Battle of Thermopylae

For other battles at Thermopylae, see Battle of Thermopylae (disambiguation).

For the place, see Thermopylae.

Battle of Thermopylae
Part of the Greco-Persian Wars
The site of the battle today.
Date 480 BC Location Thermopylae, Greece Result Persian victory
Belligerents
Greek city-states	Achaemenid Persia
Commanders and leaders
Leonidas †	Xerxes the Great
Strength
300 Spartans 700 Thespians 6,000 other Greek allies*	150,000 to 200,000 (Modern consensus) (See below)
Casualties and losses
299 Spartans 900 Helots 700 Thespians 400 Thebans Unknown others	20,000 (Herodotus)
* Out of the initial 7,000-strong Greek army, all but 2,300 were dismissed on the third day.

Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques Louis David, 1814. This is not a depiction of the place, the battle, or any moment in it, but is a juxtaposition of various incidents in the story told in picture form, which the viewer is to decipher. For example, Leonidas holding the center is seated on a throne. The chest to his right bears the inscription "Heracles", the mythical founder of his royal family. Further to his right is the blinded soldier invalided out for an eye infection being led back to the last stand. Behind him a figure is writing the epitaph of Simonides with the hilt of the sword. The wreaths for which the absent army competed at the games are shown. The temple of Apollo, source of the oracle, appears in the background. It is possible to find many more symbols in this large-size canvas at the Louvre.

In the Battle of Thermopylae (as detailed almost entirely by Herodotus), which occurred in 480 BC, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian Empire at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the Persians for three days in one of history's most famous last stands. A small force led by King Leonidas of Sparta blocked the only road through which the massive army of Xerxes I of Persia could pass. After three days of battle, a local resident named Ephialtes is believed to have betrayed the Greeks by revealing a mountain path that led behind the Greek lines. Dismissing the rest of the army, King Leonidas stayed behind with 300 Spartans, 700 Thespian volunteers, 400 Thebans that had been pressed into service and 900 Helots.

The Persians succeeded in taking the pass but sustained heavy losses, extremely disproportionate to those of the Greeks. The fierce resistance of the Spartan-led army offered Athens the invaluable time to prepare for a decisive naval battle that would come to determine the outcome of the war. The subsequent Greek victory at the Battle of Salamis left much of the Persian Empire's navy destroyed and Xerxes retreated to Asia, leaving a force in Greece under Mardonius, who was to meet the Greeks in battle one last time. The Spartans assembled at full strength and led a pan-Greek army that defeated the Persians decisively at the Battle of Plataea, ending the Greco-Persian War and with it, the expansion of the Persian Empire into Europe.

The performance of the defenders at the battle of Thermopylae is often used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment, and good use of terrain as force multipliers, and has become a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds.

Greek preparations

The Battle of Thermopylae was the first main event in what is generally termed the Second Persian War. Its political origin is to be found in the events of the First Persian War, when Xerxes' father, King Darius I of Persia, or Darius the Great, invaded Greece for the first time and was defeated by Athens at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.

Earth and water

Just prior to that battle Xerxes had sent heralds around to the Greek states offering the opportunity to submit, which would avoid war and make them eligible for blandishments from the king. As was customary, this was signaled by asking for "earth and water", betokening their submission, which was duly kept by the assiduous bureaucrats of the Persian Empire. The Athenians responded at that time by throwing the emissaries into a pit, and the Spartans by throwing others into a well, with a suggestion to dig it out for themselves.

Congress of Corinth

Consequently, when Xerxes sent the envoys around again just prior to the Battle of Thermopylae, he omitted Athens and Sparta. Support gathered around these two leading states. A congress met at Corinth in late autumn of 481 BC, and a confederate alliance of Greek city-states was formed. It had the power to send envoys asking for assistance and to dispatch troops from the member states to defensive points after joint consultation. Herodotus does not formulate an abstract name for the polity, such as "congress" or "alliance", but calls them simply "οἱ Ἕλληνες" (the Greeks) and "the Greeks who had sworn alliance" (Godley translation) or "the Greeks who had banded themselves together" (Rawlinson translation). Sparta and Athens had a leading role in the congress but interests of all the states played a part in determining defensive strategy. Little is known about the internal workings of the congress or the discussion during its proceedings. Only 70 of the approximately 700 Greek cities sent representatives.

