Among the most interesting aspects are the childhood backgrounds of two key players: Leonides and Xerxes. They could almost have been rivals or best friends if they grew up together. It's an epic irony of fate that both had very harsh, challenging, and dangerous upbringings. Xerxes in a sense sounds like a Spartan or that he might have been equally at home in either nation and Leonides likewise could have been equally at home as a Persian noble given the almost eerie way both were taught and raised. The next comparison is the immortals versus the Homoioi Spartoi. The immortals were silent ghost like entities who would instill fear in enemies by the dehumanized armor and attire that's designed to cover up the face and all signs of individuality to make them more imposing and easier to create the myth of their immortal nature. The homoioi were loud, hairy, heavily armored and their faces were only covered during battles when they put their helmets on. Homoioi taunted enemies while the ghost walking Persian elites marched as if moving silently on water. Both outfit depictions are pretty cool in their own right.
The show mentioned lightly armored Persian grunts which is true and technically most of the Greeks were likely also lightly armored and armed skirmishers and missile troops. I can only loosely confirm about 1700 were equipped as the heavily armed hoplites so the rest may well have been light troops. The Homoioi were the most elite among the most elite warriors of the day, the Spartans so even comparing to the very elite immortals might still not be relatively equal. Partly I say this because immortals were immediately replaced upon death and ALWAYS had 10,000 members but they were likely replaced by standouts from the regular troops. They wouldn't or at least they all wouldn't have had the intense training of standard Spartans nor the dedication and time spent focusing on combat and war. Plus as good as their armor was, it was still fairly light compared to lamellar or cuirasses.
This doesn't take away their own unique distinctness and cool factors though either. It's mostly because tge cultures and mindsets are different. Even non military focused Greeks spent a great deal of time on combat with other city states or on athletic competitions. Their environment was smaller with more variety of terrain where Persian were mostly adapted to speed, support of their cavalry, and light armor because vast stretches of the empire were open flat and hot or humid terrain. This is at least hinted at in the documentary but more detailed information is easily accessible. Themistocles is cast almost looking like a myrmidon, who were sometimes depicted were cool black armor too.
The 'second' Thermopylae battle at sea is an interesting little known add on fact. Some seemed to think it was imbalanced bias against Persians, but I don't see it. In point of fact, if anything the Spartans and Greeks are cast in a harsher light with mentioning of constant internal city state warfare; harsh nearly inhuman training of Spartan children; and euthanasia of imperfect babies.
The show mentioned lightly armored Persian grunts which is true and technically most of the Greeks were likely also lightly armored and armed skirmishers and missile troops. I can only loosely confirm about 1700 were equipped as the heavily armed hoplites so the rest may well have been light troops. The Homoioi were the most elite among the most elite warriors of the day, the Spartans so even comparing to the very elite immortals might still not be relatively equal. Partly I say this because immortals were immediately replaced upon death and ALWAYS had 10,000 members but they were likely replaced by standouts from the regular troops. They wouldn't or at least they all wouldn't have had the intense training of standard Spartans nor the dedication and time spent focusing on combat and war. Plus as good as their armor was, it was still fairly light compared to lamellar or cuirasses.
This doesn't take away their own unique distinctness and cool factors though either. It's mostly because tge cultures and mindsets are different. Even non military focused Greeks spent a great deal of time on combat with other city states or on athletic competitions. Their environment was smaller with more variety of terrain where Persian were mostly adapted to speed, support of their cavalry, and light armor because vast stretches of the empire were open flat and hot or humid terrain. This is at least hinted at in the documentary but more detailed information is easily accessible. Themistocles is cast almost looking like a myrmidon, who were sometimes depicted were cool black armor too.
The 'second' Thermopylae battle at sea is an interesting little known add on fact. Some seemed to think it was imbalanced bias against Persians, but I don't see it. In point of fact, if anything the Spartans and Greeks are cast in a harsher light with mentioning of constant internal city state warfare; harsh nearly inhuman training of Spartan children; and euthanasia of imperfect babies.