Memory is a large part of it. Herodotus tells us the name of Leonidas, the king of Sparta who died at Thermopylae in 480 BC, not exactly holding the multitudinous Persians at bay but at least showing how it might be done. Herodotus also says he has 'learned the names of all the three hundred' Spartans who fell with their king. He doesn't list the names, and he doesn't need to. They are known if he knows them, saved from oblivion; one of the essential meanings of having a history. Herodotus also remembers, even if legend and the movies don't, the seven hundred Thespians who fought alongside the Spartans when all the other allies had gone home daunted.

LRB 26 April 2007 | PDF Download