The story of Spartan King Leonidas and the 300 at the Battle of Thermopylae in Ancient Greece
Leonidas, Spartan military king, whose stand against the invading Persian
army at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece is one of the most enduring
historical moments of heroism. His name in Greek (ΛΕΩΝΙΔΑΣ) can be roughly
translated as "Lion's Son" or "Lion-like".
He was born
around 540 B.C and was one of three sons of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta, who
was believed to be a descendant of Hercules himself. His name has been raised
to legendary and heroic status as a result of the events at the Battle of
Thermopylae, one of the most famous battles of ancient history.
Around 21 years after the birth of Leonidas in 519
B.C,
Xerxes son of Persian king Darius the Great, was born and later went on to
become King Xerxes I of Persia himself in 485 B.C after the death of his father
and go on to rule the mighty Persian Empire. Xerxes, whose name means
"Ruler of Heroes", also known as Xerxes the Great, had to suppress
revolts in Egypt and Babylon early on after his accession. Xerxes' father
Darius the Great had previously made a failed attempt to conquer Greece at the
Battle of Marathon, after swearing an oath to punish the mainland Greek
city-states for supporting a revolt by the Ionian Greek cities against the
Persian empire. He left the task to his son Xerxes and once the revolts in
Egypt and Babylon had been suppressed, he made this task his next priority in
expanding the greatest empire known at the time.
By 480 B.C,
the expedition was planned and so in the Spring of that year soldiers from many
nations that were part of the Persian empire such as Assyrians, Phoenicians,
Babylonians, Indians, Egyptians, Jews and Arabs to name a few, marched their
way across the Hellespont toward the Northern Greek city-states of Thessaly and
Macedonia. According to Herodotus, our main source of these events, the army
and fleet under Xerxes' command was more than two million strong. Some of the
smaller northern Greek city-states such as Thessaly and Argos sided with the
might of the Persian army by offering the gift of "earth and water"
at the request of Xerxes. The other city-states offered some resistance,
however Xerxes was victorious in these encounters and continued his way along
the coast, down toward central Greece, heading toward Athens.
The Battle of Thermopylae
The news of
the arrival of the Persian Army spread throughout the Greek cities, but
unfortunately for the Greeks, the Spartans who were considered to be the best
warriors in all of Greece were holding a religious festival, which because of
this according to Spartan law, military activity was strictly forbidden, as was
the case at the Battle of Marathon. The truce of the Olympic Games was also
preventing the Spartans from marching to a battle as an army, however, on this
occasion it was decided that due to the urgency of the situation, a small group
of Spartans would protect the small pass at Thermopylae under its king,
Leonidas.
So Leonidas
chose 300 Spartan men with living sons to continue family legacy, as he knew he
would be going to certain death because of the overwhelming odds against him
and headed off to meet King Xerxes and his army at Thermopylae.
A Spartan greeting
After
refusing the offer made by one of Xerxes' ambassadors to "become friends
of the Persian people" and lay down their weapons where Leonidas famously
replied "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" (come and get them), the 300 Spartans, along
with a small force from other Greek city-states held their ground at the pass
of Thermopylae (translated as Hot Gates) in central Greece against the huge
Persian army for 2 days, before a Greek traitor named Ephialtes betrayed the
Greeks and leaked information to the Persians about a hidden mountain path
which led behind the Greek lines. On the 3rd day, when Leonidas found that the Greeks were
being outflanked and surrounded, he ordered the Greek armies to retreat and
decided that he would stay with his 300 faithful Spartan soldiers and defend
the pass to the very end. A group of about 700 Thespians and 300 Thebans refused
to leave Leonidas and his small army to die alone and stayed behind as well,
vowing to die by the brave Spartan leaders’ side. And so they
did.
The Persians
eventually managed to kill every one of those men that decided to make a stand,
including King Leonidas, although they suffered massive casualties, completely disproportionate
to the Spartans and other Greeks. The Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae
gave their life and delayed the Persians considerably, which gave the other
Greek cities the time and opportunity to organise a retreat in to southern
Greece and a defence against the largest army assembled, now intent on
conquering the rest of Greece and open the door to expand the Persian empire in
to Europe.
.JPG)
