I supposedly studied this battle at school, but I never realized how desperate the situation for the Greeks was. The school book was too quick to jump to the final outcome
@@watch-Dominion-2018 and what? You asked what being Iranian had to do with it I answered lol he saying basically as a ancestor of the Persian he respects the Greeks is that so hard to understand ?🤣🤣
@@fabz7647 2500 years has passed since then. The people who lived in Persia then are long gone. The modern Iranians have been conquered and replaced many times over.
They were not a warrior society as much as they were a police state and riddled with paranoia. They were a powerful army because they were afraid of helot uprisings (despite creating and perpetuating that system) not because they were expansionist-that was the job of their diplomats. Macedon under Phillip and Alexander was a warrior society, much more than the Spartans were.
Sparta was kind of like north-korea. Their system of organizing their society required a lot of brainwashing. The reason we know so little about Sparta is because they actively tried to minimize contact of their citizens and slaves with others. It was a risk to their system.
Probably the most detailed video of the battle of Platea, thank you for this! I see in comments lots of comparison with KG and other channels in terms of frequency of uploads. On the one hand, yes, more uploads means more views, but not always - a minutely detailed research and story telling like in this video. So my suggestion is if you can they try to keep the balance of this much detailed videos at the same time growing the frequency. Anyway, I liked this one!
Thank you very much, Artur! I tried to strike a balance between productivity and quality, and I'm now able to produce a video per month at "Plataea" quality. If the channel grows, then I'll probably be able to hire-recruit a second animator to help me with the videos, but as of now, I'm just one person.
@@hocestbellumchannel the only sources came from ancient Greek writings. The Greeks had an army of 110,000 and the Persians 300,000 plus some thousands of Thebans who had surrendered from the previous year. The Greeks had 1360 dead which they buried with great respect. The Persians were completely destroyed. Only 40,000 escaped, who were killed a little later in Macedonia
Great video with great animation. It's a small thing but I particularly enjoyed the fact that you knew to put the crest on the Greek commander's helmet side to side rather than front to back. Well done on an incredible feat of educational story telling.
Malthius uploads an unbiased video on Alexander, Kings and Generals cover the 13th century Byzantine interregnum, Epic History TV do fckn BELISARIUS, Invicta does Idistaviso, and you guys cover the greatest comeback in Greek history… 🙏🏼 Mycale and the counter-offence next, or is this it for your Greco-Persian war series?
Mycale will probably be the next and last video about the Persian invasion. I reckon, even though I'm not yet entirely certain, that after Mycale I'm going to move to a different era. I do have a strong desire to make a "Caesar in Gaul" series, but I'm not yet sure. There is always the chance of making a mini-series about Emperor Julian, or the Roman invasion of Britain.
@@hocestbellumchannel I think you would tell the story of Mithridates quite unlike anyone else could. And theres few more epic persons or events than those of Mithridates
@@hocestbellumchannel I like the sound of all of ‘em! Ig you’ve already made a start on a Caesar series so yeah may as well be finished 👍🏼 Personal suggestion: Of all the big and well done ancient history channels on RUclips (yourself, Kings and Generals, Invicta, Historia Civilis etc.) one character they always mention but have never fully covered is Sulla, and the Social Wars. 👌🏼
@@youvebeengreeked Sulla is actually a great suggestion! Hmm, this must be a very good series to make indeed. I'll seriously consider this topic. I might go for Sulla after all. It will be a quite complex topic though, but the idea is great.
If not for the battle of Thermopylae this battle wouldn’t of even happened if they got past the hot gates before Greece could rally and create an army then the Persians would of steam rolled Greece
@@fabz7647 you mean if the Greeks hadn't failed at Thermopylae then this battle wouldn't have *needed* to happen Despite all the myth making the Persians broke through the hot gates in a mere 5 days. it was barely a speed bump strategically
@@retrospectus failed?? They knew what the had to do snd that was to halt the Persians for as long as possible so the Greeks could mobilise there army and give Athens time to evacuate the city, they knew they wasn’t gonna survive Thermopylae there was no way they was gonna survive, if they hadn’t stalled the Persians at Thermopylae then the Greeks would of lost to the Persians
@@fabz7647 You need to pick up a history book sometime. The idea that the Greeks knowingly walked into a suicide mission is a complete myth. They went up there fully expecting to win. That's why Athens didn't start evacuating until after the defeat, they had no reason to believe it was necessary until then. Platea happened a full year after Thermopylae, holding up the Persians for a mere 5 days did nothing to help them prepare, the Persians conquered nearly all of Greece because of the defeat at Thermopylae
@@retrospectus no they didn’t stop talking 💩 no one thought 7000 Greeks was gonna defeat the whole Persian army which ranged between 150 thousand and 300 thousands soldiers what the hell are you talking about 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I love and studied our history and where we are coming from - the largest and deepest root for me is the hellenic history. I just read a line of books written from the perspective Arimnestos - which was awesome, I learned so much about this time and context. Thanks for sharing!
Likewise, I believe our next collaboration will be our most successful one to date! And Micah, you're the best! But don't worry, I only didn't narrate this one as I'm currently out of the country (and have been for the last few months.) I'll return shortly though!
Amazing quality. But although not historically accurate, you should make 2 different colors the 2 combatants on the battlefield. It would be easier to follow the narration this way.
Well Europe was not even an idea at that time - the greek people identified themselves as member of one of the city states - that was not even an idea as well. But it sparked the idea of Hellas - of hellenian people can come together. We can and should learn from that.
Great video! Soon after starting, I quickly realized I didn't really know how the battle played out beyond the outcome. Lol If you are have trouble with ideas for possible future videos and want to keep in the era... there is always the peloponnesian war. I don't think there are many youtube videos on the subject
Absolutely awesome video once again. I would love a series on Agrippa he was awesome. But what ever you will make your next series on. Will watch it! Keep theese awesome videos coming. Love your channel
@@danieleriksson5587 Thank you, Daniel! Agrippa and early Rome will make amazing videos series indeed. I'll think about it, check sources and probably start one of those two topics after my latest project about the battle of Mycale!
AWESOME; THANKS FOR THE UPLOAD; IT IS HARD TO FOLLOW HERODOTOS WITHOUT KNOWING THE LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY AND YOUR MAPS ARE A GREAT TOOL THAT HELPS CLARIFYING THE NARRATION OF THE FATHER OF HISTORY.
Wow I like your content. Editing and narrating make your channel my favorite. Your work should be admired . You are deserve more subscriber I hope you must gain 1 Million subscriber by the end of this year. Please keep continue this type of amazing work. Your admirable hard work and deep research make you the best channel on RUclips.
