Using a movie based on a Frank Miller comic as a prime example… The Spartiates and the spartan King who held Thermopylae deserve the accolades, but so do the t

Using a movie based on a Frank Miller comic as a prime example… The Spartiates and the spartan King who held Thermopylae deserve the accolades, but so do the thesbians and helots who filled the rear ranks of the phalanx, allowing the spartiates to form the front rank. The spartiates always filled the front ranks. Something else the author glossed over. Admittedly, I only read the first article, but he talked about their frequent losses. This is really an oversimplification. They rarely ever committed a spartiate army to combat. Normally, there was a small detachment of spartiates with an ally (more like vassal) army. They made the military decisions, and they filled the front ranks of the phalanx. More often than not, the failure of these expeditionary forces was due to the rear ranks (non spartiates) failing to hold the line, allowing the front ranks to be overrun.