Homage to Dieneces the Spartan.

When Leonidas's Spartans and their allies were marching north to meet Xerxes's invading hordes at Thermopylae they ran into a lot of refugees fleeing south. One of these, trying to convey how impossibly high the odds against the Greeks were stacked , told Dieneces that the Persian archers were so numerous that when they "loosened off their arrows the sun was blotted out. " Great" answered Dieneces " we'll fight in the shade." And so they did, like lions, and although they were betrayed and cut down to the last man they set an example that led later to the great Greek victories at Salamis and Plataea. The Persians were trashed and never returned. Western civilisation was saved.

We all owe the Greeks a very long list of good things. To mention a few; the Olympics, their arts, their science, their philosophy and their bravery. Let's not forget it.