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Battle of Thermopylae

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Battle of Thermopylae

Greek history [480 BC]

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Kate Lohnes,

Donald SommervilleSee All

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David, Jacques-Louis: Leonidas at Thermopylae

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Date: 480 BCE
Location: Greece Thermopylae
Participants: ancient Greek civilization Persia
Context: Greco-Persian Wars
Key People: Leonidas Xerxes I

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Is the movie 300 based on the Battle of Thermopylae?

Battle of Thermopylae, (480 BCE), battle in central Greece at the mountain pass of
Thermopylae during the Persian Wars. The Greek forces, mostly Spartan, were led by
Leonidas. After three days of holding their own against the Persian king Xerxes I and his
vast southward-advancing army, the Greeks were betrayed, and the Persians were able
to outflank them. Sending the main army in retreat, Leonidas and a small contingent
remained behind to resist the advance and were defeated.
The Battle of Thermopylae’s political origins can be traced back to Xerxes’ predecessor,
Darius I (the Great), who sent heralds to Greek cities in 491 BCE in the hopes of
persuading them to accept Persian authority. This offended the proud Greeks greatly;
the Athenians went so far as to toss the Persian heralds into a pit, while the Spartans
followed suit and tossed them into a well. In 480 BCE Xerxes invaded Greece as a
continuation of Darius’s original plan. He began the same way his predecessor had: he
sent heralds to Greek cities—but he skipped over Athens and Sparta because of their
previous responses. Many Greek city-states either joined Xerxes or remained neutral,
while Athens and Sparta led the resistance with a number of other city-states behind
them. Before invading, Xerxes implored the Spartan king Leonidas to surrender his
arms. Leonidas famously replied, “Come and take them” (“Molon labe”). Xerxes
intended to do just that and thus moved toward Thermopylae.

GRECO-PERSIAN WARS EVENTS

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Battle of Marathon

September 490 BCE

Battle of Thermopylae

480 BCE

Battle of Salamis
 480 BCE

Battle of Artemisium

480 BCE
 Battle of Plataea

479 BCE

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Xerxes led a vast army overland from the Dardanelles, accompanied by a substantial
fleet moving along the coast. His forces quickly seized northern Greece and began
moving south. The Greek resistance tried to halt Persian progress on land at the narrow
pass of Thermopylae and at sea nearby in the straits of Artemisium. The Greek army was
led by Leonidas, who was estimated to have had around 7,000 men. Xerxes, on the
other hand, had anywhere from 70,000 to 300,000. Despite the disparity in numbers,
the Greeks were able to maintain their position. Their strategy involved holding a line
only a few dozen yards long between a steep hillside and the sea. This constricted the
battlefield and prevented the Persians from utilizing their vast numbers. For two days
the Greeks defended against Persian attacks and suffered light losses as they imposed
heavy casualties on the Persian army. Only when the Greeks were betrayed did the battle
take a detrimental turn for them. Ephialtes, a Greek citizen desiring reward, informed
Xerxes of a path that went around Thermopylae, thus rendering the Greeks’ line useless
in preventing forward advancement of the Persian army.
Xerxes took advantage of this betrayal and sent part of his army along this path, led by
Ephialtes himself. After reaching the other side, the Persians attacked and destroyed a
portion of the Greek army. This forced Leonidas to call a war council, at which it was
decided that retreating was the best option. However, as the majority of the Greek army
retreated, Leonidas, his 300 bodyguards, some helots (people enslaved by the Spartans),
and 1,100 Boeotians remained behind, supposedly because retreating would defy
Spartan law and custom. They held their ground against the Persians but were quickly
defeated by the vast enemy army, and many (if not all; sources differ) were killed,
including Leonidas. News of this defeat reached the troops at Artemisium, and Greek
forces there retreated as well. The Persian victory at Thermopylae allowed for Xerxes’
passage into southern Greece, which expanded the Persian empire even further.
Today the Battle of Thermopylae is celebrated as an example of heroic persistence
against seemingly impossible odds. Soon after the battle, the Greeks built a stone lion in
honour of those who had died and specifically for the fallen king Leonidas. In 1955 a
statue of Leonidas was erected by King Paul of Greece in commemoration of his and his
troops’ bravery. The Battle of Thermopylae also served as the inspiration for the film
300 (2006).

Kate Lohnes
Donald Sommerville

Thermopylae

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Thermopylae

mountain pass, Greece

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Also known as: Thermopílai, Thermopýles

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Thermopylae
Thermopylae, Modern Greek Thermopýles, also spelled Thermopílai, narrow pass on
the east coast of central Greece between the Kallídhromon massif and the Gulf of
Maliakós, about 85 miles (136 km) northwest of Athens (Athína). In antiquity its cliffs
were by the sea, but silting has widened the distance to more than a mile. Its name,
meaning “hot gates,” is derived from its hot sulfur springs.
The pass, some 4 miles (6 km) in length, has figured in numerous invasions. There, in
August 480 BCE, during the second Persian invasion of Greece, a small Greek force
under the Spartan king Leonidas defended Attica and Boeotia against the southward
advance of Xerxes’ Persian army while Greek fleets at nearby Cape Artemesium fought
off the attacking Persian navy. Leonidas’s troops held the pass for three days until the
Persians, guided along another mountain pass by the Greek traitor Ephialtes, outflanked
them. Sending the majority of his troops to safety, Leonidas remained to delay the
Persians with 300 Spartans, their helots, and 1,100 Boeotians, all of whom died in
battle. Although the Persians won at Thermopylae and conquered central Greece, they
suffered considerable losses in the battle, and most of the Greek troops and ships were
able to escape to the Isthmus of Corinth to rejoin the main Greek forces. This battle
became celebrated in history and literature as an example of heroic resistance against
great odds. A large marble and bronze monument commemorating the battle was
erected in 1955. In 279 BCE the Greeks delayed the invading Celts at Thermopylae, and
in 191 BCE the Seleucid king Antiochus III fortified the pass against the Romans under
Acilius Glabrio.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Richard Pallardy.