Vale of Tempe

The congress first sent a force of 10,000 Greeks including hoplites and cavalry to the vale of Tempe, through which they believed the Persian army would have to pass. There is no mention of any Spartans. The force did include Lacedaemonians led by Euanetus, not of the Spartan royal family, and Athenians under Themistocles. Warned by Alexander I of Macedon that the vale could be bypassed elsewhere and that the army of Xerxes was overwhelming, the Greeks decided not to try to hold there and vacated the vale.

Greek strategy

The allied Greeks judged that the next strategic choke point where the Persian force could be stopped was Thermopylae. They decided to defend it and send a fleet to Artemision, a naval choke point, as Xerxes' army was being supplied and supported by sea. Using the fleet, Xerxes' army might have crossed Maliacos bay and outflanked the Greek army; in the words of George Grote: "... the occupation of the northern part of the Euboean strait was indispensable to prevent the Persian fleet from landing troops in the rear of the defenders of Thermopylae."

The Greek high strategy is confirmed by an oration later in the same century:

But while Greece showed these inclinations [to join the Persians], the Athenians, for their part, embarked in their ships and hastened to the defence of Artemisium; while the Spartans and some of their allies went off to make a stand at Thermopylae, judging that the narrowness of the ground would enable them to secure the passage.

Carneia festival

Herodotus writes:

The force with Leonidas was sent forward by the Spartans in advance of their main body, that the sight of them might encourage the allies to fight, and hinder them from going over to the Medes, as was likely they might have done had they seen that Sparta was backward. They intended presently, when they had celebrated the Carneian Festival, which was what now kept them at home, to leave a garrison in Sparta, and hasten in full force to join the army. The rest of the allies intended to act similarly; for it happened that the Olympic Festival fell exactly at this same period. None of them looked to see the contest at Thermopylae decided so speedily; wherefore they were content to send forward a mere advance guard. Such accordingly were the intentions of the allies.

During the Carneia, military activity was forbidden by Spartan law. At the Battle of Marathon, the Spartans had arrived too late because of this requirement. On this occasion, the ephors decided the urgency was sufficiently great to justify an advance expedition under one of its kings (Leonidas), which can be used to roughly determine the time of year. The Carneia took place in a late summer month (July, August or September) from the 7th to the 15th ending with a full moon.

The oracle

The legend of Thermopylae as told by Herodotus has it that Sparta consulted the Oracle at Delphi before setting out to meet the Persian army. The Oracle is said to have made the following prophecy in hexameter verse:

O ye men who dwell in the streets of broad Lacedaemon!
Either your glorious town shall be sacked by the children of Perseus,
Or, in exchange, must all through the whole Laconian country

Mourn for the loss of a king, descendant of great Heracles.

Marry a good man

The overall commander of Greek forces was now Leonidas, who was generally admired. Herodotus writes that he was convinced he was going to certain death, as his forces were not adequate for a victory, and so selected only men with living sons. Plutarch mentions in his Sayings of Spartan Women that, after encouraging him, Leonidas' wife Gorgo asked what she should do on his departure. He replied, "Marry a good man, and have good children."

Arrival of the Persians

Battle of Thermopylae and movements to Salamis, 480 BC

A map showing the Greek world at the time of the battle

Competing ideologies

Herodotus attests a conversation that took place early in the expedition between Xerxes and Demaratus, an exiled Spartan king under his employment. Xerxes asked Demaratus whether he thought that the Greeks would put up a fight, for in his opinion neither the Greeks nor even all peoples of Europe together would be able to stop him because they were disunited. Demaratus replied:

First, they will never accept conditions from you that bring slavery upon Hellas; and second, they will meet you in battle even if all the other Greeks are on your side. Do not ask me how many these men are who can do this; they will fight with you whether they have an army of a thousand men, or more than that, or less.

