Thermopylae is not a good example here. They started with ~70,000 troops and absolutely expected to win due to the overwhelming advantage of their defended position.
The rearguard, who stayed behind to cover the retreat are where “the 300” comes from, (but there were actually over 1,200 of them) were wiped out except for about 400 who surrendered on the first day.
I was making a claim about how the story was typically presented by greeks to greeks. It could be an underdog story or not in reality, but in fact them making their position seem more dire in their rhetoric I think actually supports my point more.
Thermopylae is not a good example here. They started with ~70,000 troops and absolutely expected to win due to the overwhelming advantage of their defended position.
The rearguard, who stayed behind to cover the retreat are where “the 300” comes from, (but there were actually over 1,200 of them) were wiped out except for about 400 who surrendered on the first day.
So not underdogs and didn’t win.
I was making a claim about how the story was typically presented by greeks to greeks. It could be an underdog story or not in reality, but in fact them making their position seem more dire in their rhetoric I think actually supports my point more.