>[133] To Athens and to Sparta Xerxes sent no heralds, and no demands for earth. The reason? Because, on a previous occasion, when Darius had dispatched just such a mission, one embassy making the demand had been tossed into a pit and the other into a well. 'Fetch earth and water from there for your king,' they had both been told.Holy shit, that actually happened? I thought it was made up for the movie. It goes on to describe a curse from the ghost of Agamemnon's herald to punish the Spartans for killing the Persian heralds - for breaking a "universal human law."
>>25460116It’s portrayed as an epic thing in the movie but was considered grievous sin
>>25460128It was the message that mattered. Sparta recognized what they were doing was improper and sent their own men to be executed in compensation.
is this Herodotus?
