Thanks for the reply Demetrios,

A good informative answer that said much of what I expected but still I was delighted and surprised of the fact that a helot survived according to legend as this is the stance that Pressfeild takes in his book 'Gates of Fire'. I had assumed that he had taken this of his own back so to speak and he has know gone up even more in my estimation.

Of course many legends etc are passed down through times but this does not make them untrue and the sayings of Dienekes are fitting to a brave Spartan warrior. I had also not thought along the lines of 'other' survivors, assuming that all had died at the pass.

thanks again for the reply.

Xenophon.