WOW what nice video in clearly explaining complicate political situation due to intervention of Persian influences between massodienain & Spartan in side Greeks population .which created furiously battles between Greece and Persians, Macedonian helped Greece's millitary against Persian umpire ....enjoying video
I get more knowledge than school from your videos. The content of your video is fantastic. I admire your deep research and hard work You are extremely worthy for admiration. It is an unforgettable memory for me. Thanks for the amazing knowledge. But I want to know who is the founder of this amazing channel?
Given that Greece is for 80% mountaineous, Thessaly is the biggest plain of Greece, lots of agriculture. In ancient times it was also a great horse rearing region. Thessalian horses were the best. Like Bucephalus, Alexander the Great’s horse.
The Persian cavalry commander sitting on his horse that was hit with an arrow, being thrown to the ground looking like he’s thinking “I’m fine, this is fine”.
Excellent work as always, the text, the animation are perfect, but please think about hiring a professional narrator and you'll have the best history channel on youtube.
Thank you very much! Hiring a professional narrator literally costs every single penny that the channel generated since it was monetized, for a single 12minute video. Unfortunately, the channel is too small, but once I can afford it, I will certainly hire a narrator! Thanks again for the constructive feedback!
I wonder if the victory at Plataea was due to the hoplite arms & equipment and not the phalanx??? On a RUclips channel I saw a guy dressed in reproduction hoplite armor. Wow -- he was imposing in that armor. The shield was also large and impressive. I could see how one could avoid arrows by hiding behind one. BTW -- very nice of Mardonius to choose a flat site well suited to the phalanx.
Err, the first time Greek states worked together? What about Troy? There are even earlier stories of Greek States combining their forces against Heracles' Doric invasion of the Peloponnese. So that really seems to be overstating/inventing a point. Suffice to say they worked together, and that worked out well.
Very good video, visually at least. However, what are :Medsizing" Greeks? I never heard of that term before. Why didn't you just call them the Thessalonians or the Thebans -- why the strange term "med=sizing"?
Thank you! "Medizing" Greeks is a term used in the sources. "Medes" were the generalized term used by the ancient Greeks to describe the Persians. "Medizing" were those Greeks who had collaborated with the Persians during the invasion.
16:38 "well armoured, well trained, disciplined, life-long professional infantry. Let's send our paper+leather+whatever dudes against them. What can possibly go wrong..." - Unknown Persian commander, Plataea, 479 B.C.E.
Wicker, a lot of the Persian shields were wickerwork. Apparently it stands up well against arrows and is obviously a lot lighter which suited war in open country with lots of archers on horseback. But against large quantities of bronze, it would have been like being in those dreams where you go to work without your pants on. Poor buggers just lacked the proper equipment for the enemy/terrain.
What did the ancient Persians look like? I understand that it might be confusing at first look due to their lack of representation, but it will actually become pretty clear upon a second glance. For now as you read this just keep in mind that most contemporary art, even the ones depicted by modern Iranians themselves are based on ancient Persian Royal art, which itself was directly copied from the Assyrians and Babylonians who came before them - a highly symbolic, flat type of art where all faces regardless of which nation was represented, looked almost identical (for more see the last two paragraphs). Some of the modern art also conflates the current Middle-Eastern phenotype with that of the ancient peoples of Iran. The Persians and Spartans were both Indo-Europeans (Caucasians). But according to Greek historian Herodotus (Father of History), the Medes were blonds and sandy-haired Northern Iranians. Xerxes’s father, Darius, was a Mede, his mother a Persian. That collaborates centuries later with Roman poet and historian Ovid’s analysis when he said Northern Iranians (the Parthians, Scythians, Alans, Sarmatians, etc), were no different in appearance to the Celts and the Germanic tribes. The Roman author Ammianus Marcellinus, centuries earlier had stated the same. The few realistic art work we have of the Persians themselves done by Greek and Roman artists, depicts them as white, but dissimilar to the Greeks, and far more resembling the French, the Spaniards, and reveals them as Eastern European-like. Herodotus also noted that Xerxes was supposedly one of the most youthful in appearance and handsome men in Asia during his time, whatever that means. The most life-like depiction of ancient Persians are the “Bishapur art”, the wall and mosaic drawings done by Roman prisoners of war where they put their well-known talents to use and aided with decorating some newly constructed Persian palaces. In those, Persian women specifically and other female courtesans are depicted as almost pale with somewhat thick, flat eyebrows, with brown and black hair, very rarely some, including men, with red hair (as also depicted by Greek artists on the so-called Alexander’s sarcophagus and Sassanian floor fresco). The “Sassanian silver plates art”, also repeat the some of the same type of depictions, but since it was done by Persian artists, again many faces look similar, and have a symbolic quality to them to a certain extent, yet still a very good starting point. Other notable art include, “The Parthian solider” bust, (Greek-based), “The Dying Persian”, and “The Parthian statue”, a remarkable ancient Roman work of art with black marble used as the body, contrasting it with beige and black marble as his clothing and cape. Lastly, of importance are the many Parthian coins still in survival. Clean shaven (or not), and inspired by realistic portrayals unique to Hellenic art, Parthian kings and Princes with their Iranian weapons of choice, the bow and the arrow, look like Scandinavian war-lords, or at the very least are very Robinhood-like (see Arsaces I). Alexander’s northern Iranian wife who was after his death murdered by his mom or his men, was named Rukhshanaa (Roxana, Roxanne). In ancient Iranian and still today’s Persian, it means, shiny-faced, light-face. Back then, and even today in Iran, the more secluded a tribal group was/is, the “lighter-skinned” in appearance they are, something that again, is Specially true for some reason or the other with Iranian women, signaling lack of intermarriage. The indigenous peoples of the Iranian plateau, the Elamites, had beautiful olive-skin with long braided hairs, whom Persian royals went on to copy, as a form of fashion of the times, as well as borrowing their long robes with wide bejeweled sleeves. Their sophisticated culture was long established before the arrival of the Persians and other Iranian tribes. THE BOTTOM LINE? Northern Iranians aside, focusing strictly on the Persian tribes (Southern Iranians), THEY, resembled modern Albanians, Romanians, and modern Northern Italians, as well as very strongly, the Medieval Europeans (excluding Northern Europe). When you see an image of a Medieval European, from Hungary, Spain, and above all, France and Portugal, you are most likely coming