The Spartans (documentary) the Spartan constitution into the militarised state we know of today. Homosexuality among men and boys was mandatory. The training of Spartan youths is explained, from their enrollment in the Agoge system right through to their attainment of citizenship. The class structure of the Lacedaemonian state (Helots, Perioeci, and the soldier-citizens themselves) is also covered. The episode ends with the battle of Thermopylae, in which 300 Spartans, including their king, Leonidas, were killed in action defending Greece from a Persian invasion. Part 2 opens with the retreat of the Persians, after Thermopylae and the battle of Salamis. Athens, which had
The 300 Spartans the surviving Spartans refuse Xerxes's demand to give up Leonidas' body. They are then annihilated by arrowfire. After this, narration states that the Battle of Salamis and the Battle of Plataea end the Persian invasion, which could not have been organized without the time bought by the 300 Spartans who defied the tyranny of Xerxes at Thermopylae. One of the final images of the film is the memorial bearing the epigram of Simonides of Ceos, which is recited. The battle scenes were shot near the village of Perachora, on the mainland side of the Corinth Canal, as it was impossible