Battle of Thermopylae

[Ghostmojo]

I suspect some of the Thebans may well have viewed themselves as Pan-Hellenic patriots and perhaps the 400 in the pass deserve a better press?

However, they are often described as being held hostage by Leonidas and surrendered just as quickly as they were sure the Spartans' anihilation was imminent. Unfair?

I prefer to think that some of them did rise to the occasion.

The proposed Athenian treatment of Thebes after Plataia is perhaps reminiscient (or prescient) of the intentions Thebes (and others) had for Athens after the Peloponnesian War (had the Spartans not intervened in remembrance of Athens' fine Persian war record).

In any event the Thebans formed one point of that unfortunate triangle of powers in Greece. The struggles between the others - Athens and Sparta - and Thebes itself were perhaps inevitable given the Greek predeliction for discord. Was it due to the friction between Ionian, Dorian and Aeolian?