“Either with the shield, or on it.” These were the words spoken by Spartan women as their men left for war. The meaning is clear: either return with your shield, alive and victorious, or return as a corpse. There are no other options. This “Spartans never retreat, Spartans never surrender” mentality and a lifetime of physical training produced an elite warrior caste in ancient Sparta that dominated classical Greece for centuries. The Spartans were highly respected in their day, so much so that one exiled king stated that "the Spartans, when they fight alone, are as good as anyone in the world." Time has done nothing to soften the praise felt for the Spartan warrior. Countless video games, films, and novels have depicted the Spartans as invincible warriors, the valiant Spartan phalanx standing strong against an endless horde of barbarians. Invariably, the Spartans were depicted as speaking of "freedom" and "reason," against the forces of tyranny and barbarism. While most of the wars the Spartans fought were against other Greeks, as rebellious Greek city-states were wont to do, invariably 20th- and 21st-century popular culture accounts portray them as pitted against the largest contemporary empire, the Persians , who, in an incredibly short period, were able to create the largest land empire the world had ever seen. The Persians surpassed the Greeks in many ways, yet there are no Hollywood blockbusters about Cyrus' conquest of Babylon, or video games about Persian military exploits. Modern popular culture has elevated the Spartan to the highest pedestal of worship, producing pulp of all kinds to fuel his flame. The Persians, meanwhile, were humiliated and demonized, even neglected. The question... half of the card... aging." This logic so impressed Cyrus that, on the advice of Croesus, he took action and claimed the spoils. Here Cyrus is portrayed as a rational and just ruler, treating his vanquished subjects with moderation. This is in contrast to the loser in the fight, Croesus, who, although Herodotus represents wise and strong, is too hasty received the prophecy from the Oracle of Delphi "If you attack, you will destroy a great empire", in response to his question whether he should lead the battle against the Achaemenids, he rushed across the river to attack Cyrus' position, eager to destroy a great empire Of course, the ambiguity of the oracle was his undoing, for it was his own Lydian empire which he destroyed. In this episode, Herodotus is not afraid to admit the sins of his Ionian Greek brothers, or to attribute positive attributes to the Greeks' enemy..