72-AN-2504 THE DEATH OF KING LEONIDAS THE KING'S BODY AND WEAPONS ARE RECOVERED

The Spartan army was considered the best in the Greek world of the classical period, especially in the 6th-5th centuries BC. She wore this title deservedly. Its number at the beginning of the Greco-Persian wars, and therefore in the beginning of the 5th century BC, is estimated at 9,000-10,000 soldiers, led by one of the Spartan kings. A full-fledged citizen of the Spartan polis, or Spartiat, was getting ready to fight and broadly understood war from the age of 7, when his military training (Greek: agoge) began. It lasted until the age of 21 Spartiata and included constant physical exercise, getting the future warrior used to the hardships of combat, hunger and cold, but also taught camaraderie and strict discipline. As a result of agoge, Spartan soldiers had a very high morale, unattainable in other Greek armies, literally iron discipline, but they were also de facto professional soldiers who knew their craft very well. In the period of the 6th-5th centuries BC, they fought in the formation of the phalanx. Each of them was a hoplite equipped with a hoplon, a bronze helmet (very often of the Corinthian type), armor (e.g. the so-called athlete's armor) and greaves, but also a spear and a sword. The Spartan army showed great courage and loyalty to the commander (King Leonidas) above all in the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC), while its incredibly high combat value - in the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC.