Spartans and samurai are the two most famous warrior cultures in popular imagination. Both were raised from childhood for war, both lived by a strict code of honour, and both are surrounded by legend. They lived almost two thousand years and ten thousand kilometres apart. Here is how a real clash between them might go, once we strip away the movie myths.
The Spartans: Who They Were
Sparta was a Greek city-state whose full citizens, the Spartiates, did nothing but train for war. Boys left home at seven to enter the agoge, a brutal state education of drills, hunger, hardship and team discipline. Farming and labour were done by the helots, an enslaved population that outnumbered the citizens many times over. Fear of a helot revolt is one reason Sparta stayed so militarised.
At its height in the 5th century BC Sparta could field only a few thousand Spartiates, supported by perioikoi (free non-citizens) and allies. Their reputation was enormous: at Thermopylae in 480 BC, King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans, alongside several thousand other Greeks, held the pass against the Persian army for three days. A year later at Plataea, Spartan hoplites broke the Persian invasion for good.
The Samurai: Who They Were
The samurai were Japan's hereditary warrior class, rising to power from the 12th century. For this matchup we take the samurai of the Sengoku period (roughly 1467–1615), when Japan was torn apart by civil war and warfare was at its most intense and professional. Samurai trained from boyhood in archery, horsemanship, spear and sword, and were schooled in literature and strategy too.
By this era, samurai commanded large armies that included thousands of ashigaru, foot soldiers armed with long spears, bows and, after 1543, matchlock guns. To keep things fair, we leave the guns out of this fight.
Weapons and Armour
- Spartans: the aspis, a heavy round shield about 90 cm across made of wood with a bronze facing; the dory thrusting spear, around 2 to 2.5 metres long; a short iron sword (xiphos) as a backup; a bronze helmet and a breastplate of bronze or layered linen.
- Samurai: the yumi, a tall asymmetric bow over 2 metres long; the yari spear; the famous katana and shorter wakizashi; and lamellar or plate armour (tosei gusoku) made of lacquered iron and leather, covering the body far more completely than Greek armour. Their blades were high-quality folded steel, not bronze or simple iron.
Tactics and Leadership
The Spartan way of war was the phalanx: a packed block of men, usually eight ranks deep, each shield protecting the man to the left. Spartans could march in step to the music of pipes, change formation on the move and hold their line when others broke. In a straight shoving match against other hoplites, they were the best in Greece.
Samurai warfare was more varied. Armies combined mounted warriors, archers, spear blocks and skirmishers, and commanders such as Takeda Shingen and Oda Nobunaga were masters of manoeuvre, ambush and deception. Samurai fought in many kinds of terrain, from mountains to rice fields, not just the flat plains the phalanx preferred.
Sparta's Weak Spot
Even at its best, Sparta had a problem with missile troops and mobile enemies. Two real examples:
- At Sphacteria in 425 BC, Spartan hoplites stranded on an island were worn down by Athenian archers and light troops who refused to fight hand to hand. 292 men surrendered, around 120 of them Spartiates. Greece was stunned, because Spartans were not supposed to surrender.
- At Lechaeum in 390 BC, Athenian light infantry under Iphicrates used hit-and-run javelin attacks to destroy a Spartan regiment of around 600 men.
In 371 BC the Thebans under Epaminondas beat Sparta at Leuctra with a massively deepened left wing, and Spartan power never recovered.
How the Battle Would Play Out
Imagine 2,000 Spartan hoplites against 2,000 samurai and their retainers on mixed ground.
The samurai would open with archery. Japanese bows shot heavy arrows from a distance the Spartans could not answer, and the aspis would not protect the legs, or anyone once the formation had to move. Mounted samurai would probe the flanks, which were always the phalanx's weak point.
If the Spartans kept their discipline and forced a head-on clash on flat ground, it becomes a very different fight. A charging phalanx is a wall of shields and spear points, and a samurai spear line would face the toughest infantry of the ancient world. Here the samurai's better armour and steel weapons help, but the Spartan cohesion is formidable.
Verdict: Who Wins?
This one is close, and the community vote is close too, with the samurai narrowly ahead. We agree with that lean. Better metallurgy, more complete armour, and above all the bow and horse give the samurai ways to hurt the Spartans without playing their game. History shows that Spartans struggled whenever the enemy would not stand and push.
But if the fight is forced into a narrow pass, Thermopylae-style, where nobody can go around? Then back the Spartans. Which side do you think wins? Vote on the homepage.
Sources and Further Reading
- Herodotus, The Histories (Thermopylae and Plataea)
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (Sphacteria)
- Xenophon, Hellenica (Lechaeum and Leuctra)
- Stephen Turnbull, Samurai: The World of the Warrior
- Karl Friday, Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan