Amount of Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae 

The amount of Persians that fought during the Battle of Thermopylae is a common debate topic among historians throughout history. From Herodotus in the 400s B.C. to Rupert Matthews in 2006, many have theorized the rough amount of Persians at the battle. No one knows for sure the exact amount, but some historians have information that is more reputable and more likely to be true than others.

Out of the documents we read over, document D is the most likely to be true. Rupert Matthews, the author of document D, claims that there were “a total of 300,000 to 350,000,” (Matthews, 2006) Persian soldiers at the Battle of Thermopylae. Document D is the most likely to be true because the author, Rupert Matthews, is the most reputable out of the four authors. One of the reasons as to why Matthews is the most reputable is that he uses geography as evidence to support his claim. Matthews states that “It would have been physically impossible to march that many men (2 million) along the roads available to them,” (Matthews, 2006). This evidence provided by Matthews makes his claim more reputable because he’s using a known fact that can be proven. The amount of men would have had to have been 300,000 to 350,000 because the soldiers would have not been able to fit more than that on their route.

Document A, written by Herodotus, is not a reputable source for the amount of Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae. Herodotus was born in the 5th century B.C., during the Persian Wars “Herodotus was an ancient Greek who lived in the 5th century BCE. He was a young boy during the Persian War,” (Battle20of20Thermopylae20Sources_1.doc). When Herodotus grew up, he wanted to know why the Persian Wars happened. Herodotus interviewed people that were alive during the Persian Wars to get his information “He interviewed Greek veterans of the Persian War to get the information he needed for his history,' (Battle20of20Thermopylae20Sources_1.doc). Herodotus got all of his information orally, which makes his claim that there were two million Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae unlikely because oral information is disreputable. Oral information is disreputable because it cannot be proven and it’s content can vary from person to person.

Document B, written by Ctesius of Cnidus, is not a reputable source for the amount of Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae. Ctesius, who documented his information in 398 B.C., claimed that he had access to the official Persian archives as his source of information “Ctesias claims to have had access to the official Persian archives, which he used to write his own history of the Persian Wars in 398 B.C.,” (Battle20of20Thermopylae20Sources_1.doc). This claim that Ctesius had access to the Persian archives is disreputable because it is only a claim. Ctesius had no evidence to prove that he had access to this information, making it disreputable.

Document C, written by Ernle Bardford, is not a reputable source for the amount of Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae. Bradford based his claim primarily on the water available at the route the Persians took during the Battle of Thermopylae. Bradford states that “Xerxes army could not have exceeded 250,000 men. Even this number would be enough to exhaust the water resources at a number of places along their route,” (Bradford, 1980). The reason Bradford’s evidence is disreputable is because that bodies of water are not static. It does not make sense to use the bodies of water along the route the Persians took in 1980 as evidence when the Persians took the route over two thousand years ago. It is possible that the bodies of water changed over time and became less abundant in water, making Bradford’s claim disreputable.

In conclusion, out of these four author’s claims, Matthews’s is the most reputable. Matthews based his evidence on something that can be easily proven in modern day, geography, while the other authors failed to provide anything that could be proven. While no one knows for sure how many Persians were at the Battle of Thermopylae, one can be sure that Matthews provides a reputable claim that is likely to be roughly the amount of Persians at the battle.