The Spartan

The bronze age tank, whose entire culture was based on the art of war!

The Spartans, proud people of the city state of Sparta, we all know these famous warriors as their culture was based on fighting and warfare, but thanks to films such as 300, there is much confusion about these people, yes, they were very good warriors, almost perfect, but they are not as perfect as the legends say they are. I shall start off first with clothing and armour, unlike in the film 300 the Spartans shields were all different, each shield was made of wood (not bronze as it would have made the shield too heavy) and was painted with the family crest of each Spartan so they could be recognised in the field of battle. Their clothing when they were off duty was a red cape and sandals with a tunic, however unlike in the films, whenever they went into war they wore no cape and fought barefoot as they were expected to take more than a sore foot in the field of battle, namely a sword to the stomach. They wore a bronze helmet, breastplate and shinguards to protect the areas that their shield didn't. They fought in a famous battle formation called the phalanx, during which every Spartan would overlap their shield over the person standing to their right, the person on their left would overlap their shield creating a solid wooden barrier which the enemy could not pass, however in some instances the phalanx which shift over to the right as every Spartan soldier would move from the left side of the phalanx as there was no Spartan to protect the person on the far left. They would then march forward in this formation to the sound of battle drums.

Battle status: Defeated by The Knight

Battle vs The Knight
The battle starts off in an open field where the Spartan has set up camp and is busy sharpening his sword. Meanwhile in the forest the Knight has heard of a new purge to the people in his land and has gone to investigate.

Coming into the clearing he spots the Spartan and they both stare at each other momentarily. After a few seconds of tension the Spartan stands up and in greek shouts "For the might of Sparta" while raising his javelin. Seeing that the Spartan is about to attack the Knight pulls out his Crossbow and fires a bolt at the hoplite, seeing this the Spartan grabs his shield and deflects it quickly. Lowering his shield he see's another heading straight for his head, but it luckily hits his helmet and bounces off, the Knight, now frustrated that his most accurate weapon is failing fires his last bolt which gets stuck in the Spartans shield. The Knight then proceeds to unveil his halberd.

Seeing this, the Spartan takes his chance and hurls a Javelin at the Knight which bounces off the Knights helmet alerting him to the use of a longer distance weapon, turning around the Knight see's another Javelin heading straight for him, the Javelin hits the centre of his body armour, knocking him over. The Spartan roars in triumph for he thinks he has won.

He frowns when he sees that the Knight is not dead and was only knocked over, the Spartan then runs to his tent and grabs his Dory spear and gets into a phalanx fighting stance. The Knight runs at him with his halberd and deflects the Dory out of his way and swings the axe blade of the halberd over the Spartans head, however the bronze helmet withstands the blow, while the Knight tries to recover from the swing the Spartan takes his chance and lunges a powerful thrust towards the Knight.

The Dory hits the steel breastplate and bends under the force of the blow, seeing that his spear is bent the Spartan growls in anger and tosses it away and draws his Xiphos. The Knight charges once more with his halberd but the Spartan charges him with his Shield and flips the Knight over him and relieves the Knight of his halberd. The Knight quickly draws his broadsword.

After a quick intensive interlude they continue to spar, the Knight making a series of elegant, powerful swings which are deflected by the Spartans shield, the Spartan makes a flurry of wild swings and vicious stabs which are all stopped by the Knights armour.

The Knight starts to halfhand with his sword, making sure that the spartans Xiphos gets nowhere near his body armour, seizing his chance at the the Knights defensive approach, the Spartan charges the Knight with his shield and knocks him to the floor.

Seeing that he has now lost his sword the Knight draws his morningstar and faces the Spartan, who is now laughing at what he thinks is the Knights useless weapon. In greek he taunts the Knight and say's "I've seen better fighting from a dead Athenian". As a last resort the Knight charges the Spartan, and the Hoplite soldier raises his shield thinking it is just another futile attempt, and the Knight pummels the shield with the morningstar and with a sickening crack the shield bends out of place and the Spartan screams out in pain as his arm is now the wrong way round.

Looking up the Spartan sees the Knight raise his morningstar once more, the Knight then brings it down on his head and with sickening crack, breaks his neck and leaves the Spartans body to fall limp. The Knight holds the hilt of his sword and bows to his fallen enemy.

Experts opinionEdit
The reason for the Knights victory is not only did he have the strongest armour in the fight, he also brought more technique and knowledge of different fighting styles, whereas th Spartan while being a very skilled warrior, did not bring as much technique and strategy. Another reason for the Spartans downfall was his belief that his shield and fighting style were more than the Knight could handle. But unluckily for the Spartan, his brutal upbringing was not enough to beat the better weapons, armour and chivalry of the Knight.