very close to seeing the face of an ancient Persian. Accordingly, see the rock carving of the Khosrow II, an artistic work and an archeological piece 1000 years before the emergence of the Medieval Europe and the concept of the heavy armored worrier (the Chevalier, or the knight). It is also noteworthy to indicate the remnants of the Northern Iranians (the Alans and the Sarmatians) are still living today on the region of Ossetia-Alania in the Northern Caucasuses. Ancient Iranian tribes hailed from Ukraine by the way, at least that’s as far as we can tell. As the late Prof. Emeritus Richard Frye of Harvard noted, while the Iranians are not geographically Eastern Europeans, they are however, “The Europeans of the East”. Or according to encyclopedia Brittanica, “The name Persia derives from Parsa, the name of the Indo-European nomadic people who migrated into southern Iran…in about 1000 BCE”. It’s important to note that Persian imperial art itself in Persepolis and other places does NOT depict the Persians, or any other groups, realistically, as they all show a flat profile, with most faces looking very similar or almost identical. This was partially borrowed from the Assyrian and Babylonian empires who came before them, to portray a continuity and homogeneity of races. It was also an attempt to legitimize Persian rule, the world’s first Indo-European super power, who replaced thousands of years of semitic kingship (the Egyptians and the aforementioned civilizations). Let me repeat that one more time, ancient Persian art itself is NOT realistic, but more symbolic. Where the “Indo” suffix of the designation, Indo-European comes from is due to the fact that while some Iranians tribes where settling in their new homeland, in modern Iran, simultaneously other Iranic tribes invaded Northern India. That is why many Indic and ancient Iranian Gods and religious beliefs display similarities. The British scholar who coined the term thought that the related-European groups passed through the Hindu Kush mountains. Although at some point the old Aryans (Iranian tribes) who invaded India were fortunately, eventually absorbed by the indigenous Brahmin population. Otherwise we wouldn’t have the nation of India, as we know it today. Something that for anyone who is a lover of cultures, arts, mathematics and good food would be unimaginable. That’s ethnicity; linguistically Iranian languages are classified as the aforementioned Indo-European, which can in turn be termed as ancient English. Words like, mother, father, son, daughter (dokhtar). ponder (pendaar), nice (nik,neekoo, nikki; Greek: Nike), Jasmine (yaasamin), scarlet (saghalaat, see Merriam-Webster), Melchior, art (Old Pers.: arta), mind (manaa), grab (Avestan/Eastern Persian, grab), far (related to fara, ex: faravahar; fra, par-vaaz), being (boodan), is (hast), you, tiger (tighra; Merriam-Webster), it (een), Allan (Alan, Alania; from the Northern Iranian tribes who settled in modern day Scotland), Ariana (Arya, Aria, Aryan, Eire-aan, ultimately, “Iran”). Amazon (hama-zan; see “Sarmatians” in Brittanica; also Online Etymology Dictionary; also Adrienne Mayor, The National Geographic; also “The Early Amazons, JH Block, 1995), Caucasian (search engine: etymology of Caucasus), etc, are mostly still found in Farsi. I hope this was helpful
The result of genetic studies: The Proto-Iranians can trace their origin to roughly modern Ukraine and Chelyabinsk, Oblast, Russia. These sites have been archeology completed and they are the so-called Sintasha and other cultures where the horse was first most likely domesticated. Before that we had the Andronova culture, with similarities to the Sintasha. On the other side, to the West of these cultures there was the Srubnaya culture that later both layered and replaced the Potapovka peoples. The Potapovka culture in turn was derived from the Poltavka culture. The genetically and culturally related “coded ware” was to the North of Srubnya and Sintasha cultures; the aforementioned “Coded Ware” culture was the first to migrate to the European continent. Although partially most of these related cultures migrated to Europe, some came back to Central Asia and Russia, some stayed in Europe. In these cultures mentioned, we see the emergence of various Iranian languages, a sub section of the larger Indo-European linguistic family that itself first bloomed in the Yamnaya culture in Southern Russia. The catacomb culture was to the South of ALL of these cultures mentioned. There were other cultures (settlements), but there no absolutely no need to go through every single one. Ultimately, the aforementioned populations were ALL related, yet with slight variations. At any rate, below are genetic studies and scholarly works that will expand on these answers further, “In studies from the mid-2000s, the Andronovo have been described by archaeologists as having cranial features similar to ancient and modern European populations. Andronovo skulls are similar to those of the Srubnaya culture and Sintashta culture, exhibiting features such as dolicocephaly. Through Iranian and Indo-Aryan migrations, this physical type expanded southwards and mixed with aboriginal peoples, contributing to the formation of modern populations…”- Kuzmina, 2007, p. 171. “The Potapovka culture is thought to belong to an eastward migration of Indo-European-speakers who eventually emerged as the Indo-Iranians. David W. Anthony considers the Potapovka culture and the Sintashta culture as archaeological manifestations of the early Indo-Iranian languages.” “In a genetic study published in Science in 2018, the remains four individuals ascribed to the Potapovka culture was analyzed. Of the two males, one carried R1a1a1b2a2a and U2e1, while the other carried R1 and C. People of the Potapovka culture were found to be closely related to people of the Corded Ware culture, the Sintashta culture, the Andronovo culture and the Srubnaya culture. These were found to harbor mixed ancestry from the Yamnaya culture and peoples of the Central European Middle Neolithic. The genetic data suggested that these related cultures were ultimately derived from a remigration of Central European peoples with steppe ancestry back into the steppe.” “The Potapovka people were massively built Caucasoids/Europoids. Their skulls are similar to those of the Catacomb culture. Potapovka skulls are less dolichocephalic than those of the Fatyanovo-Balanovo culture, Abashevo culture, Sintashta culture, Srubnaya culture and western Andronovo culture. The physical type of the Potapovka appears to have emerged through a mixture between the purely dolichocephalic type of the Sintashta, and the less dolichocephalic type of the Yamnaya culture and Poltavka culture.”
I think the wicker shields did not hold up to heavy spears and syphis swords. A wicjer shield works wel for arrows and sling shots. But not against heavy infantry. In Rome Total war Eastern infantry is a joke.
I'm guessing that since the Achaemenid cavalry was not trained to actually clash with enemy lines, the Spartans could easily defend themselves from all angles.
@@hocestbellumchannel The light cavalry was like that but they also had heavy cavalry, which was really the most potent force in their army, but it doesn't appear that they had any role in this battle at all.
@@anhtran6113 The Alans were one of Scythia-Sarmatian tribes. But prior to the Alans the Parthians and entities before the Parthians already had Cataphracts (the most developed heavy cavalry of antiquity).