Xerxes laughed at this answer, claiming that "free men" of any number would never be able to stand against his army which was unified by a single ruler, and that obedience to one single master would make his troops extremely courageous, or they would be led into battle "by the whip" even against an army of any size. He added that "even if the Greeks have larger numbers than our highest estimate, we still would outnumber them 100 to 1". He asserted that his army contained men who would gladly fight with three Greeks at once and that Demaratus was talking nonsense. To this Demaratus answered:

I would most gladly fight with one of those men who claim to be each a match for three Greeks. So is it with the Lacedaemonians; fighting singly they are as brave as any man living, and together they are the best warriors on earth. They are free, yet not wholly free: law is their master, whom they fear much more than your men fear you. They do whatever it bids; and its bidding is always the same, that they must never flee from the battle before any multitude of men, but must abide at their post and there conquer or die.

The final decision

On the Persian army's arrival at Thermopylae, Greek troops instigated a council meeting. Some Peloponnesians suggested withdrawal to the Isthmus and blocking the passage to Peloponnesus. They were well aware that the Persians would have to go through Athens in order to reach them there. The Phocians and Locrians, whose states were located nearby, became indignant and advised defending Thermopylae and sending for more help. Leonidas and the Spartans agreed to defend Thermopylae.

Combing their long hair

Meanwhile, the Persians entered the pass and sent a mounted scout to reconnoiter. The Greeks allowed him to come up to the camp, observe them, and depart. When the scout reported to Xerxes the size of the Greek force and that the Spartans were indulging in calisthenics and combing their long hair, Xerxes found the reports laughable. Seeking again the counsel of Demaratus, Xerxes was told that the Spartans were preparing for battle and that it was their custom to adorn their hair when they were about to risk their lives. Demaratus called them "the bravest men in Greece" and warned the Great King that they intended to dispute the pass. He emphasized that he had tried to warn Xerxes earlier in the campaign, but the king had refused to believe him. He added that if Xerxes ever managed to subdue the Spartans, "there is no other nation in all the world which will venture to lift a hand in their defence" (Rawlinson translation).

Come and get them

Xerxes remained incredulous, finding it unbelievable for such a small army to contend with his own. Plutarch informs that he then sent emissaries to the Greek forces. At first, he asked Leonidas to join him by offering the kingship of all Greece. Leonidas answered: "If you had any knowledge of the noble things of life, you would refrain from coveting others' possessions; but for me to die for Greece is better than to be the sole ruler over the people of my race." Then Xerxes asked him more forcefully to surrender their arms. To this Leonidas gave his noted answer: [[Molon labe|Template:Polytonic]], "Come and get them".

We shall fight in the shade

Despite their extremely disproportionate numbers, Greek morale was high. Herodotus writes that when Dienekes, a Spartan soldier, was informed that Persian arrows would be so numerous as "to blot-out the sun", he responded with a characteristically laconic remark, "So much the better; we shall fight in the shade."

Battle

Failure of the frontal assault

Greek phalanx based on sources from The Perseus Project.

Persian warriors

Xerxes waited four days for the Greek force to disperse. On the fifth day he sent Medes and Cissians, along with relatives of those who had died ten years earlier in the battle of Marathon, to take the Greeks prisoner and bring them before him. They soon found themselves in a frontal assault. The Greeks had camped on either side of the rebuilt Phocian wall. The wall was guarded and the Greeks fought in front of it.

Details of the tactics are scant. Diodorus says "the men stood shoulder to shoulder" and the Greeks were "superior in valor and in the great size of their shields." The formation being described is the standard Greek phalanx, a wall of overlapping shields and layered spear points, which would only have been effective if it spanned the width of the pass. Herodotus says that the units for each state were kept together. The small shields and shorter spears of the Persians were not a match for the superior armament of the Greek hoplites. The Greeks killed so many Medes that Xerxes is said to have started up off the seat from which he was watching the battle three times. According to Ctesias, the first wave was "cut to pieces" with only two or three Spartans dead.

According to Herodotus and Diodorus, the king, having taken the measure of the enemy, threw his best troops into a second assault on the same day: the Immortals, an elite corps of 10,000 men. Ctesias tells a totally different story, that Xerxes sent another 20,000 troops against the Greeks, after the first 10,000 under Artapanus were defeated. They also failed to open the pass even though they were flogged by their leaders to press on. Although there might have been 10,000 Medes, the Immortals were only 10,000 and as elite troops it would not have been necessary to flog them. On the second day Xerxes sent, according to Ctesias, another 50,000 men to assault the pass, but again they failed. Xerxes at last stopped the assault and withdrew to his camp, totally perplexed.

