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490 Marathon-definitely the Athenians. The Spartans were
delayed by an important religious festival (the Carneia) which
they had to observe as they were very pious re the gods.
They turned up 2-3 days later, but missed all the action!!
The inter-war years: The Athenians were much more active
in preparing for a second, and what was, they believed, aninevitably greater invasion. Themistocles was especially
instrumental in warning the Athenians and other Greek states
about this, even sending to the Delphic Oracle for a
prediction. The Spartans were more concerned about
defending the Peloponnese and their own alliance system and
planned to build a wall across the Isthmus at Corinth. The
Athenians pushed for a pan-Hellenic congress to discuss the
defence of Greece which resulted in 480 at the Isthmus and
resulted in the formation of The Greek League/Hellenic
League.
The following is worth considering:
"Although the Greek states of the mainland admired Athensfor her victory at Marathon, they looked for leadership not
to her but to Sparta. Athens had no following and her
neighbours were hostile. Spartra was the head of a great
Alliance: among her followers she counted the neighbours
of Athens-Megara, Aegina and Thebes-and she had a
practical and probably a formal alliance with Athens herself.
Her influence was thus paramount among the Greek states.
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At the same time her prestige as a military power and as
leader of a military Alliance stood very high since the
crushing
defeat of Argos at Sepeia.....The whole problem of anyorganised resistance to the Persians herefore centred on
Sparta." (N.G.L. Hammond "A History of Greece to 322 B.C."
(P. 223)
Athens (sea) and Sparta (land) were made joint commanders
of the Greek forces, but Sparta was hegemon (supremecommander)
The first naval battle, at Artemisium, was commanded by the
Spartan Eurybiades who had no knowledge or experience of
naval warfare. It seems likely that Themistocles really called
the shots. A storm and lots of confusion did not result in a
clear victory
At Thermopylae, the Spartans under Leonidas and a smallcontingent of mixed local Greek states held up the Persian
advance for 3 days, but were annihilated. This did give some
time
however, to the Athenians to evacuate their city and
surrounding areas, so the sacrifice was a significant
achievement.
The turning point was Salamis, tactically the brainchild of
Themistocles and the Athenian naval commanders. The large
Ath. navy (some 200 triremes) was supplemented by
contingents from other allied states from the mainland and
the islands and Asia Minor. It turned the Persian advance
back to central Greece. The Spartans and their Peloponnesian
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allies were massed at the isthmus to defend the narrow land
bridge into the Peloponnese.
The final land battle at Plataea was between the remnants of the Persian army (still overwhelmingly large) and a combined
hoplite force of Greek allies. Some states did not show up.
Athens did not distinguish itself in this battle as their generals
quarreled with the Spartans, led by Pausanias, and did not
co-operate in the lead-up and early stages of the battle. Their
conduct came close to jeopardising the overwhelmingsuccess of the battle. The Spartans were outstanding and
showed why they were the leading military power in Greece.
This victory drove the Persians from Greece.
The final encounter at Mycale, off the coast of Asia Minor
where the Greek navy, predominantly Athenian and Ath. led
routed the Persians and drove them away from the Ioniancities. The spartans did not participate as immediately after
Plataea, they returned to the Peloponnese to secure
consolidate their leadership leadership there.
I think one could conclude that both Athenians and Spartans
played important roles in different ways in different battles.The more intangible things to consider would be:
*Willingness to defend Greece
*ability to see the bigger picture and put the defence of all
of Greece before the interests of a particular polis or
region
*willingness to put differences and animosities aside for the
greater good
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*willingness to co-operate and consult
*initiative in foreseeing future dangers and preparing for it
etc...etc...
Hope this is helpful to you.
Books worth consulting if you can access them:
*Hammond, as quoted qbove.
*W.G. Forrest, "A History of Sparta"
*V. Ehrenberg, "From Solon to Socrates"
*Herodotus, "The Histories"*P. Bradley, "Ancient Greece; Using Evidence" (common text)
*A.R. Burn, "Persia and the Greeks"
*P. Cartledge, "The Spartans; An Epic History" (very recent
excellent text, great info on the Persian Wars.)