try that and the Spartans defended it?

[@pitsinokaki]

At the same time as the Greeks were blocking Thermopylae, the Greek fleet tried to block the Persian one at Artemisium - this resulted in an inconclusive battle. After learning of the defeat at Thermopylae, the Greek fleet withdrew to Salamis and engaged the Persians there, resulting in a Greek victory.

[@mylesgarcia4625]

Where is the best souvenir stand to buy trinkets and souvenirs of the site and battle?

[@StephenMaybury72]

There isn't one. There is a museum next to the site. I am not sure if they sell anything, I don't recall that. Only in Athens you would get such things.

[@kevinamundson2365]

So what 300 refers to as the "hot gates". Where the first battle begins while they use a narrow canyon as cover. That must not of been true? I don't see any geography that looks close to that first battle in the movie.

[@agelesskarate]

So there is no narrow pass?

[@pepememe5572]

Was there a cliff like in the movie where the elephants and Persians fall to the ocean?

[@StephenMaybury72]

No, there wasn't. I haven't seen the film, but Hollywood has an innate ability to ruin historical fact.

[@brandonm1881]

So was the sea shallow at the shore line? Or was it a cliff at the time

[@StephenMaybury72]

I've never read a description that gives detail like that. It's unlikely it was a cliff as the terrain is flat for miles, it would just have slowly silted up. If you're thinking they could have walked through, however, that's an extremely bad idea as water slows you down and you'd be picked off rather easily. It is also unknown if the wall extended out into the water to a certain depth. Unfortunately the modern road has destroyed any traces of the end of the wall.

[@maximaldinotrap]

@@StephenMaybury72 At least they had the sense to build the road in a way where it was essentially the coast line at the time.

[@williamwallace897]

I think the sea would of been very deep considering the shoreline was so close to mountains usually this is the case

[@ToastersChannel]

Is it possible you could share the photos?

[@StephenMaybury72]

Hi. I have hundreds of them and will eventually upload them to my website. I'll let you know when I've done so. Thanks for your interest.

[@Alex-jd2yx]

Would've thought the Greeks had the hills littered with arrow men, but that may have been enough to halt the Persian invasion all together and have a much worse reprisal later.

[@AveryFeynman]

how far is the sea! it seems far enough

[@Mr.56Goldtop]

I know that the bay has stilted up over the last 2,500 years so the topography is not the same. But I want to know where the narrow pass "was" that the Greeks were defending! Of all of the videos I've watched not one of them tells us this! And what is the significance of this phocian wall?? What is it.

[@besimsejdijaj2976]

According to historians Greeks and Persians where cousins they originating from steppes between Caspian and black sea and they split in different ways.

[@pitsinokaki]

In Greek mythology, Danae, a princess of Argos, and Zeus, the king of the gods, had a son, Perseus. Perseus rescued and married Andromeda and had a son, Perses. Greeks considered Perses to be the ancestor of the Persians. :)

[@paulglassanos588]

the phocian wall was found on hill in 1939

[@DMTGAMEHUB]

The sea is dried up

[@greendogg83]

It's a shame they don't make realistic movies about this event, instead silly films like 300, which just fills peoples head with nonsense

[@NinoValleyTv]

DID THEY BUILD LAND ONTOP OF THE WATER? EVERY MAP I LOOK AT SHOWS IT RIGHT BY THE SEA BUT THEN WHEN YOU LOOK AT A REAL MAP THERE A TON OF LAND IN BETWEEN

[@helterskelterband62]

It's from a form of erosion called silting.... the water washes dirt as it settles the more dirts sits so over the 3000 years eventually the sea retreats

[@johnkonstantopoulos8192]

it is Anopaia not Aponaia path...

[@peterorfan523]

You said Leonidas died before the last stand, is that correct?