Encirclement of the Greeks

Late on the second day of battle, as the Persian king was pondering what to do next, he received a windfall: a Malian Greek traitor named Ephialtes informed him of a path around Thermopylae and offered to guide the Persian army. Ephialtes was motivated by the desire of a reward. For this act, the name of Ephialtes received a lasting stigma, coming to mean "nightmare" and becoming the archetypal term for a "traitor" in Greek.

In Herodotus, Xerxes sends his commander Hydarnes to flank the pass with the men under his command, but he does not say who those men are. Hydarnes commanded the Immortals, but they had been cut to pieces the day before. Ctesias tells a different story, asserting that 40,000 troops were sent around the pass conducted by the leaders of the Trachinians. The stories can be reconciled by presuming that Hydarnes was given overall command of an enhanced force including what was left of the Immortals, but it is only a presumption. The Immortals were given such a name because when a member fell in battle he was immediately replaced by another to maintain the 10,000, therefore it is also possible they had been replenished from the previous day's fighting. The path led from east of the Persian camp along the ridge of Mt. Anopaea behind the cliffs that flanked the pass. It branched with one path leading to Phocis and the other down to the Gulf of Malis at Alpenus, first town of Locris. Leonidas had stationed 1,000 Phocian volunteers on the heights to guard that path.

Their first warning of the approach of the Persians at daybreak was the rustling of oak leaves. Herodotus says that they jumped up and were greatly amazed. Hydarnes was perhaps as amazed to see them hastily arming themselves as they were to see him and the Persian forces. He feared that they were Spartans, but was enlightened by Ephialtes and proceeded by firing "showers of arrows" at them. The Phocians retreated to the crest of the mountain to make their stand and defend their city which was behind the mountain range, but the Persians took the left branch of the pass to Alpenus and hence circled behind the main Greek force.

Last stand of the Greeks

Immortals (lancers), detail from the archers' frieze in Darius' palace in Susa.

Learning that the Phocians had not held, Leonidas called a council of war at dawn. Some Greeks argued for withdrawal, while others pledged to stay. After the council, many of the Greek forces did choose to withdraw. Herodotus believed that Leonidas blessed their departure with an order, but he also offered the alternative point of view that those retreating forces departed without orders. The Spartans had pledged themselves to fight to the death. However, a contingent of about 700 Thespians, led by general Demophilus, the son of Diadromes, refused to leave with the other Greeks, but cast their lot with the Spartans.

The Greeks this time sallied forth from the wall to meet the Persians in the wider part of the pass in an attempt to slaughter as many Persians as they could. They fought with spears until every spear was shattered and then switched to xiphoi (short swords). In this struggle, Herodotus states that two brothers of Xerxes fell: Abrocomes and Hyperanthes. Leonidas also died in the assault and they fought over his body, the Greeks taking possession.

Receiving intelligence that Ephialtes and the Immortals were advancing toward the rear, the Greeks withdrew and took a stand on a hill behind the wall. The Thebans "moved away from their companions, and with hands upraised, advanced toward the barbarians..." (Rawlinson translation), but a few were slain before their surrender was accepted. The king later had the Theban prisoners branded with the royal mark. Of the remaining defenders Herodotus says: "Here they defended themselves to the last, those who still had swords using them, and the others resisting with their hands and teeth; ...." Tearing down part of the wall, Xerxes ordered the hill surrounded and the Persians rained down arrows until the last Greek was dead. In 1939 the archaeologist, Spyridon Marinatos, excavating at Thermopylae found large numbers of Persian bronze arrowheads on Kolonos Hill, changing the identification of the hill on which the Greeks died from a smaller one nearer the wall.

Aftermath

When the body of Leonidas was recovered by the Persians, Xerxes, in a rage against Leonidas, ordered that the head be cut off and the body crucified. Herodotus observes that this was very uncommon for the Persians, as they had the habit of treating "valiant warriors" with great honor (the example of Pytheas captured earlier off Skyros also suggests that). However, Xerxes was known for his rage, as when he had the Hellespont whipped because it would not obey him.

