🏺 Ancient Greece & Romeeasy
Battle of Thermopylae
480 BCE · Greece
Quick Facts
- Year
- 480 BCE
- Location
- Greece
- Era
- 🏺 Ancient Greece & Rome
- Difficulty
- easy
King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans, along with several thousand Greek allies, held the narrow pass at Thermopylae against Xerxes' massive Persian army for three days. Their sacrifice bought time for Greece to prepare its defenses. Though all 300 Spartans perished, their bravery became legendary, immortalized by the epitaph: 'Go tell the Spartans that here we lie, obedient to their laws.'
💡 Did you know?
The narrow pass at Thermopylae was so constricted that the Persian numerical advantage was meaningless. Today, centuries of silt deposits have pushed the coastline miles out, making the pass unrecognizable.