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Notes for the video "Sparta before the Persian invasion"

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Sepeia : the exact location is not known, what I'm showing is just a guess.  Siege of Argos : in the narrative of Herodotus, Kleomenes sends most of his army home even before visiting the Heraion, and he never besieges the city of Argos. But the prophecy in 6.77 implies that there was an actual battle between the women of Argos and the Spartans, and this is what happens in Pausanias 2.20.9 and Plutarch's Mul Virt §4. It's impossible to resolve this contradiction so I stick with Herodotus and don't show a siege.  Tiryns and Mykenai becoming Spartan allies: the ancient sources don't explicitly say this, but in 480 they fight against the Persians alongside the members of the Peloponnesian League (Hdt. 9.28) even though Argos explicitly refused to join the anti-Persian alliance. Argos has to recapture Mykenai by force in 468 BC, and the reason cited for the campaign is that the weakened Spartans couldn't come to the aid of Mykenai (Diodoros 11.65.3) which shows tha

Notes for the First Persian invasion of Greece video

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  6.101: I'm not showing the three landing places of Eretria (Temenos, Chioreai, Aigilea) because historians can't seem to agree about what they are. Most translations replace Temenos with Tamynai, a place deep inland and out of place for an invasion of Eretria city, and Aigilea with the Aigleia of 6.107, but that's an island of Styra, not Eretria. I would assume that all 3 landing places are on the coastal plain of Eretria city. For the issues with the modern day Marathon and Spartathlon routes see my previous post . The role played by Aristeides in the battle of Marathon is from Plutarch's Life of Aristeides. Arimnestos is named as the Plataiai leader by Paus. 9.4.2. Herodotos only names Miltiades and Stesileos of the ten generals. Plutarch also calls Cynegeirus and Polyzelus generals, but the wording in Hdt 6.114 contradicts this, and it would be really strange if the Athenians lost 4 of their 11 leaders when they only had 192 casualties (with the 2 confirmed losses