We now know that Persia had an extraordinary influence on the Founding Fathers, and consequently on the American Bill of Rights. It’s safe to say Persia and the United States are not your typical superpowers. At their ideological core lay the notions of freedom and providing security for other nations. For the Persians it was who most modern scholars agree invented the notion of chivalry (which was passed on to Medieval Europe), it was freedom of religion and cultural expression, as well as outright rejection of slavery and/or providing security for other nations, including the downtrodden (ex: The Jews captive in Babylon). But according to Prof. Richard Frye of Harvard, one the biggest “contributions the Persians made to the modern world, is the idea of a secular government, free of religious influence”. For the Americans it is the ideals of independence, which encompasses everything from freedom of the press or individual freedom of expression, and also the freedom to one to choose their own government (this is where the concept democracy and the Greek influence comes in), although the American democracy the different than Ancient Greek one, and is more a mixture of the vestiges of Persian monarchy or hierarchical representation sworn to defend the people, and a just voting system invented by Athens where citizen participation is at the base of representation (according to democracy everyone is equal in the eyes of the law). So both the Persians and the Greek have much like a coordination of the left and the right hands, served as role models to the modern Americas. Here are four shocking examples of the Persian influence on the US, 1- The re-discovery of a book owned by Thomas Jefferson that seems has influenced his thought, “Cyropedia” (The Education of Cyrus). In a letter sent to his nephew along a second copy of that book, Jefferson explains to his nephew how an ideal, just leader must behave and how the notions of religious freedom and tolerant must serve as the basis of the newly found republic. 2- President Abraham Lincoln has two main things in common with Cyrus the Great. First, his objection to slavery. Secondly, in an exact match as with Cyrus, he famously incorporated his political enemies and rivals into his cabinet purposely, now popularly known as “The team of rivals”. Cyrus was famous for forgiving his defeated enemies like Croesus of Lydia, and in a departure with last practices by the victors, instead of beheading him, he made him a closer advisor of him. He also treated his defeated rivals the Medes as equals and positioned them in the high ranking posts in the government and the army. He did the same with the defeated Babylonian king, forgiving him. Years later his son and grandson forgave an exiled Spartan king and made him a governor, and Xerxe son (Artaxerxes) for Persia’s public enemy No.1, the hero of the Greco-Persian wars, the Athenian naval commander, Themistocles after his fellow Greeks turned on him. Again they gave him land and made a governor to a province near Greece. 3- President Truman modeled himself after Cyrus and was greatly effected by the Edict of Cyrus which tells of the Persian king emancipating the exiled Jews in Babylon and rebuilding their homeland for them. Something that also appears in the Old Testament. A religious Truman is the reason there exists the State of Israel today in the modern times. In November of 1953 after retiring from presidency and having recognized the State of Israel after 2000 years, while visiting the New York Jewish Theological Seminary President Harry Truman famously declared, “I am Cyrus, I am Cyrus”. Of course, the world wouldn’t have been the same either without the enduring Greek invention of democracy, and theatre as well as scientific inquiry - while on the other hand the Persians went on centuries later to discover algebra.In the end, both Persia and Greece have served as the Ying & the Yang that in return makes up the modern world. I hope this was enlightening and helpful.
![Battle of Plataea (479 BC)⚔️Fight for the Fate of Greece [Day 1-10] DOCUMENTARY](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gHy9pYHSTXo/mqdefault.jpg)
First History Marche, then Epic History tv now Hoc Est Bellum. Feeling like a happy child
And Kings n Generals
History Nerds Rejoice !!!
And Invicta
I know right?
I swear I’m subscribed to like 20 different history channels… and I’m also subscribed to THE history channel
I supposedly studied this battle at school, but I never realized how desperate the situation for the Greeks was. The school book was too quick to jump to the final outcome
You won't learn the truth about human history in Public Schools, man. Especially when it comes to ancient history and "pre-history".
sometime you need to read the origina recourses
The 300 movies make Platea seem like a white wash when it was a huge, uphill battle
@@SantomPh that movie was ridiculously stupid.
@@SantomPh Movie was faithful to comic books and not history which is fine.
As an Iranian, I have great respect and admiration for Greeks' bravery and resistance!
As a non-Iranian, what does being Iranian have to do with it?
@@watch-Dominion-2018 the Persians where from modern day Iran
@@fabz7647 and?
@@watch-Dominion-2018 and what? You asked what being Iranian had to do with it I answered lol he saying basically as a ancestor of the Persian he respects the Greeks is that so hard to understand ?🤣🤣
@@fabz7647 2500 years has passed since then. The people who lived in Persia then are long gone. The modern Iranians have been conquered and replaced many times over.
The Spartans sure love to party. You'd think a warrior society would be more willing to go to war.
Truth be told!
The Spartans were notoriously reluctant to go to war.
Well its not party they were religious and very fanatic on thas aswell on warfare
They were not a warrior society as much as they were a police state and riddled with paranoia. They were a powerful army because they were afraid of helot uprisings (despite creating and perpetuating that system) not because they were expansionist-that was the job of their diplomats.
Macedon under Phillip and Alexander was a warrior society, much more than the Spartans were.
Sparta was kind of like north-korea. Their system of organizing their society required a lot of brainwashing. The reason we know so little about Sparta is because they actively tried to minimize contact of their citizens and slaves with others. It was a risk to their system.
Narrator sounds like David Wenham as Dilios.
Probably the most detailed video of the battle of Platea, thank you for this! I see in comments lots of comparison with KG and other channels in terms of frequency of uploads. On the one hand, yes, more uploads means more views, but not always - a minutely detailed research and story telling like in this video. So my suggestion is if you can they try to keep the balance of this much detailed videos at the same time growing the frequency. Anyway, I liked this one!
Thank you very much, Artur!
I tried to strike a balance between productivity and quality, and I'm now able to produce a video per month at "Plataea" quality.
If the channel grows, then I'll probably be able to hire-recruit a second animator to help me with the videos, but as of now, I'm just one person.
@𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔢𝔫𝔦𝔵 Hello Phoenix.
No, I'm not from Italy.
@@hocestbellumchannel the only sources came from ancient Greek writings.
The Greeks had an army of 110,000 and the Persians 300,000 plus some thousands of Thebans who had surrendered from the previous year. The Greeks had 1360 dead which they buried with great respect.
The Persians were completely destroyed. Only 40,000 escaped, who were killed a little later in Macedonia
Great video with great animation. It's a small thing but I particularly enjoyed the fact that you knew to put the crest on the Greek commander's helmet side to side rather than front to back. Well done on an incredible feat of educational story telling.
You’re the best historian on RUclips my g!!!! The 🐐!!!!
Very well made video, Greek history is remarkable
Excited for this one, no doubts it will impress!
Hoc Est Bellum is the first among all RUclips historians to completely turn his work into a fully animated 3-D movie.
