Alberto Bello

Ingeniero en Comunicaciones y Electrónica. UdeC

[crybaby 🎠 @crybaby_pixxie]

they did unspeakable things 🤫

[Only in Córdoba @OnlyinCordoba]

Solo quería recordaros que hoy a las 2:14 de la madrugada del 29 de Agosto Skynet tendrá conciencia de si misma

[𝓐𝔂𝓸✯ @shefwayo]

the reason why I don't pickup unknown calls

[Alberto Bello @BelloF22]

@nilsrafael

[Ricky Gervais @rickygervais]

This billboard wasn't allowed in public, so please don't look at it or retweet it. Thanks https://t.co/mRWHMOKn4F

[Alex @Alex_Inzunza]

Ustedes eran muy jóvenes, pero hace muchos años se llevó a cabo la mejor competencia de farmear aura

[el basilio @elbasiliogmas]

Una adelantada a su época en eso de farmear aura.!

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

JUST IN: 4 major celestial events will converge on August 12 — a 6-planet alignment, partial solar eclipse, dark new moon, & a massive meteor shower.

[Homer Pavlos @HomerPavlos]

While the Odyssey is important, I would like to note that around these days, July 20-23, 480 BC, according to scientific research conducted in collaboration with NASA to identify the astronomical phenomena of that era (e.g., the movements of the Persians with eclipses and other available information), the Battle of Thermopylae takes place, a very important event. Greco-Persian war shaped the future of Europe. Never forget that.

This is going to be a long post. Feel free to like, repost, and bookmark it so you can read it later. As a proud Spartan, I wrote this with a deep passion for our history, drawing on all the available information about the battle from the primary sources we have. I hope you enjoy it!

During that period, the Olympic Games were being held for all Greeks (the 75th Olympiad), but the Spartans were also celebrating the Carneia festival. A conflict during this time was considered sacrilege. However, the Ephors of Sparta deemed the situation urgent and a serious justification to send Leonidas with his army to defend Thermopylae.

Let’s start from the beginning.

The Panhellenic Congress takes place at the Isthmus of Corinth. The plan was as follows: The Thessalians announced that the pass of Olympus must be defended if Greece and Thessaly were to be saved. If the congress refused to send strong forces to fulfill this request, the Thessalians would be forced to negotiate with the invaders, as they would be left exposed.

The original plan, therefore, was different from what most of you know and concerned the pass of Olympus. The Greeks sent ten thousand hoplites to Tempe, who, along with the renowned Thessalian cavalry, camped there to confront the common enemy. The leader of the Spartans was Euainetos, son of Carenus, and of the Athenians, Themistocles, son of Neocles. The Greek army remained in the area for a few days. Through their spy, the Greeks learned that the Persians would pass through another route into Thessaly, specifically from the upper side of Macedonia through the land of the Perrhaebi, near the city of Gonnoi.

The information was correct. To avoid being cut off, the army boarded ships and returned to the Isthmus. In a meeting, they assessed the information and decided to defend another narrow pass, south of Tempe, at Thermopylae, as Xerxes was still at Abydos.

The Lacedaemonians (Spartans) would send their main army once the Carneia festival was over, as would the other allies once the Olympic Games concluded.

Karneia (Κάρνεια or Καρνεῖα) or Carnea (Κάρνεα) was one of the tribal religious festivals of Sparta and other Doric cities in Peloponnese and Magna Grecia, held in honor of the God Apollo Karneios. The Karneia appear to have been once Agrarian, military and piacular in character. In the last aspect it is supposed to commemorate the death of Κarnos, an Acarnanian seer and favourite of Apollo, who, being suspected of espionage, was slain by one of the Heraclidae during the passage of the Dorians from Naupactus to Peloponnesus.

Thus, due to religious and athletic festivals, Leonidas was left alone with a few soldiers who followed him, whom he personally selected one by one.

The king of Sparta, Leonidas I, son of Anaxandridas, from the Agiad dynasty, took with him three hundred men, whom he carefully chose with the condition that they had sons, so that if they died, they would leave an heir to their family to continue the Spartan lineage, as required by Laconian customs.