Xerxes was curious as to what the Greeks were trying to do (presumably because there were so few numbers) and had some Arcadian deserters interrogated in his presence. The answer was that all the other men were participating in the Olympic Games. When Xerxes asked what the prize for the winner was, "an olive-wreath" came the answer. Upon hearing this, Tigranes, a Persian general, said: "Good heavens, Mardonius, what kind of men are these that you have pitted against us? It is not for money that they contend but for glory of achievement!" (Godley translation) or otherwise "Ye Gods, Mardonius, what men have you brought us to fight against? Men that fight not for gold, but for honour.

After the Persians' departure, the Greeks collected their dead and buried them on the hill. A stone lion was erected to commemorate Leonidas. Forty years after the battle, Leonidas' bones were returned to Sparta where he was buried again with full honors and funeral games were held every year in his memory.

The simultaneous naval Battle of Artemisium was a stalemate, whereupon the Athenian navy retreated. The Persians were now in control of the Aegean Sea and all of peninsular Greece as far south as Attica. The Spartans prepared to defend the Isthmus of Corinth and the Peloponnese, while Xerxes went on to sack Athens, whose inhabitants had already fled to the island of Salamis. In September, the Greeks defeated the Persians at the naval Battle of Salamis, which led to the rapid retreat of Xerxes. The remaining Persian army, left under the charge of Mardonius, was defeated in the Battle of Plataea by a combined Greek army again led by the Spartans, under the regent Pausanias.

Topography of the battlefield

Thermopylae derives half of its name from its hot springs. This river is formed by the steaming water which smells like sulfur. In the background, you can see buildings of the modern baths. In ancient times the springs created a swamp.

At the time, the pass of Thermopylae consisted of a track along the shore of the Gulf of Malis so narrow that only one chariot could pass through at a time. On the southern side of the track stood the cliffs, while on the north side was the gulf. Along the path was a series of three constrictions, or "gates" (pylai), and at the center gate a short wall that had been erected by the Phocians in the previous century to aid in their defense against Thessalian invasions. The name "Hot Gates" comes from the hot springs that were located there.

Today, the pass is not near the sea but is several miles inland due to infilling of the Gulf of Malis. The old track appears at the foot of hills around the plain, flanked by a modern road. Recent core samples indicate that the pass was only 100 meters wide and the waters came up to the gates. Says Lyn Dore: "Little do the visitors realize that the battle took place across the road from the monument." The pass still is a natural defensive position to modern armies and British Commonwealth forces in World War II made another defense against the Nazi invasion meters from the original battle field.

Detailed maps of the region are to be found at these sites:

• Map 1,
• Map 2,

Pictures showing the terrain are to be found at these sites:

• View from the east at livius.org. On the left are the cliffs to the south; on the right, the road and the edge of the agricultural region that once were the Gulf of Malis.
• Modern monument at siu.edu
• Spartan burial mound at coloradocollege.edu
• Artemisium at prigsbee.com

Size of the Persian army

Primary sources

In 480 BC, the Persian army and navy arrived at the Persian garrison of Doriscus in Thrace. A bridge of ships had been made at Abydos. This allowed the land forces to cross the Hellespont. At Doriscus, Xerxes conducted a review and a count of his army and navy, which was recorded by the Persian scribes. Herodotus must have had some sort of knowledge of this account, as he lists and describes the units and gives the size of Xerxes' combined forces as follows:

Units	Numbers
1207 triremes with 200-man crews from 12 ethnic groups: Phoenicians of Palestine, Egyptians, Cyprians, Cilicians, Pamphylians, Lycians, Dorians of Asia, Carians, Ionians, Aegean islanders, Aeolians, Greeks from Pontus	241,000
30 marines per trireme from the Persians, Medes or Sacae	36,210
3000 penteconters with 80-man crews	240,000
Total of ships' complements	517,610
Infantry from 47 ethnic groups: Persians, Medes, Cissians, Hyrcanians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Bactrians, Sacae, Indians, Arians, Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, Gandarians, Dadicae, Caspians, Sarangae, Pactyes, Utians, Mycians, Paricanians, Arabians, Ethiopians of Africa, Ethiopians of Baluchistan, Libyans, Paphlagonians, Ligyes, Matieni, Mariandyni, Cappadocians, Phrygians, Armenians, Lydians, Mysians, Asian Thracians, Lasonii, Milyae, Moschi, Tibareni, Macrones, Mossynoeci, Mares, Colchians, Alarodians, Saspirians and Red Sea islanders.	1,700,000
Horse cavalry from the Persians, Sagartians, Medes, Cissians, Indians, Caspians and Paricanians.	80,000
Arab camel troops and Libyan charioteers	20,000
Total Asian land and sea forces	2,317,610
120 triremes with 200-man crews from the Greeks of Thrace and the islands near it.	24,000
Balkan infantry from 13 ethnic groups: European Thracians, Paeonians, Eordi, Bottiaei, Chalcidians, Brygians, Pierians, Macedonians, Perrhaebi, Enienes, Dolopes, Magnesians, Achaeans	300,000
Grand Total, Asian and European	2,641,610