Nice video as a Greek I learned details about the battle that I didn't know. !! Good work!
Excellent video! Thrilling storytelling! And the animation is still getting better! Great work!
Omg yes, love the change of narrator! Thank you
Def one of my all time favorite battles
Love the animations. Channel deserves to be much bigger. It will be
Malthius uploads an unbiased video on Alexander, Kings and Generals cover the 13th century Byzantine interregnum, Epic History TV do fckn BELISARIUS, Invicta does Idistaviso, and you guys cover the greatest comeback in Greek history… 🙏🏼
Mycale and the counter-offence next, or is this it for your Greco-Persian war series?
Mycale will probably be the next and last video about the Persian invasion.
I reckon, even though I'm not yet entirely certain, that after Mycale I'm going to move to a different era.
I do have a strong desire to make a "Caesar in Gaul" series, but I'm not yet sure. There is always the chance of making a mini-series about Emperor Julian, or the Roman invasion of Britain.
@@hocestbellumchannel Whatever you decide to cover, I'm sure it'll be fantastic!
@@hocestbellumchannel I think you would tell the story of Mithridates quite unlike anyone else could. And theres few more epic persons or events than those of Mithridates
@@hocestbellumchannel I like the sound of all of ‘em! Ig you’ve already made a start on a Caesar series so yeah may as well be finished 👍🏼
Personal suggestion: Of all the big and well done ancient history channels on RUclips (yourself, Kings and Generals, Invicta, Historia Civilis etc.) one character they always mention but have never fully covered is Sulla, and the Social Wars. 👌🏼
@@youvebeengreeked Sulla is actually a great suggestion!
Hmm, this must be a very good series to make indeed.
I'll seriously consider this topic. I might go for Sulla after all.
It will be a quite complex topic though, but the idea is great.
is a shame that this battle doesn't get the love that Thermopylae gets. this was far grander and decisive
If not for the battle of Thermopylae this battle wouldn’t of even happened if they got past the hot gates before Greece could rally and create an army then the Persians would of steam rolled Greece
@@fabz7647 you mean if the Greeks hadn't failed at Thermopylae then this battle wouldn't have *needed* to happen
Despite all the myth making the Persians broke through the hot gates in a mere 5 days. it was barely a speed bump strategically
@@retrospectus failed?? They knew what the had to do snd that was to halt the Persians for as long as possible so the Greeks could mobilise there army and give Athens time to evacuate the city, they knew they wasn’t gonna survive Thermopylae there was no way they was gonna survive, if they hadn’t stalled the Persians at Thermopylae then the Greeks would of lost to the Persians
@@fabz7647 You need to pick up a history book sometime.
The idea that the Greeks knowingly walked into a suicide mission is a complete myth. They went up there fully expecting to win. That's why Athens didn't start evacuating until after the defeat, they had no reason to believe it was necessary until then.
Platea happened a full year after Thermopylae, holding up the Persians for a mere 5 days did nothing to help them prepare, the Persians conquered nearly all of Greece because of the defeat at Thermopylae
@@retrospectus no they didn’t stop talking 💩 no one thought 7000 Greeks was gonna defeat the whole Persian army which ranged between 150 thousand and 300 thousands soldiers what the hell are you talking about 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Amazing work as always 👍
Than for the great video. I searched for this battle several times and only could find another less detailed one. This one is great.
Now, here on this ragged patch of earth called Plataea, Xerxes hordes face obliteration!
Platea was quite famous at that time, even Homer sung about them. "They sprung from the earth"
Awesome video!!!! I love how you increased the frequency of uploads, continue you have many fans!
I love and studied our history and where we are coming from - the largest and deepest root for me is the hellenic history. I just read a line of books written from the perspective Arimnestos - which was awesome, I learned so much about this time and context. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome work as always, my friend!
I'm really enjoying the cut scenes, as well as the battle itself, of course!
Thank you very much my friend!
I'm already looking forward to our next collaboration!
I'm sad you didn't narrate this one
Likewise, I believe our next collaboration will be our most successful one to date!
And Micah, you're the best! But don't worry, I only didn't narrate this one as I'm currently out of the country (and have been for the last few months.)
I'll return shortly though!
@@thefacelessnarrator scotland will welcome its children back! Have fun bro!
Amazing quality. But although not historically accurate, you should make 2 different colors the 2 combatants on the battlefield. It would be easier to follow the narration this way.
Impressive work, especially summarizing a complex and chaotic battle!
Thanks a lot!
Those are some amazing animations!
You seem to have study in depth the ancient texts. This year was the 2500th anniversary of these events.
Well, 2022 was the 2500th anniversary of at least the Battle of Thermopylae.
Watching your videos after long time sir.Still quality is amazing as ever.
Thanks a ton
@@hocestbellumchannel We thank you for your content.
@@Deus-Gratia Thank you very much for watching and for the support!
this is High Quality!
Great video, this really fills in a battle that is usually glossed over as if it were a give-in the Persians were going to lose.
Kings and generals, epic history tv and hoc est bellum upload on they same day.
Great content!
Thank you for this masterpiece! Keep up the good work
Thank you very much for watching!
Europe will always be grateful for the bravery and resistance of Greek people.
Well Europe was not even an idea at that time - the greek people identified themselves as member of one of the city states - that was not even an idea as well. But it sparked the idea of Hellas - of hellenian people can come together. We can and should learn from that.
Great video. I loved the overview you did. You're definitely improving. Keep going!
Fantastic! Actually had me in suspense and I know the outcome. That's great story telling.
Ι΄m, really glad you liked it!
It was quite a beast of a video to make...
@@hocestbellumchannel I can tell I can't imagine how much work goes into these. Wish you continue with them with great success.
Great video! Soon after starting, I quickly realized I didn't really know how the battle played out beyond the outcome. Lol
If you are have trouble with ideas for possible future videos and want to keep in the era... there is always the peloponnesian war. I don't think there are many youtube videos on the subject
Just perfect, thank youuu
Thank you for watching!
Absolutely awesome video once again. I would love a series on Agrippa he was awesome. But what ever you will make your next series on. Will watch it! Keep theese awesome videos coming. Love your channel
Also a series on romes early expansions until they controlled main land Italy would be awesome too!
@@danieleriksson5587 Thank you, Daniel!
Agrippa and early Rome will make amazing videos series indeed.
I'll think about it, check sources and probably start one of those two topics after my latest project about the battle of Mycale!
AWESOME; THANKS FOR THE UPLOAD; IT IS HARD TO FOLLOW HERODOTOS WITHOUT KNOWING THE LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY AND YOUR MAPS ARE A GREAT TOOL THAT HELPS CLARIFYING THE NARRATION OF THE FATHER OF HISTORY.