When Gorgo, Queen of Sparta, encouraged her husband Leonidas, who was going off to Thermopylae, to prove himself worthy of Sparta, she asked him what she should do. Leonidas replied:
“Marry a good man and bear good children.”
-(Source: Plutarch, Λακαινῶν Ἀποφθέγματα / ΓΟΡΓΩ)

Leonidas did not wait for the army promised by the Ephors but quickly departed for Thermopylae to delay and discourage the Persians and to prevent the Thebans from siding with the enemy. For this reason, he called on the Thebans to join him at Thermopylae. They agreed but had different intentions in mind. When the Greeks saw the multitude of Persians advancing toward Thermopylae, they convened a council where the Peloponnesians proposed withdrawing from Thermopylae to the Isthmus of Corinth and organizing the defense there. However, the Locrians and Phocians protested against the proposed change of plan, leading to arguments. Leonidas decided to stay and fight at Thermopylae.

At the same time, the Persians gathered in the Thermopylae area. Xerxes sent a cavalry scout to observe the Greek soldiers, assess their strength, and report what they were doing. The Persian rider approached the Greek camp and saw the Spartans exercising and combing their hair. Others were bathing. They saw him but paid no attention, and he returned and reported what he had seen, as Herodotus recounts.

Xerxes was puzzled and summoned Demaratus, son of Ariston. He repeated what the rider had told him and asked what it meant and how to explain the Spartans’ behavior:

"I, Demaratus, when you began this campaign, I told you about these men. I said then that the Spartans would never accept terms that would enslave Greece and that they would fight you even if all of Greece submitted. It is unnecessary to ask about numbers. If they muster a thousand warriors, that’s how many will fight you. The same will happen with any number, whether larger or smaller. When I told you this, you laughed, and now look. These men stand here to defend the pass and are preparing to fight you. It is their custom to adorn their heads whenever they risk their lives. I assure you, if you defeat the Spartans, no other nation will resist you. Before you stands the finest kingdom of Greece, with its best men."

Xerxes could not believe it. Unable to consider what he heard as logical, he asked a second time:

"But how will these few resist me?"

And he received this astonishing response from Demaratus:

"If what I’ve told you does not happen exactly as I said, then, king, treat me as a common liar."

For the first five days, Xerxes exercised patience, expecting the Greeks to withdraw upon seeing the vast Persian army. However, they remained steadfast, awaiting the confrontation. This persistence provoked Xerxes’ pride. As they awaited the attack, an official Persian embassy approached, delivering a letter from their king to Leonidas, announcing that Xerxes offered him dominion over all of Greece if he would become his ally.

Leonidas’ proud response was monumental:

“For me, death for the sake of Greece is better than ruling over my kin.”

[ἐμοὶ δὲ κρείσσων ὁ ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος θάνατος τοῦ μοναρχεῖν τῶν ὁμοφύλων].

-Plutarch, Laconian Apophthegms 225C

One letter, as mentioned by Plutarch, invited Leonidas to join the Persians. The second was a threatening demand to surrender their weapons (“Πέμψον τὰ ὅπλα”), to which Leonidas responded with one of the most famous phrases in human history:

“μολὼν λαβέ” (“Come and take them”)

Thus, Leonidas made it clear that a Greek is born free, with ideals and values, and takes on the duty and obligation to sacrifice for them. Xerxes received these responses and could not believe it. He saw that the Greeks at Thermopylae were numerically insignificant compared to his vast army. He did not attack immediately, not wanting to appear afraid. He let four days pass, expecting the Greeks to flee in fear. But the Greeks stayed and waited. This four-day delay served the Greeks’ plans, as they sought to gather their forces while the sacred games and the Carneia festival concluded, allowing more troops to be sent.

On the fifth day, however, the Persians considered the Greeks’ persistence an insult, and an enraged Xerxes ordered his finest warriors, the Medes and Cissians, to attack and capture them alive.

The Medes were equal to the Persians in military renown and were suited for the rugged terrain of Thermopylae, akin to modern alpine soldiers. They also had unresolved grievances with the Greeks from the Battle of Marathon. At Thermopylae, the Spartans held the front line, while the other Greeks covered other parts of the mountain, as will be mentioned later.