This number is doubled in order to account for support personnel and thus Herodotus reports that the total Persian force numbered 5,283,220 men. The poet Simonides, who was a contemporary, talks of three million combatants. One century later, Ctesias of Cnidus gives 800,000 as the total number of the army that met in Doriscus.

Modern estimates

Modern scholars have given different estimates based on knowledge of the Persian military systems, their logistical capabilities, the Greek countryside, and supplies available along the army's route.

Grote

An early and very influential modern, George Grote, set the tone by expressing incredulity at the numbers given by Herodotus: "To admit this overwhelming total, or anything near to it, is obviously impossible." Grote's main objection is the supply problem, but he nowhere states any measure of supply capability nor did he have available any scientific data on the topic. He does not reject Herodotus altogether, citing the latter's reporting of the Persians' careful methods of accounting and their stockpiling of supply caches for three years. He points to the contradictions in the ancient estimates and refrains from making one of his own or implying that such an estimate is possible. It was up to subsequent scholars to make them.

Maurice

A pivotal study of the early 20th century by Major-General Sir John Frederick Maurice focuses on the water supply. A former British transport officer himself, he had access to the British Admiralty handbook containing data on the rivers of Greece. Calculating that a force of 200,000 men and 70,000 animals would strain the water resources, and noting that Herodotus reports those resources were strained, he suggests that Herodotus may have confused the Persian terms for chiliarchy (1,000) and myriarchy (10,000), leading to an exaggeration by a factor of ten. He therefore modifies Herodotus' figure for land combatants only to about 210,000 men, 75,000 animals. This does not include support personnel.

Hammond

Since Maurice the number of Persian troops has become a specialized topic. There are no standard estimates or ranges of estimates. One of the most widely read and detailed summaries is the contribution of N.G.L. Hammond to the Cambridge Ancient History. Working entirely from ancient sources, Hammond estimates the Persian fleet, based on its size at the Battle of Salamis, to have been 1,407 warships, 281,400 naval personnel, with another 3,000 vessels, 120,000 men, in support, for a total of about 400,000 men, to which must be added another 8,000 men operating 400 supply ships. The grand total of naval personnel is 408,000 men in about 4,800 ships.

For the land force under Xerxes, based on what was said about the land force under Mardonius at the Battle of Plataea, Hammond estimates 220,000 men plus 22,000 in the supply services for a total of 242,000 men. Note that Hammond's postulate of supply ships minimizes the resources of the Greek countryside as a limiting factor. Some have believed that Herodotus or his sources had access to official Persian Empire records of the forces involved in the expedition. Whatever the real numbers were, it is clear that Xerxes was anxious to ensure a successful expedition by mustering an overwhelming numerical superiority by land and by sea. Whether he was able to bring this superiority to bear or deploy it effectively are other questions.

Size of the Greek army

According to Herodotus, and Diodorus Siculus, the Greek army included the following forces:

Units	Numbers (Herodotus)	Numbers (Diodorus Siculus)
Spartans	300	300
Lacedaemonians	-	1,000
Mantineans	500	3,000 (the rest of the Greeks sent with Leonidas)
Tegeans	500
Arcadian Orchomenos	120
Other Arcadians	1,000
Corinthians	400
Phlians	200
Mycenaeans	80
Total Peloponnesians	3,100	4,000 (4,300)
Thespians	700	-
Melians	-	1,000
Thebans	400	400
Phocians	1,000	1,000
Opuntian Locrians	"All they had"	-
Grand Total	More than 5,200 by the number of Opuntian Locrians	6,400 (6,700)