[@StephenMaybury72]

Hi Peter. A great question. There is no real source that is accurate regarding Leonidas' death. Of course, Wikipedia is about as reliable as a plumber's estimate, so pages like that cannot be trusted. What is fact is that Leonidas died "on the third day of the battle". Some sources put him on the hill, others place him on the battlefield. The story of Leonidas comes from Herodotus. The last mention of him is on the third day, when the Greeks knew the Persians were coming through the mountain path. Leonidas led the Greeks further out in the battlefield, on the wider part, and from there he is no longer mentioned. "The barbarians with Xerxes were accordingly advancing to the attack; and the Greeks with Leonidas, feeling that they were going forth to death, now advanced out much further than at first into the broader part of the defile; for when the fence of the wall was being guarded, they on the former days fought retiring before the enemy into the narrow part of the pass; but now they engaged with them outside the narrows, and very many of the barbarians fell." It is two others who are mentioned regarding the defending of the remaining Greeks. Some sources say Leonidas' body was recovered by the Greeks, other sources say the Persians decapitated him.

[@chadmiller1120]

Can you metal detect the ground?

[@StephenMaybury72]

Technically yes. But it's illegal without permission from the authorities. Greece has strict protection around its ancient sites. I once stood on a block of stone at Olympia that was lying on the ground, just to get a better photo, and security came from three directions blowing whistles at me loudly! I thought it was an extreme reaction but still, I understand their reasoning. Thermopylae is not a paid site and is not surrounded by fencing but I wouldn't try metal detecting without permission. The hill has been largely excavated, not sure about the battlefield.

[@chad7064]

They didn’t take very good care of this place, also I wonder why the water receded so much.

[@Lastbus511]

Sea levels where higher in those days in that area. The area itself has silted up. Plus the ground itself moves through earthquakes. There have been some earthquakes in that area since the battle. The actual battlefield proberbly lies a meters below today's ground level.

[@shareewanakore2122]

Thanks for the video bro if there is 1 place i won't to go it's there it's a bit far from new Zealand though

[@StephenMaybury72]

Ha! Yes, it would take more than a bus ride to get there! :-)

[@jozebutinar44]

Leonidas was killed the last day of this battle not before

[@marciebalme588]

as I understand it the Spartan Hoplites would have fought 50 across and 6 deep , along with the Perioikoi hoplite contingent they would have represented the only drilled force of Hoplites . The Persians would have been at a disadvantage because of this and also due to fighting foes who were brutal when it came to warfare, killing meant nothing to Spartans and the Perioikoi hoplites

[@trump-totalwar6509]

i recreate this battle on rome total war on my channel.

[@spilttaco3343]

[TRUMP]-[TOTAL WAR] I’d watch it but you got the TDS disease.

[@rezerald6484]

I dont understand, why does the sea dissapear in modern day

[@StephenMaybury72]

Silting

[@petersmith4202]

Spartans are the best

[@nonye0]

shame they didnt preserved those site man. jeez.

[@paulglassanos588]

the wall is on the hill,,, your looking at ocean in 480 b.c.

[@paulglassanos3363]

where you say the battle was ...was ocean in 480 b.c.

[@StephenMaybury72]

Sure... The Phocian Wall, built some years before the battle, is still visible. Can you please explain how - and most importantly why - they built a wall under the sea?

[@foxysideburns5741]

If only the Greeks had a wall on that pass

[@spring-jo8xv]

306 subcribers, I get it .😩 poor editing , no story line, sorry , but there are so much more better history channels

[@StephenMaybury72]

That's hilarious! Poor editing? There is NO editing! Haha! Also, I am not interested in subscribers, likes, story lines, or making a history channel. These videos are just me, walking along, no planned script, just enjoying myself and I thought I would share my private videos. But, then, a lot of people started to like these videos and get involved but also there's a lot of misinformation out there so I thought I'd make a little video and put it all together. That's it, like it or leave it. I'm not here to please anyone, so your attempts to extract some kind of angry reaction from me for your troll-like negative comments will fail. I have one rule - you can say what you like but the use of bad language will get your comments removed. It's all pretty simple...

[@andikay71]

@spring 0509 pretty snotty, have you posted anything with 17,000 views?

[@TomMarasco]

@@StephenMaybury72 Just found your channel and I absolutely love it. I enjoy your style rather than some over-produced, detached documentary. You transmit your experience raw, and it hits hard. Love watching this! Feels like part of me is there.