On the first day, the Persian attacks were fierce and relentless but failed entirely. All day, the Persians attacked like waves crashing against the shore, only to be defeated and killed, continuing without acknowledging their defeat. They charged furiously to their slaughter. Piles of corpses covered the pass. The Medes and Cissians suffered a complete rout.

Xerxes sought a solution. He decided to deploy his elite guard, the so-called “Immortals.”

They were called Immortals because their unit always maintained a strength of exactly 10,000 men; if one died or fell ill, another immediately replaced him to keep the number constant. Their leader, Hydarnes, ordered an immediate attack to prevent the Greeks from resting. The Immortals charged against the Spartans but quickly belied their name, as they were killed at a terrifying rate. Their losses were immense, and they withdrew, halting hostilities. They failed because the Persians fought with shorter spears than the Greeks, and the narrow terrain rendered their numbers useless. This was a military tactic the Lacedaemonians had calculated, but the Persians had not.

The Spartans were so well-trained in close-quarters combat that their tactics demonstrated their prowess. When they saw the enemy, they would turn and run backward, feigning panic. The Persians, excited and shouting, pursued them. Suddenly, a signal was given, and the Spartans abruptly stopped, turned, and slaughtered the Persians. They were, quite literally, having fun with them.

The Spartans wore red garments in war, because, being the color of blood, it instilled greater fear in those who were unfamiliar with it. Also, they wore red so that the enemy would not be able to tell if a Spartan warrior was wounded, allowing him to remain undetected.

At dawn on the second day, the Persians, believing the Greeks would be exhausted from the previous day’s fighting and have wounded soldiers, renewed their attack with greater hope. They were mistaken. The Greeks were as ready as before. We have few details of the second day’s battle. Herodotus simply notes that the Persians, seeing no difference from the previous day, retreated and ultimately withdrew.

Then came the traitor, Ephialtes, son of Eurydemus from Malis, who, hoping for a generous reward, informed the Persians of a mountain path he knew, called Anopaea (“uphill”), which could be used to outflank the Greeks. The path began at the Asopus River, which flows through a narrow gorge (today’s Karvounaria), continued along the ridge, and ended at the city of Alpenoi. This pass was known to the locals, as the Thessalians often used it to bypass the wall built by the Phocians at the coastal pass of Thermopylae.

Leonidas, of course, knew of it upon arriving in the area and, fearing its strategic value to the enemy, had assigned a thousand Phocians, who volunteered, to guard it. They had climbed the mountain and camped at a suitable point as sentinels of the Anopaea.

At dawn on the third day, the Persians reached the ridge of the path. They were spotted by the Phocians, who had advanced far. Hearing footsteps and the rustling of leaves, the Phocian guards seized their weapons and formed for battle. Seeing the Greeks, the Persians feared they were Spartans. However, Ephialtes reassured Hydarnes that they were Phocians.

The Phocian commander, believing the attack targeted his unit, ordered his men to ascend to the mountain’s peak for better defense. Persian arrows rained down. But the Persians had other plans. They isolated the Phocians and ignored them, as their true target was the defenders of Thermopylae. Thousands of Persians swiftly crossed the path revealed by Ephialtes, ascended the ridge, and descended the slopes of the Kallidromos Mountain, behind the Greek lines.

The end was now only a matter of time.

Once again, the Greeks were betrayed, as “history, unfortunately, is also written with betrayal.”

Leonidas, Demophilus, and the other Greek leaders knew of their impending death at dawn. The seer Megistias from Acarnania had foretold the events to come the previous night. Even some Greek mercenaries serving in the enemy’s army felt it their duty to inform Leonidas of the Persians’ plans. They deserted the Persian camp at night and reported the betrayal to Leonidas.

Diodorus mentions something Herodotus does not: among those accompanying Xerxes was a certain Tyrrhastiadas from Cyme, likely Aeolian, who escaped the Persian army, took advantage of the darkness, presented himself to Leonidas’ men, and revealed the betrayal by the Trachinian. The Phocians were absent.

At dawn, the Greek scouts, observing the enemy’s movements, reported the grim news before daybreak, shattering any remaining hope. An urgent war council was convened, confirming the critical situation. Some wanted to fight, others to flee.