It is not known for certain whether the 1,000 Lacedemonians mentioned by Diodorus Siculus include the Spartans; the total of 4000 implies that it does. As the Spartans themselves generally meant "other Lacedaemonians" by the term, the 4000 probably does not include them. A possible further 900 Helots also fought. Herodotus reports that at Xerxes' public showing of the dead, "helots were also there for them to see", but he does not say how many or in what capacity they served. There is no reason to doubt that they served in their traditional role as armed retainers to individual Spartans. In the passage summarized by the table, Herodotus tallies 3,100 Peloponnesians at Thermopylae before the battle but in another passage he quotes an inscription by Simonides saying there were 4,000; hence, it is possible to account for the difference (without proof) by hypothesizing that 900 helots fought, three per Spartan hoplite.

Pausanias' account agrees with that of Herodotus (whom he probably read) except that he gives the number of Locrians, which Herodotus declined to estimate. Residing in the direct path of the Persian advance, they gave all the fighting men they had to the number of 6000 men, which, added to Herodotus' 5200, amounts to a force of 11,200. Many modern historians, who usually consider Herodotus more reliable, add the 1000 Lacedaemonians and the 900 Helots to Herodotus' 5200 to obtain 7100 or about 7000 men as a standard number, neglecting Diodorus' Melians and Pausanias' Locrians. That is the approach taken in this article; it is, however, not at all clear that they can reasonably be neglected.

It is obviously not possible given the sources and known history of the battle to arrive at anything like precise numbers; moreover, the units were rotated in and out of the battle. It is unlikely even the Greeks knew the number of men that fought or were killed. The numbers changed later on in the battle as the entire army retreated and only 2,300 Spartans, Helots, Thespians and Thebans remained.

Reliability of Herodotus

Since nearly all of the sources for the account of the battle come from Herodotus, many writers have called into question the accuracy of his accounts or statistics, for example Herodotus estimated that the total size of the Persian army in their empire was 5,283,220, this was dismissed as an "absurd exaggeration" by reknowned archaeologist and ancient Greek historian John Boardman. Herodotus claimed that the land and naval forces of Xerxes at the passage of Hellespont totalled 2,317,000 in addition to 2,000,000 slaves and support personnel, this figure has also been called into question.

Monuments at the site

Epitaph of Simonides

Epitaph with Simonides' epigram

Simonides composed a well-known epigram, which was engraved as an epitaph on a commemorative stone placed on top of the burial mound of the Spartans at Thermopylae. It is also the hill on which the last of them died. The original stone has not been preserved. Instead the epitaph was engraved on a new stone erected in 1955. The text from Herodotus is:

Template:Polytonic

Template:Polytonic.

Ō ksein', angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti tēide

keimetha tois keinōn rhēmasi peithomenoi.

An ancient alternative substitutes Template:Polytonic for Template:Polytonic; i.e., substitutes "laws" for "sayings." The sayings are not personal but refer to official and binding phrases of some sort.

The form of this ancient Greek poetry is an elegiac couplet. Some English translations are given in the table below.

Translation	Notes
Go tell the Spartans, thou who passest by, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.	William Lisle Bowles
Stranger, tell the Spartans that we behaved as they would wish us to, and are buried here.	William Golding
Stranger! To Sparta say, her faithful band Here lie in death, remembering her command.	Rev. Francis Hodgson
Stranger, report this word, we pray, to the Spartans, that lying Here in this spot we remain, faithfully keeping their laws.	George Campbell Macaulay
Stranger, bear this message to the Spartans, that we lie here obedient to their laws.	William Roger Paton
Tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.	Steven Pressfield
Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell That here, obeying her behests, we fell.	George Rawlinson
Go, way-farer, bear news to Sparta's town that here, their bidding done, we laid us down.	Cyril E. Robinson
Go tell the Spartans, you who read: We took their orders, and lie here dead.	Aubrey de Sélincourt

John Ruskin expressed the importance of this ideal to Western civilization as follows:

Also obedience in its highest form is not obedience to a constant and compulsory law, but a persuaded or voluntary yielded obedience to an issued command .... His name who leads the armies of Heaven is "Faithful and True"... and all deeds which are done in alliance with these armies ... are essentially deeds of faith, which therefore ... is at once the source and the substance of all known deed, rightly so called ... as set forth in the last word of the noblest group of words ever, so far as I know, uttered by simple man concerning his practice, being the final testimony of the leaders of a great practical nation ...: [the epitaph in Greek].

