We're Building a Statue in Sparta to Honor the 300 Spartans (and You!)
Twenty-five hundred years ago, 300 ancient Spartans put everything on the line in the fight for good against evil. Grossly overmatched, they lost their lives in the Battle of Thermopylae. Their bodies perished, but the memory of their fight, their persistence, and their bravery lives on all of these centuries later.
But despite that, there is no statue or monument honoring those 300 legendary warriors. (To be fair, there is a monument of Leonidas in Sparta, but there isn't one specifically dedicated to the 300.) Why is that? The belief is that the ancient Spartans didn't give much though to preserving their legacy. Their sole focus was on the here and now. No monument was ever erected, and though the 300 live on in Hollywood screenplays and in pop culture, there is no physical landmark dedicated to remembering their incredible crusade.
Now, on the 2,500-year anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae, Spartan is building a monument in the city of Sparta to honor the 300. It will be a 35-foot-tall metal statue of an ancient Spartan helmet, and the plan is for it to be completed in time for the 2024 Spartan Trifecta World Championship in Sparta.
Related: The Battle of Thermopylae: Triumph and Tragedy
Surrounding the monument will be 300 stones. The unnamed, unmarked stones will represent the 300 Spartans who died in battle. Surrounding the 300 stones will be an additional 15,000 stones. Those stones will represent the 15,000 modern-day Spartans who purchase the new Unbreakable Pass. (Unbreakable Pass holders will also receive unlimited access to Spartan events across the globe for three years, among a host of other perks and benefits.) Their names will be etched into those stones, to be preserved for the rest of time.
The images above are rough designs of the statue, not exact replicas.
The idea behind the design is that 15,000 Spartan racers are holding up the spirit, the passion, and the determination that the ancient Spartans modeled 2,500 years ago.
"Figuratively and spiritually, we are holding up the 300," said Spartan founder and CEO Joe De Sena. "We're honoring them. We're honoring this idea of good against evil, of one against many. And by supporting this effort, we're gonna carry this idea another 2,500 years. We are the 15,000."
Only the initial Unbreakable Pass holders — meaning those who purchase it directly from Spartan, not on the secondary market — will have their names etched in stone. The first 300 stones surrounding the statue will have the names of those who possess "Super Rare" NFTs, which will be chosen at random among the first 15,000 holders. The remaining 14,700 stones will have the names of the other original pass holders.
Additionally, the "Super Rare" NFT holders will receive a miniature replica of the statue.
Joe's Eternal Plan for the Monument and the Stones
De Sena is extremely similar to the ancient Spartans in many ways, namely that he never shies away from doing hard things. Similar to the 300, he lives in the here and now and is not afraid to fight for what he believes in. Unlike the ancient Spartans, however, he does give plenty of consideration to legacy, which is why this monument means so much to him.
The CEO doesn't just want his name on a stone in Sparta. He wants his soul, his essence, to be memorialized on the site. And he's encouraging the 15,000 modern-day Spartans to do the same, to have their legacies preserved for eternity.
"My plan is to get cremated and have my ashes under my stone next to the 300," he said, "and all 15,000 can do that. Imagine your great-great-great grandchildren coming to see your stone, holding up the 300, and that's where you were buried. Let everybody else get buried in some f***ing boring cemetery somewhere."
That is, of course, a personal decision, and one that is not to be taken lightly. But with the creation of this statue and the stones that surround it, there's an opportunity to immerse yourself with the ancient Spartan ethos for another 2,500 years (and beyond).