Keep up the great work! The animations are some of the best.
Damn good …… Thank you.
Wow I like your content. Editing and narrating make your channel my favorite. Your work should be admired . You are deserve more subscriber I hope you must gain 1 Million subscriber by the end of this year. Please keep continue this type of amazing work. Your admirable hard work and deep research make you the best channel on RUclips.
Congrats !! Great Video !!
Thank you!
Excellent video! Bravo 👏!!
Thank you so much for uploading this video. It is helping me get through the pandemic!
Wow this must have been very hard to make, great job!
Great job here. Cheers!!
Fantastic breakdown of the battle. I just discovered your channel and you earned a Sub. Great work keep it up I love it.
Awesome, thank you!
Terrific video!🏹⚔
Your voice over is just fucking DELIGHTFUL.
Great! as always HES
Always glad to see you here, KHk!
love your content keep it up general!
Where does this channel have been hiding in? Awesome video! Thanks!
Beautiful work.
Τhanks!
great video man!
9:54 love this shot !
Thank's Malay!
Always glad to see you here!
I really like The Battle Of Plateae.
WOW what nice video in clearly explaining complicate political situation due to intervention of Persian influences between massodienain & Spartan in side Greeks population .which created furiously battles between Greece and Persians, Macedonian helped Greece's millitary against Persian umpire ....enjoying video
Great video keep it up!
I get more knowledge than school from your videos. The content of your video is fantastic. I admire your deep research and hard work You are extremely worthy for admiration. It is an unforgettable memory for me. Thanks for the amazing knowledge. But I want to know who is the founder of this amazing channel?
Thank you so much for your amazing and kind feedback Subham!
I guess that the founder of HEB is me, Alexander!
@@hocestbellumchannel Welcome I like your Videos very Alexander
Amazing job, this is more like watching an animated movie than a history channel
14:00 Madness? We are SPARTA!
Excellent.
This is amazing
Hmm that place called Thessaly, sounds like it would be some good land, a place you might want to stay
Given that Greece is for 80% mountaineous, Thessaly is the biggest plain of Greece, lots of agriculture. In ancient times it was also a great horse rearing region. Thessalian horses were the best. Like Bucephalus, Alexander the Great’s horse.
Well done , thank you .
Crazy how tiny sparta Thebes and athens managed to defend from the gigantic persia
Very well done! I was wondering, what is the animation program you use? The quality is great!
Fantastic!
Killing 50 to 80 thousand enemy troops vs losing about 1000 of your own. That's the definition of obliteration.
The Persian cavalry commander sitting on his horse that was hit with an arrow, being thrown to the ground looking like he’s thinking “I’m fine, this is fine”.
Great video. I think the numbers were much smaller. Not even Alexander could muster 80.000 Greeks
Excellent work as always, the text, the animation are perfect, but please think about hiring a professional narrator and you'll have the best history channel on youtube.
Thank you very much!
Hiring a professional narrator literally costs every single penny that the channel generated since it was monetized, for a single 12minute video.
Unfortunately, the channel is too small, but once I can afford it, I will certainly hire a narrator!
Thanks again for the constructive feedback!
@@hocestbellumchannel Keep it up man, I'm already enjoying your content as it is, so thank you and best of luck !
@@ferdyssencorleone9091 I really appreciate it!
Thank you Ferdyssen!
The narration is absolutely fine, it really suits the subject. Maybe just an improvement in sound recording equipment but thats all is needed
It’s time to prepare for battle!
Oh I was looking for this long time
Interesting to see how much negotiation and politics had to be accomplished to organize the defense
Nice video
Remember when "The History Channel" used to put out vids like this ?
I wonder if the victory at Plataea was due to the hoplite arms & equipment and not the phalanx???
On a RUclips channel I saw a guy dressed in reproduction hoplite armor.
Wow -- he was imposing in that armor. The shield was also large and impressive.
I could see how one could avoid arrows by hiding behind one.
BTW -- very nice of Mardonius to choose a flat site well suited to the phalanx.
This victory paved the way for the future campaign against the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great🦅
Err, the first time Greek states worked together? What about Troy? There are even earlier stories of Greek States combining their forces against Heracles' Doric invasion of the Peloponnese. So that really seems to be overstating/inventing a point. Suffice to say they worked together, and that worked out well.
Nice
"Make more!"
This was less buggy than Rome total war 2
What mod is this?
These are animations made by me.
Numbers seem very unbelievable
Bear in mind that these are modern-revised, more moderate numbers...
Yes but still, 80.000 Greeks? Even 50.000 seems like maximum.
However, I have nothing but praise for the video! Keep making these pieces of art
we need a movie of this war it would be better than 300 imo
Very good video, visually at least. However, what are :Medsizing" Greeks? I never heard of that term before. Why didn't you just call them the Thessalonians or the Thebans -- why the strange term "med=sizing"?
Thank you!
"Medizing" Greeks is a term used in the sources.
"Medes" were the generalized term used by the ancient Greeks to describe the Persians.
"Medizing" were those Greeks who had collaborated with the Persians during the invasion.
@@hocestbellumchannel Ah. Thanks. Never heard that before; learned something new today!
Epic af
16:38 "well armoured, well trained, disciplined, life-long professional infantry. Let's send our paper+leather+whatever dudes against them. What can possibly go wrong..." - Unknown Persian commander, Plataea, 479 B.C.E.
Wicker, a lot of the Persian shields were wickerwork. Apparently it stands up well against arrows and is obviously a lot lighter which suited war in open country with lots of archers on horseback. But against large quantities of bronze, it would have been like being in those dreams where you go to work without your pants on. Poor buggers just lacked the proper equipment for the enemy/terrain.
Isn't this the battle at the end of 300?
Υes, that's the one.
What did the ancient Persians look like? I understand that it might be confusing at first look due to their lack of representation, but it will actually become pretty clear upon a second glance. For now as you read this just keep in mind that most contemporary art, even the ones depicted by modern Iranians themselves are based on ancient Persian Royal art, which itself was directly copied from the Assyrians and Babylonians who came before them - a highly symbolic, flat type of art where all faces regardless of which nation was represented, looked almost identical (for more see the last two paragraphs). Some of the modern art also conflates the current Middle-Eastern phenotype with that of the ancient peoples of Iran.