Herodotus reports:

Leonidas, realizing that the allies lacked the heart to stay and risk their lives with him voluntarily, ordered them to withdraw. However, he said it was not honorable for him to leave; by staying, he would leave behind great glory, and Sparta’s prosperity would not fade. For the Pythia had given an oracle to the Spartans when they inquired about the war at its outset, stating that either the Persians would ravage Laconia or their king would die.

After this, they parted ways. Some rose and left, scattering to their own cities, while others resolved to stay with Leonidas. Quickly, some Greek units withdrew to avoid capture. However, the Thespians, led by Demophilus, son of Diadromes, told Leonidas they would stay willingly and die with him to the end. The seer Megistias also refused to leave, despite Leonidas declaring he was free to go, as he was not a Spartan and thus not obliged to remain in such dire circumstances. Megistias, an Acarnanian from the renowned prophetic lineage tracing back to the famous Mycenaean hero and seer Melampus, showed remarkable courage and honor by refusing to leave. He sent only his only son, who was part of the campaign, back home.

According to Herodotus, Leonidas forbade the 400 Thebans to leave. Against their will, they remained as hostages, as they were friendly to the Persians.

Regarding two of the three hundred Spartans, Eurytus and Aristodemus, it is said they had two choices: to maintain their stance and return to Sparta, as Leonidas permitted them to leave the camp, or to die with the others if they did not wish to return home. Though they could have chosen either, they disagreed. Eurytus, learning of the Persian outflanking maneuver, demanded his armor, donned it, and ordered his helot to lead him to the fighting. Upon arriving, his guide fled, but Eurytus plunged into the fray and was killed. Aristodemus, lacking courage, saved his life. It is also said that another of the three hundred, named Pantites, survived. Upon returning to Sparta, he fell into disgrace and hanged himself.

And so, the battle continues.

The response of Dieneces to a Trachinian is also notable. The Trachinian said that when the Persians fired their arrows, their sheer number blotted out the sun. Dieneces, scorning the multitude of the Medes, replied that the news from the Trachinian was all good, for if the Medes hid the sun, the battle would be fought in the shade, not under the sun.

The Persian onslaught was relentless. They fell continuously, yet more kept coming. Persian officers drove them into battle with whips. Many fell into the sea and drowned.

The fighting took place atop corpses and trampled living soldiers. The Greeks pressed forward, knowing Hydarnes was approaching from their rear. Their spears broke; the sturdy wood could not withstand so many blows. They then drew their swords, fighting on a small hillock near the springs. Some arrows struck Leonidas.

The King is dead.
[Herodotus, 7.224.1]
καὶ Λεωνίδης τε ἐν τούτῳ τῷ πόνῳ πίπτει ἀνὴρ γενόμενος ἄριστος

The Spartans formed a circle around him, defending his body. The battle over Leonidas’ corpse was Homeric, fought hand-to-hand. Four times, the Greeks repelled the Persians, heroically saving their fallen king’s body. But when Hydarnes’ army, led by Ephialtes, appeared at their rear, the battle ended. The Greeks changed tactics, retreating to the narrowest point behind the wall, all together except the Thebans.

There, on a small hill where the stone lion in honor of Leonidas now stands, was their final line of defense. The thousands of Persians dared not engage the few Greeks waiting for them. Though surrounded, the Greeks fought with swords, with valor, and all fell dead around their leader. Herodotus notes they fought with swords for those who had them, and with teeth for those who did not. The action of Cynaegeirus at Marathon was repeated at Thermopylae. Herodotus’ description is chilling. Xerxes and his generals, fearing further losses and the Greeks’ valor, decided not to attack further but to position thousands of archers at a distance, firing relentlessly at the hillock. The arrows indeed blotted out the sun. One by one, all the Greeks fell dead around their leader.

The day after the fall of Thermopylae, Xerxes visited the battlefield. Seeing the multitude of dead Persians, he collapsed psychologically. He sought Leonidas’ body, literally stepping over corpses. He ordered his head to be cut off and impaled on a stake, an act of barbarity, devoid of honor and grandeur.

The Thebans, led by Leontiades, were the only ones to survive. When Leonidas and the Spartans fell and withdrew to the small hill opposite the modern Thermopylae monument, the Thebans advanced with raised hands. Some were killed by Persian blows, while the rest, including their leader Leontiades, were branded with hot iron bearing the royal seal, suffering humiliating stigmatization in the literal sense.