Leonidas monument

File:Leonidas monument.jpg

Leonidas Monument.

Additionally, there is a modern monument at the site, called the "Leonidas Monument", in honor of the Spartan king. It features a bronze statue of Leonidas. A sign, under the statue, reads simply: "Μολών λαβέ" ("Come and get them!"). The metope below depicts battle scenes. The two marble statues on the left and the right of the monument represent, respectively, the river Eurotas and Mount Taygetos, famous landmarks of Sparta.

Thespians monument

File:Thespians monument full.jpg

Thespians' Monument.

In 1997, a second monument was officially unveiled by the Greek government, dedicated to the 700 Thespians who fought with the Spartans. The monument is made of marble and features a bronze statue depicting the god Eros, who was worshiped in ancient Thespiae. Under the statue, a sign reads "In memory of the seven hundred Thespians".

A plate, below the statue, explains its symbolism :

• The headless male figure symbolizes the anonymous sacrifice of the 700 Thespians to their country.
• The outstretched chest symbolizes the struggle, the gallantry, the strength, the bravery and the courage.
• The open wing symbolizes the victory, the glory, the soul, the spirit and the freedom.
• The broken wing symbolizes the voluntary sacrifice and death.
• The naked body symbolizes Eros, the most important god of the ancient Thespians, the god of creation, beauty and life.

The monument to the Thespians is placed beside the one to the Spartans.

Thermopylae in popular culture

Main article: Battle of Thermopylae in popular culture

The Battle of Thermopylae has been an icon of western civilization since the day it ended. This icon expresses itself in countless instances of adages, poetry and song, literature, films, television and video games. A more serious aspect has been its didactic use. The battle appears in many books and articles on military topics.

Main article: Sparta in popular culture

Prior to the battle, the Hellenes remembered the Dorians, an ethnic distinction to which the Spartans belonged, as the conquerors and displacers of the Ionians in the Peloponnesus. After the battle, Spartan culture became an inspiration and object of emulation.

Further reading

• Barkworth, Peter R. (1993). "The Organization of Xerxes' Army" (PDF). Iranica Antiqua. XXVII: pages 149-167. Retrieved 2007-10-18. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
• Pressfield, Steven (1998). Gates of Fire. ISBN 0385492510. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |publicher= ignored (help)
• Morris, Ian Macgregor (2000). "To Make a New Thermopylae: Hellenism, Greek Liberation, and the Battle of Thermopylae". Greece & Rome. 47 (2): pages 211–230. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
• Bradford, Ernle (2004). Thermopylae: The Battle for the West. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306813602.
• Cartledge, Paul (2006). Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World. Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 1585675660.
• Matthews, Rupert (2006). The Battle of Thermopylae: A Campaign in Context. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 1862273251.
• Holland, Tom (2006). 'Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West'. ISBN 0385513119. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |publicher= ignored (help)

See also

• Aristodemus (Spartan)
• Battle of the Persian Gate
• Battles of macrohistorical importance involving invasions of Europe
• Molon labe
• Persian empire
• Pantites
• Spartan Army
• Battle of Saragarhi

External links

• Ctesias; Freese, J.H. (Translator) (2002), "Persica", in Photius; Pearse, Roger (eds.), Bibliotheca (Myriobiblon): Codex LXXII, The Tertullian Project {{citation}}: |first2= has generic name (help).
• EDSITEment staff. "300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae: Herodotus' Real History". National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• Lendering, Jona (1996–2007). "Herodotus' twenty-second logos: Thermopylae" (html). Livius articles on ancient history. Retrieved 2007-10-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
• Lendering, Jona (2007). "Thermopylae (480 BCE)" (html). Livius articles on ancient history. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Stecchini, Livio C. (2007). "The Persian Wars: the Size of the Persian Army" (html). Iran Chamber Society. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
• The Five Great Battles of Antiquity by David L. Smith, Symposion Lectures, 30 June 2006.

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