The Persians and Spartans were both Indo-Europeans (Caucasians). But according to Greek historian Herodotus (Father of History), the Medes were blonds and sandy-haired Northern Iranians. Xerxes’s father, Darius, was a Mede, his mother a Persian. That collaborates centuries later with Roman poet and historian Ovid’s analysis when he said Northern Iranians (the Parthians, Scythians, Alans, Sarmatians, etc), were no different in appearance to the Celts and the Germanic tribes. The Roman author Ammianus Marcellinus, centuries earlier had stated the same.
The few realistic art work we have of the Persians themselves done by Greek and Roman artists, depicts them as white, but dissimilar to the Greeks, and far more resembling the French, the Spaniards, and reveals them as Eastern European-like. Herodotus also noted that Xerxes was supposedly one of the most youthful in appearance and handsome men in Asia during his time, whatever that means.
The most life-like depiction of ancient Persians are the “Bishapur art”, the wall and mosaic drawings done by Roman prisoners of war where they put their well-known talents to use and aided with decorating some newly constructed Persian palaces. In those, Persian women specifically and other female courtesans are depicted as almost pale with somewhat thick, flat eyebrows, with brown and black hair, very rarely some, including men, with red hair (as also depicted by Greek artists on the so-called Alexander’s sarcophagus and Sassanian floor fresco). The “Sassanian silver plates art”, also repeat the some of the same type of depictions, but since it was done by Persian artists, again many faces look similar, and have a symbolic quality to them to a certain extent, yet still a very good starting point. Other notable art include, “The Parthian solider” bust, (Greek-based), “The Dying Persian”, and “The Parthian statue”, a remarkable ancient Roman work of art with black marble used as the body, contrasting it with beige and black marble as his clothing and cape. Lastly, of importance are the many Parthian coins still in survival. Clean shaven (or not), and inspired by realistic portrayals unique to Hellenic art, Parthian kings and Princes with their Iranian weapons of choice, the bow and the arrow, look like Scandinavian war-lords, or at the very least are very Robinhood-like (see Arsaces I).
Alexander’s northern Iranian wife who was after his death murdered by his mom or his men, was named Rukhshanaa (Roxana, Roxanne). In ancient Iranian and still today’s Persian, it means, shiny-faced, light-face. Back then, and even today in Iran, the more secluded a tribal group was/is, the “lighter-skinned” in appearance they are, something that again, is Specially true for some reason or the other with Iranian women, signaling lack of intermarriage. The indigenous peoples of the Iranian plateau, the Elamites, had beautiful olive-skin with long braided hairs, whom Persian royals went on to copy, as a form of fashion of the times, as well as borrowing their long robes with wide bejeweled sleeves. Their sophisticated culture was long established before the arrival of the Persians and other Iranian tribes.
THE BOTTOM LINE? Northern Iranians aside, focusing strictly on the Persian tribes (Southern Iranians), THEY, resembled modern Albanians, Romanians, and modern Northern Italians, as well as very strongly, the Medieval Europeans (excluding Northern Europe). When you see an image of a Medieval European, from Hungary, Spain, and above all, France and Portugal, you are most likely coming very close to seeing the face of an ancient Persian. Accordingly, see the rock carving of the Khosrow II, an artistic work and an archeological piece 1000 years before the emergence of the Medieval Europe and the concept of the heavy armored worrier (the Chevalier, or the knight). It is also noteworthy to indicate the remnants of the Northern Iranians (the Alans and the Sarmatians) are still living today on the region of Ossetia-Alania in the Northern Caucasuses. Ancient Iranian tribes hailed from Ukraine by the way, at least that’s as far as we can tell.
As the late Prof. Emeritus Richard Frye of Harvard noted, while the Iranians are not geographically Eastern Europeans, they are however, “The Europeans of the East”. Or according to encyclopedia Brittanica,
“The name Persia derives from Parsa, the name of the Indo-European nomadic people who migrated into southern Iran…in about 1000 BCE”.
It’s important to note that Persian imperial art itself in Persepolis and other places does NOT depict the Persians, or any other groups, realistically, as they all show a flat profile, with most faces looking very similar or almost identical. This was partially borrowed from the Assyrian and Babylonian empires who came before them, to portray a continuity and homogeneity of races. It was also an attempt to legitimize Persian rule, the world’s first Indo-European super power, who replaced thousands of years of semitic kingship (the Egyptians and the aforementioned civilizations). Let me repeat that one more time, ancient Persian art itself is NOT realistic, but more symbolic.
Where the “Indo” suffix of the designation, Indo-European comes from is due to the fact that while some Iranians tribes where settling in their new homeland, in modern Iran, simultaneously other Iranic tribes invaded Northern India. That is why many Indic and ancient Iranian Gods and religious beliefs display similarities. The British scholar who coined the term thought that the related-European groups passed through the Hindu Kush mountains. Although at some point the old Aryans (Iranian tribes) who invaded India were fortunately, eventually absorbed by the indigenous Brahmin population. Otherwise we wouldn’t have the nation of India, as we know it today. Something that for anyone who is a lover of cultures, arts, mathematics and good food would be unimaginable.
That’s ethnicity; linguistically Iranian languages are classified as the aforementioned Indo-European, which can in turn be termed as ancient English.
Words like, mother, father, son, daughter (dokhtar). ponder (pendaar), nice (nik,neekoo, nikki; Greek: Nike), Jasmine (yaasamin), scarlet (saghalaat, see Merriam-Webster), Melchior, art (Old Pers.: arta), mind (manaa), grab (Avestan/Eastern Persian, grab), far (related to fara, ex: faravahar; fra, par-vaaz), being (boodan), is (hast), you, tiger (tighra; Merriam-Webster), it (een), Allan (Alan, Alania; from the Northern Iranian tribes who settled in modern day Scotland), Ariana (Arya, Aria, Aryan, Eire-aan, ultimately, “Iran”). Amazon (hama-zan; see “Sarmatians” in Brittanica; also Online Etymology Dictionary; also Adrienne Mayor, The National Geographic; also “The Early Amazons, JH Block, 1995), Caucasian (search engine: etymology of Caucasus), etc, are mostly still found in Farsi.
I hope this was helpful
The result of genetic studies: The Proto-Iranians can trace their origin to roughly modern Ukraine and Chelyabinsk, Oblast, Russia. These sites have been archeology completed and they are the so-called Sintasha and other cultures where the horse was first most likely domesticated. Before that we had the Andronova culture, with similarities to the Sintasha. On the other side, to the West of these cultures there was the Srubnaya culture that later both layered and replaced the Potapovka peoples. The Potapovka culture in turn was derived from the Poltavka culture. The genetically and culturally related “coded ware” was to the North of Srubnya and Sintasha cultures; the aforementioned “Coded Ware” culture was the first to migrate to the European continent. Although partially most of these related cultures migrated to Europe, some came back to Central Asia and Russia, some stayed in Europe. In these cultures mentioned, we see the emergence of various Iranian languages, a sub section of the larger Indo-European linguistic family that itself first bloomed in the Yamnaya culture in Southern Russia. The catacomb culture was to the South of ALL of these cultures mentioned. There were other cultures (settlements), but there no absolutely no need to go through every single one. Ultimately, the aforementioned populations were ALL related, yet with slight variations.
