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SPARTAN WARRIOR vs JAPANESE SAMURAI

“Oy dude! Like, who d’ya think would win? Spartan or Samurai?”
Many times have I been asked this question… To tell you the truth it’s a very stupid one (I’ll explain later, for it’s the main topic of this article), but it’s also entirely logical. Considering Frak Miller’s “300”, the movie that came after it, and all the documentaries on one hand, and on the other movies such as “The last Samurai”, plus all the manga featuring samurai these past years, I would say it is indeed very logical when people ask that question.
Both the Spartan warrior and the Japanese Samurai have been engraved into people’s minds as fearless, trained beyond belief warriors, men that go far beyond the line of logic, that don’t fear death. They have earned a place in myth, and are included in every conversation concerning great warriors and epic battles.

“Oy dude! Like, why don’t ya get to the point?”

Well first to answer such a question we have to go to the basics. We have to look at the fighting style, the weapons, and the ideology of each one of the two, before we make any assumptions. So let’s get to it.
(To tell the truth my knowledge on the Samurai is not the best but I’ll try)


SPARTAN WARRIOR (flourished during 6th century – 371b.c.)


The basic fighting style of the Spartans was based on a formation well known in the Greek world at the time, the hoplite phalanx. The basic idea of the phalanx was to stay together, united, in a tight formation, thus creating a wall o shields which was extremely hard to break.
Every hoplite was armed with iron or brass weapons (or any form of brass metal). A short sword called ksifos (ξίφος), a spear called dori (δόρυ), and the most important arm, the big round shield, the hoplon made of brass(όπλον). They also wore armor (don’t trust Hollywood movies😛).
The hoplite was supposed to protect the one at his left hand in the following way: each hoplite protects the left half of his body with half of his shield. The other half is meant to protect the one at his left hand. This way the phalanx moved and fought as a unit. If there where no mistakes then the phalanx would work as an impenetrable wall (and it proved to be so in several battles).

Now, truth be told this was the way of fighting in all of Greece. But the Spartans had some characteristics of their own. Although the main way of fighting was with the phalanx formation, Spartans trained in the art of war since childhood (7 years old to be precise), and so knew every aspect, technique and “trick” of their time. Their phalanx was much stronger than any other city’s of the time, due to the fact that they where better trained, much stronger, and thus more maneuverable (maneuverability was a crucial fact).
In terms of “shock and awe”, Spartans where experts. Every Spartan polished his shield (the most important thing he possessed), wore a red long tunic, took care of their long hair many times braiding it. One once said that in war if a handsome man takes care of his hair he looks majestic, while if an ugly man does it he looks terrifying (both of which are helpful in battle).
This made a visual effect that struck fear into the enemy’s hearts. Imagine, as you arrive at Thermopile (the Hot Gates), seeing in the distance a small group of extremely well built men, wearing shining armor, wearing red, and with a delicate and majestic facial image. I bet the Persians thought “dude… where fighting against an army of kings. A small army, but… kings …”.
Generally speaking these are the Spartans. You may find more in books or good sites (plz check what you read on the internet, most of it is rubbish). Oh and the part where Leonidas’ wife gives him his shield saying “Come with it, or on it”, yeah, they did that too.

“Dude that was cool but ya didn’ answa my question dude”

SAMURAI (first reference in 905-914)

Well I don’t know a whole lot about the samurai, so I’ll be brief and get quickly to the point.
The samurai warrior was an expert in the art of battle just like the Spartan. However the samurai philosophy and way of life is totally different than the Spartan philosophy. You might ask “what does the way of life have to do with war”? It has everything to do with it, and so does religion, geography and history.
But lets get straight to the point. Samurai warriors excelled in one on one fights (PvP 😛), and even though they where of course trained to cooperate with others their fighting styles promoted mostly fighting as an individual. The styles differ from school to school and from samurai to samurai but all have the base fact of the individual fighter.
Their weaponry includes perhaps the most famous close combat weapon of them all. The katana. None but the European claymore can compare with it, but the katana is probably better in several ways. A weapon of delicate beauty, sharp beyond comparison and hard as no other (go watch a documentary about how they are made and you’ll see).
Japanese armour developed enormously over the centuries since its introduction to the battlefield. In it’s best form it combines strength, thickness, and maneuverability.
Samurai where also masters of “shock and awe” their armour was usually made in such a way that it would bring fear into the enemy or make the samurai himself look majestic (through masks, horns and other cool stuff). Some others took it to extremes, and never bathed so that the enemy’s fighting ability would drop due to the stench. Yuck!

SO!
Well it’s plain stupid to compare two warriors that lived in a totally different era. They almost have 2000 years between them. It’s obvious that the samurai would have better technology and a better understanding of war than the Spartans given that Japan was also a country with a great deal of war and therefore lots of experience. Also it’s silly to compare two totally different fighting styles, one being the battle as a team, as a unit and the other being a fighting style of individuals.
Both of them are tremendous, terrifying, and charming in their own way. So let them be, each with their own history and beauty.

please vote if you liked it and shout it!
if I have said something wrong about the samurai please help me out. however I wont add anything to the Spartans. I know my history and I know what I've left out.

shout:
SPARTAN vs SAMURAI
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/spartan-vs-samurai-2046288/1/20