What were the strategies and weapons used in the battle of Thermopylae?

Answer 1

The Greek strategy was simple: to hold the pass as long as possible to give the Greek city-states time to assemble its many armies into a cohesive fighting force. Its tactics were to fight in a phalanx of wooden shields with a bronze buckler in the center. The Greeks fought with a long pike and they phalanx moved in unison with the pikes jutting out from the gaps between the shields. The Greeks wore bronze helmets, breastplates, and greaves, but the head of the pike was iron. They carried a heavy iron sword which had a bout a two foot blade for close combat.

Persians wore a leather helmet, a quilted padded jerkin, and a wicker shield, which was sufficient against most enemies, except the Greeks. They used bows and arrows and slings as well as light spears, but had a sword with a longer blade than the Greeks, which, at least among the Immortals, may have been made from an early form of steel. Xerxes strategy was to conquer with overwhelming force, but that meant that his army had to hug the coast so that the navy could supply it, and the navy was not free to strike at will. Tactically, the Persians sought to soften up the phalanx with slings and arrows, and to deliver the death blows in hand to hand combat. As it turned out, it was not until a shepherd betrayed the Greeks by showing them a goat path around the defensive position that the Persians were able to surround them. The slings and arrows did most of the work. Though, at the very end, there are accounts of Spartans fighting with rocks and broken helmets until the last man was cut down.