At any rate, below are genetic studies and scholarly works that will expand on these answers further,
“In studies from the mid-2000s, the Andronovo have been described by archaeologists as having cranial features similar to ancient and modern European populations. Andronovo skulls are similar to those of the Srubnaya culture and Sintashta culture, exhibiting features such as dolicocephaly. Through Iranian and Indo-Aryan migrations, this physical type expanded southwards and mixed with aboriginal peoples, contributing to the formation of modern populations…”- Kuzmina, 2007, p. 171.
“The Potapovka culture is thought to belong to an eastward migration of Indo-European-speakers who eventually emerged as the Indo-Iranians. David W. Anthony considers the Potapovka culture and the Sintashta culture as archaeological manifestations of the early Indo-Iranian languages.”
“In a genetic study published in Science in 2018, the remains four individuals ascribed to the Potapovka culture was analyzed. Of the two males, one carried R1a1a1b2a2a and U2e1, while the other carried R1 and C. People of the Potapovka culture were found to be closely related to people of the Corded Ware culture, the Sintashta culture, the Andronovo culture and the Srubnaya culture. These were found to harbor mixed ancestry from the Yamnaya culture and peoples of the Central European Middle Neolithic. The genetic data suggested that these related cultures were ultimately derived from a remigration of Central European peoples with steppe ancestry back into the steppe.”
“The Potapovka people were massively built Caucasoids/Europoids. Their skulls are similar to those of the Catacomb culture. Potapovka skulls are less dolichocephalic than those of the Fatyanovo-Balanovo culture, Abashevo culture, Sintashta culture, Srubnaya culture and western Andronovo culture. The physical type of the Potapovka appears to have emerged through a mixture between the purely dolichocephalic type of the Sintashta, and the less dolichocephalic type of the Yamnaya culture and Poltavka culture.”
That Persian general died when a Spartan hoplite hit him in the head with a stone, killing him instantly
👍👍
Trying to sound like. Dillios (dave whenham)
I think the wicker shields did not hold up to heavy spears and syphis swords.
A wicjer shield works wel for arrows and sling shots. But not against heavy infantry.
In Rome Total war Eastern infantry is a joke.
How come the Achaemenid cavalry did not outflank the Spartans?
I'm guessing that since the Achaemenid cavalry was not trained to actually clash with enemy lines, the Spartans could easily defend themselves from all angles.
@@hocestbellumchannel The light cavalry was like that but they also had heavy cavalry, which was really the most potent force in their army, but it doesn't appear that they had any role in this battle at all.
@@DaS-rh2ji True heavy cavalry didnt exist unitl the advent of the Alan people (coinciding with the introduction of saddle).
@@anhtran6113 The Alans were one of Scythia-Sarmatian tribes. But prior to the Alans the Parthians and entities before the Parthians already had Cataphracts (the most developed heavy cavalry of antiquity).
@@DaS-rh2ji
Cataphracts didn’t charge like shock cavalry though, at least before stirrups and better saddles
We now know that Persia had an extraordinary influence on the Founding Fathers, and consequently on the American Bill of Rights.
It’s safe to say Persia and the United States are not your typical superpowers. At their ideological core lay the notions of freedom and providing security for other nations.
For the Persians it was who most modern scholars agree invented the notion of chivalry (which was passed on to Medieval Europe), it was freedom of religion and cultural expression, as well as outright rejection of slavery and/or providing security for other nations, including the downtrodden (ex: The Jews captive in Babylon). But according to Prof. Richard Frye of Harvard, one the biggest “contributions the Persians made to the modern world, is the idea of a secular government, free of religious influence”.
For the Americans it is the ideals of independence, which encompasses everything from freedom of the press or individual freedom of expression, and also the freedom to one to choose their own government (this is where the concept democracy and the Greek influence comes in), although the American democracy the different than Ancient Greek one, and is more a mixture of the vestiges of Persian monarchy or hierarchical representation sworn to defend the people, and a just voting system invented by Athens where citizen participation is at the base of representation (according to democracy everyone is equal in the eyes of the law).
So both the Persians and the Greek have much like a coordination of the left and the right hands, served as role models to the modern Americas.
Here are four shocking examples of the Persian influence on the US,
1- The re-discovery of a book owned by Thomas Jefferson that seems has influenced his thought, “Cyropedia” (The Education of Cyrus). In a letter sent to his nephew along a second copy of that book, Jefferson explains to his nephew how an ideal, just leader must behave and how the notions of religious freedom and tolerant must serve as the basis of the newly found republic.
2- President Abraham Lincoln has two main things in common with Cyrus the Great. First, his objection to slavery. Secondly, in an exact match as with Cyrus, he famously incorporated his political enemies and rivals into his cabinet purposely, now popularly known as “The team of rivals”. Cyrus was famous for forgiving his defeated enemies like Croesus of Lydia, and in a departure with last practices by the victors, instead of beheading him, he made him a closer advisor of him. He also treated his defeated rivals the Medes as equals and positioned them in the high ranking posts in the government and the army. He did the same with the defeated Babylonian king, forgiving him. Years later his son and grandson forgave an exiled Spartan king and made him a governor, and Xerxe son (Artaxerxes) for Persia’s public enemy No.1, the hero of the Greco-Persian wars, the Athenian naval commander, Themistocles after his fellow Greeks turned on him. Again they gave him land and made a governor to a province near Greece.
3- President Truman modeled himself after Cyrus and was greatly effected by the Edict of Cyrus which tells of the Persian king emancipating the exiled Jews in Babylon and rebuilding their homeland for them. Something that also appears in the Old Testament. A religious Truman is the reason there exists the State of Israel today in the modern times. In November of 1953 after retiring from presidency and having recognized the State of Israel after 2000 years, while visiting the New York Jewish Theological Seminary President Harry Truman famously declared, “I am Cyrus, I am Cyrus”.
Of course, the world wouldn’t have been the same either without the enduring Greek invention of democracy, and theatre as well as scientific inquiry - while on the other hand the Persians went on centuries later to discover algebra.In the end, both Persia and Greece have served as the Ying & the Yang that in return makes up the modern world.
I hope this was enlightening and helpful.
Wicker is not a shield against steel!