![]() ![]() The only response Philip ever received was yet another single-word reply: “Neither.” When King Philip was expanding his empire across Greece, he sent a letter to the current Spartan king, asking if he wanted him to enter his lands as a friend or a foe. Yep, after punting a bee’s nest and avoiding being stung once, King Philip decided to try his luck against the Spartans a second time, this time after coating himself in honey and bee pheromones. ![]() “Neither”Ĭontext: Spartan reply to King Philip of Macedon (again) Which he did - although Philip sacked most of Greece, he never once set foot in Sparta, and never bothered them again, except for that other time he totally did. Regardless of what exactly Philip said, the message he’d gotten back was clear: stay the hell away from Sparta. ![]() That’s fine, because the Spartan reply is all we, or anyone else, should care about. Other versions of the event involved Philip sending the decidedly more verbose threat, “If once I enter into your territories, I will destroy ye all, never to rise again.” Again, the Spartan’s recorded reply was simply the word “If.” Apparently, the sheer awesomeness of this quote has muddied the waters of history as to the exact wording of Philip’s threat. The Spartan’s sent back a single word in reply: “if”. After he had several key footholds under his command, Philip decided to start putting pressure on Sparta, and sent them the following threatening message: “If I win this war, you will be slaves forever.” Around 350 BC, King Philip II of Macedon started invading the crap out of Greece. The above quote is possibly one of the single greatest uses of language ever recorded. “If”Ĭontext: Spartan reply to King Philip of Macedon We’ll never understand how Gerard Butler didn’t just freeze solid from coolness while trying to accurately portray this guy. So yes, upon being told to give up his weapons by an army that outnumbered his own 200 to 1, Leonidas’ response was to dare them to try and take them. “Come and take them” is a fairly accurate translation, which is fine because translating the quote exactly would probably cause the poor interpreter to catch on fire. After all, a true the Spartan didn’t need a ghostwriter.Īccording to the historical text “Apophthegmata Laconica,” Leonidas actually said “ Molon Labe” upon being told to surrender his weapons by King Xerses. And yes, this is an actual quote from the man, not an invention of Hollywood. King Leonidas was the guy Gerard Butler played in 300. “Come and Take Them”Ĭontext: King Leonidas, upon being asked to lay down his arms We’re guessing the question only ever came up once. We know this because, when the aging king was asked, “how far do Sparta’s boundaries reach?” he simply held out his spear and answered “as far as this can reach”. Which if we’re honest, is like the third-coolest thing a guy could do without involving tigers or at least four explosions.Īlong with hating walls, King Agesilaus also disliked the concept of boundaries. For example, some sources suggest that, in order to save his breath, Agesilaus would merely point at his men whenever anyone asked where Sparta’s walls were. Sometimes however, King Agesilaus didn’t need to say anything. That quote sums up Sparta better than three dozen Blu-Ray copies of 300 ever could.Īccording to the book “On Sparta” by Greek historian Plutarch, “These are Sparta’s walls” was King Agesilaus’ stock response to anyone who questioned why Sparta lacked fortifications of any kind. To quote Lycurgus, legendary lawgiver of Sparta, “A city is well-fortified which has a wall of men instead of brick”. “These Are Sparta’s Walls”Ĭontext: King Agesilaus, while pointing to his own men Whenever that question came up, Agesilaus had a doozy of a comeback locked and loaded … 9. What was even better though, was Agesilaus’ response when people would inevitably ask him where Sparta’s walls were. You can almost picture the smug look on the guy’s slowly fading as King Agesilaus sarcastically praised his giant walls. The above quote came from Agesilaus after an unnamed leader from a friendly city proudly showed the Spartan king his city’s impressive fortifications. Like most Spartans, Agesilaus wasn’t a fan of walls made of brick and stone, believing that a city was defended by its men, not its fortifications. As such, he commanded a great deal of respect from his peers throughout his reign. This meant by the time he became King in his forties, he was already well known for his courage and bravery. ![]() Though he was described as a small man of unimpressive stature, Agesilaus was a fierce warrior in his youth. King Agesilaus was a Spartan king who ruled the state for 40 years. Context: King Agesilaus, upon being shown the huge defensive walls of a neighboring city ![]()
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