Herodotus excerpt from the Persian War

While reading the excerpt on the Persian war, it was very interesting and a unique reading to learn about how all of these major wars had such an impact on the societies that we view today.  I mean lets face it, if the Greeks were to actually lose to the persians then our view on modern day societies and government would be completely different because the Persians had a very different view on government, society, and ultimately a whole view on life.  Now days if we really take a look at our civilizations and societies, they are relatively the same as the way that the Greeks set up things, like the city-states and such.  Well as far as the war went it was neat to see and very tenacious and fearless group of Greek soldiers stand up to the so called mighty Persians that were just going around the world concurring everyone.  It was also cool to see the leader of the Greeks King Leonidas stand in the front line with his soldiers and help protect his people and what overall Greece stood for.  That was an example of a great leader, of than the leader of the Persians Xerxes, who only sent his men in at no cost.  Xerxes did not care about his people, only about himself and making his glory and gaining respect for himself.   This was also a great example of two different types of leaders.