Epic Moments - The Battle of the 300 Champions that Decided a War DOCUMENTARY

A history documentary on the Battle of 300 Champions that decided a war!
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We continue our documentary series on the Epic Moments in History by looking at the famous Battle of 300 Champions between Sparta and Argos that decided a war. The video begins by contextualizing the history of Sparta and the history of Argos. We talk about how each greek city developed over the course of the Bronze Age and declined with the Bronze Age Collapse which led to the Greek Dark Ages. We then cover the Rise of Sparta and the Rise of Argos as regional powers in the Greek Archaic period which saw them exert control over their neighboring territory. However at this time we note that the spartan army did not directly clash with the army of Argos. Instead the Spartans were preoccupied with wars over Arcadia, and more specifically with the city of Tegea. However when they do finally defeat Tegea this sets the stage for a war with Argos.

The inciting incident was a move by the Spartan army to take Tyrea which lay just a few kilometers south of Argos. In response the Argive army moved out to confront them. Yet as both sides prepared for a fight they expressed some hesitation, pausing to begin diplomatic talks. These appear to have led to an agreement that there would be no pitched battle. Instead the war would be decided by a duel between 300 champions to decide the war. (These 300 sparta may have been the famous spartan royal guard we covered in our previous Units of History video)

Our history documentary then seeks to reconstruct this epic moment in history from the brief passages we are given by Herodotus. We then follow the aftermath of the duel of champions and discuss its historical accuracy. Did it really happen? Watch to find out.

Check out the rest of our videos on Sparta as we talk about its famous units like the Spartan Royal Guard, its famous one liners, and the misconceptions of the Spartan Myth.

Bibliography and Suggested Reading:
"The Histories" by Herodotus
"The Traditional Enmity Between Sparta and Argos: The Birth and Development of a Myth" by Thomas Kelly

Credits:
Research: Roel Konijnendijk
Writing: Invicta
Narration: Invicta
Artwork: Penata Limited
Editing: Invicta

#Epic
#History
#Documentary
#Sparta

[Alexander_the_Alright]

Everyone agrees to have a duel between 600 men to avoid the unnecessary bloodshed of a pitched battle... Proceeds to come back the next day and have a pitched battle.

[landonricketts]

My man Othryades killing himself to be with his friends and brothers made me big sad

[Paris-xvsj]

Random guy : I think we can't be more Epic than aveng-


History Fans and Invicta : What about *The Battle of The Champions* ?

[xcd]

"hey let's avoid too much casualties and have a 300 vs 300 duel instead"

sparta and argos:okay sure

24hrs later...

all out battle starts and causes enormous casualties anyway.

[napoleonibonaparte]

Othryades killing himself after seeing his dead company is basically if Marius from Les Mis killed himself when he saw his comrades fell.

[queldron]

Great video! Please make one for the Anabasis and Katabasis (or Kathodos) of the 10.000 Greek mercenaries!

[carltroysegura]

From "Total War History/Strategies" to an actual "History Documentary" gotta love the evolution

[duartecanotilho]

There is a battle, called the battle of Almeida in the Portuguese independence war of 1640, in which during the assault by the spanish on the ramparts the Portuguese commander defeated the spanish commander in a sword duel. The dishartened spanish troops then retreated and the portuguese won the battle.

[newstainable]

00:34 "dials it up to 11" really missed the chance saying dials it up to 300

[dimkp]

Great video as always i really love your videos. I liked this video more because im from Argos. Keep up the great work

[rupitusman]

Gamemode: Team Deathmatch (No Respawn)

[DanaosV]

Watching your video from the city of Argos!!! Hopefuly you will make more videos for our ancient city and its thousends of years history! Keep up your amazing content!!!

[tomjordan]

I feel like the sas of sparta and the stubborn pride of argos makes this story fit. Tho it may not have very creditable sources, I feel this tale really does fit just too well. I legitimately believe msny aspects of this story might be true with some minor embellishments.

[damuvang]

Wow! I was really interested about it from your last video and now they actually made a video of the battle mentioned. My dreams became true lol.

[truereaper]

This video isn't what i thought it would be but still watching

[fleetcenturion]

Spartans were known for long hair, well before this battle took place. A Spartan soldier was _allowed_ to grow his hair long, only after his first campaign. Long hair is a liability in close combat, and they had to prove they could handle the responsibility.

"No other ornament makes a handsome man appear more comely, nor an ugly man more fearsome, and it's free!" - From _Gates of Fire, _ attributed to Lycurgus.

[blacktemplar]

"which takes the opening scene from troy, and dials it up to 11"

Wouldn't you say more like?... Dials it up to... 300?

[christinejoyinoc]

Can you do a topic about the phyrric war? It's really an understated topic.

[teddyjunior]

Two examples of pre-battle duels (these two weren't meant to decide victors but to showcase martial prowess/boost morale before the main engagement):
Battle of Kulikovo: Rus vs Golden Horde
Two champions dueled. Alexander Peresvet (Rus Principalities) vs Temir Murza aka Chelubey (Golden Horde) engaged in a duel on horseback. Each man hit his opponent with his spear on the first pass, either outright killing or mortally wounding his enemy. Both died, inconclusive duel.

Battle of Ullais: Rashidun Caliphate vs Sassanian Empire
Two commanders dueled. Khalid ibn Waleed (Commander in chief of the Rashidun army) vs Abdul Aswad (Arab chieftain and sub-commander allied to the Sassanian Empire). Khalid ibn Waleed killed Abdul Aswad, not clear on the details of the duel.

[kevinconrad]

Combat of the Thirty, 26 March 1351, for the Duchy of Brittany.