Lurker > Piplup_Sniper

josifrees posted...

Something does not gel with the narrative posited in the OP. If Sparta did not have good warriors (but rather just had relative military hegemony over the other Greeks) how did they hold up in Thermopylae as long as they did? Was the Persian army also relatively weak in terms of training? If so is there any practical difference between being average among the weak and elite among the average? I would say elite is a completely relative term anyway.

Thermopylae was a pass. I think any heavy infantry could've held up a narrow pass.

As for the Persians, they probably weren't impressive either but they did have superior cavalry which the Greeks feared. They also had a core of heavy infantry like the Immortals and levied heavy infantry such as the Egyptians and the Assyrians. The Greeks mainly fought in terrain that wouldn't allow the Persians to make good use of their cavalry. At Marthon the Greeks made a sudden charge at the Persians to quickly negate their archer and cavalry. At Platea they held the high ground and fought in irregular terrain.
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

Looking at it from a military perspective the Spartans really weren't as great warriors as you'd imagine. A lot of academic work has been done on the Spartans to get past what is called the "Spartan mirage". Basically a lot of propaganda written by about them centuries after their prime. The whole killing kids thing was something brought up by Plutarch around the 2nd century AD while Xenophon in the 4th century BC never talks of any infanticide. Instead Xenophon writes that the Spartans used to share wives and encourage fertility due to the dwindling number of the citizen body. In these new studies it emerges that Sparta wasn't much of a warrior society.

In the Classical Era most of their military training amounted to athletic exercises and formation drill out in campaign. The Spartans, as far as the sources go, are never thought to use their weapons. In fact Plato in Laws tells us that the Spartans overlooked the art of hoplite combat. The only time we hear of the Spartans fighting to the death is at Thermopylae, at sphacteria the Spartans surrendered and they were not punished for this. In the cultural context of Ancient Greeks their basic military training helped them when their competition were stubborn amateurs in war. None of the other Greek city-states ever trained their armies in military matters. The organization of the other city-states was poor as they didn't divide their units below the level of lochos, which was several hundred men strong. This meant that passing commands during battle was next to impossible. In fact there's literacy evidence that training for war may have been the subject of mockery. The sources make it clear that most levies of the city-states were insubordinate to their superiors. When looked at this context it makes sense that Sparta was the one eyed king in the land of the blind.

Outside of military matters I find it peculiar that people would associate them with fighting for freedom when they had an underclass which they exploited to live their leisurely lives.
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

50Blessings posted...

Dave Franco pretty cool Spetsnaz

F
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

Id imagine they wouldn't be so enthusiastic about irl as I'd imagine it would look bizarre. I would think about it
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

Didn't that series of the topics get banned for a while?
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

Damn_Underscore posted...

Then why were companies and studios fine with using hand-drawn animation for 70+ years?

Because back then there was no cheaper alternative?
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

GiftedACIII posted...

Cuphead took like 4 years for a very short game and the creators mortgaged their home to do so.

I think it was 7 years of development. Anyways it takes time drawing everything by hand when you have methods which are much cheaper and faster now days
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

No
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

I like how the comments are accusing the video of portraying them as weak when the video does no such thing and Instead praises them. Instead it tries to break down the myth that Sparta was a martial society.
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

Europe is actually decently homogenous. Most migrants are EU nationals. Africa is actually the most ethically diverse continent
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

No
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC

Not any time soon I'd wager.
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Forbid it, Almighty God!
U.S. Army. 13B. E-3 PFC