Battle of Thermopylae

A Greek defensive stand at this battle paved the way for the subsequent defeat of Persian invaders.

Date: August, 480 b. c.e. Category: Wars and battles Locale: Eastern coast of Greece

Summary In 490 b. c.e., a Persian invasion force was routed by a much smaller Greek army on the plain of Marathon. A decade later, Persian ruler Xerxes I amassed an immense force (millions according to historian Herodotus) and invaded Greece, determined to avenge this humiliating defeat.

The Battle of Thermopylae. (F. R. Niglutsch)

The Greeks decided to delay the Persian advance down the eastern coast of Greece by deploying several thousand men at a narrow pass between the cliffs and the sea called Thermopylae (thuhr-MAH-puh-lee), meaning “hot gates.” Leading the Greeks was the Spartan king Leonidas and his 300-man royal guard. For two days, Leonidas and his elite troops repulsed Persian attacks, wreaking tremendous losses on their foes.

On the third day, a Greek traitor, Ephialtes of Malis, guided Persian forces through a mountain pass, outflanking Leonidas. Leonidas sent the majority of his troops to safety but remained at Thermoplyae with the 300 Spartans, some helots, and 1,100 Boeotians. They heroically fought to the death that day.

Significance Although the Persians won the battle, their losses were considerable, and the Greeks gained valuable time for the defense of their homeland. By the end of the next year, devastating defeats at Salamis and Plataea forced the Persians to withdraw from Greece, ending their hopes of imperial expansion.

Further Reading

Cartledge, Paul. The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse. Woodstock, NY.: Overlook Press, 2003.

De Souza, Philip. The Greek and Persian Wars, 499-386 B. C. New York: Routledge, 2003.

Frye, David. “Spartan Stand at Thermopylae.” Military History 22, no. 10 (January/February, 2006): 38.

Green, Peter. The Greco-Persian Wars. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.

Pressfield, S. Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae. New York: Bantam Books, 1999.

Strauss, Barry. “Go Tell the Spartans.” MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History 17, no. 1 (Autumn, 2004): 16-25.

Paul John Chara, Jr.

See also: Greco-Persian Wars; Leonidas; Marathon, Battle of; Plataea,

Battle of; Salamis, Battle of; Xerxes I.