The 300 or so Spartans helped hold off an enormous Persian ... and falling back into the ship, his shield tumbled into the sea.” Many of us are familiar with the famous admonition of a Spartan ...

Each year the ephors, or magistrates, chose the 300 best hoplites in Sparta ... the most important weapon of the Spartan warrior. Each shield was circular and convex, weighed more than 15 pounds ...

Asked why it was dishonorable to return without a shield and not without a helmet, the Spartan king, Demaratos (510 - 491) is said to have replied: "Because the latter they put on for their own ...