Let’s face it, the Spartans were morons.
If I never have look at another military or police morale patch, challenge coin, T-shirt, or logo with a Spartan helmet on it that would be just fine, thanks.
Propped up by bombastically entertaining fodder such as the movie 300 and the presence of Gates of Fire on professional reading lists, the exploits of the ancient Spartans loom large in the modern warrior’s imagination.
The heroic tale of elite warriors fighting to their deaths at Thermopylae to protect an early democracy and stop a massive slave army has four major flaws. People who imagine themselves inheritors of their traditions usually overlook these.
