To begin, it can be stated the account of Herodotus is most likely the least well founded of all. In fact, many believe that Herodotus was nothing more than a storyteller and some would consider him to be a downright liar. The \"historian\" provides very little in way of actual evidence for his astronomical 2,300,000 soldier claim, which cannot be corroborated in any sense of the word. It has been said that he based his testimony on the accounts of Greek veterans of the Persian War, however the validity of his account is considerably weak. While Ctesias of Cnidus did indeed serve within the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes H Mnemon in the 5\"1 century BCE and possibly had access to the Persian archives, his estimate of 800,000 foot-soldiers is still extremely generous as the following accounts will show that the area of Thermopylae could not logistically support an army of such a size due to the terrain and supply of water. In the time shortly after the First world war an English general by the name Sir