Ephialtes, after betraying the path to Xerxes and causing the death of the Greek warriors who remained, fled to Thessaly in fear. He was later declared a wanted man by the Amphictyonic Pylagoras. When he went to Anticyra, he was killed by a Trachinian named Athenades, who, though he killed Ephialtes for another reason, was duly honored by the Lacedaemonians.

It seems that, by divine justice, such a dishonorable end befits all traitors.

Thank you for reading me.

Homer Pavlos

Sources :

- Herodotus' Histories Book 7
- Diodorus Siculus’ Library of History Book 11
- Plutarch’s Laconian Apophthegms (225C)
- Nasa (catalogue of Espenak) to find the date of the battle.

[Porfirio Díaz Mori @DonPorfirioDiaz]

Antes de ser el tirano que les encanta odiar, fui un héroe de guerra. Uno de verdad. Y seguro eso no se los contaron con muchas ganas.

México tenía encima a un emperador extranjero, Maximiliano, sostenido por bayonetas francesas. Y yo, un joven general oaxaqueño, me le enfrenté. Gané batalla tras batalla. Me capturaron dos veces y dos veces me escapé, una descolgándome por una cuerda de un convento. El 2 de abril de 1867 recuperé Puebla, después tomé la capital, y el imperio extranjero cayó.

A los treinta y siete años era el general más celebrado del país. Y aquí está lo que me condena: si me hubiera muerto ese día, hoy me tendrían en un billete y les habrían enseñado a amarme. Pero no me morí. Viví. Y me quedé.

Nadie recuerda al héroe del 2 de abril. Solo al tirano de los treinta años. El problema nunca fue cómo subí. Fue no saber cuándo bajarme.

¿Sabían que empecé como héroe contra un imperio? Los leo.

[Latinometrics @LatamData]

MEXICO | Pozole chain La Casa de Toño seeks a sale in a deal topping $400M, valuing the 81-unit business at over eight times earnings.

(Bloomberg)

[legen @legen_eth]

Can someone ban his account???

[Carlitos de España Oficial 🇪🇦🇧🇴 @carlitosdespana]

Aquí el comunista Javier Bardem luchando por Palestina,las desigualdades, el feminismo y el cambio climático desde su palco vip en el concierto de Shakira

[Simpsonito @SoySimpsonito]

¡Despacio metro, esto es oro!

[Martinalgui @MartinoliCuri]

El mundo desde que el árbitro pitó el final del partido:

[emilio @Uncafecommie]

La humanidad cuando Argentina perdió la final del mundial

[Jorge Campos @SoyJorgeCampos1]

El mejor portero del mundo mundial 🇨🇻 @vozinhaa1

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

The greatest warrior who ever lived was told, after his death, that he should be happy.

His answer is one of the most devastating things ever written...

Achilles had been given a choice while alive: a long, quiet, forgotten life at home, or a short one at Troy that would make his name immortal. He chose glory. He chose to die young and be remembered forever.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus goes down into the land of the dead, and Achilles comes to meet him. Odysseus tries to comfort him. He tells him he has nothing to mourn:

"For of old, when thou wast alive, we Argives honored thee even as the gods, and now that thou art here, thou rulest mightily among the dead. Wherefore grieve not at all that thou art dead, Achilles."

You are the most blessed man who ever lived, he says. You were worshipped in life, and now you are a king among the dead. What is there to grieve?

Achilles answers immediately:

"Nay, seek not to speak soothingly to me of death, glorious Odysseus. I should choose, so I might live on earth, to serve as the hireling of another, of some portionless man whose livelihood was but small, rather than to be lord over all the dead that have perished."

He would rather be a day labourer, working someone else's field, for a master so poor he can barely feed him. He would take that life over ruling every soul that ever died...

Achilles chose to die young so that his name would live forever. And then, in the Odyssey, Homer let him speak from the other side of that choice. And this is his answer, to Odysseus and to us: being remembered is not the same as being alive. And the ordinary day you are living right now is the thing the greatest hero in the world would trade eternity to have back.

[MERICA MEMED @Mericamemed]

I watched the Odyssey and this is already better.

[Mens_Corner__ @Mens_Corner__]

Everyone was harmed in the making of this video