21/08/2022
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒐𝒑𝒚𝒍𝒂𝒆
20th August 480 BC
After the Pan-Hellenic "Congress at Corinth" in Spring 480BC the Greeks agreed to a two-pronged defence using the narrow pass of Thermopylae and the straits of Artemisium to fend off the numerically superior Persians. The Spartans, with the equivalent of a "standing army" and most respected among the Greeks, were vital to the plans to defend the fatherland.
In August 480BC, the Greeks learnt that King Xerxes and his army had crossed the Hellespont and marched through Macedon and Thrace. The independent Greeks were called to arms, and marched to Thermopylae. The rest of the Greek states, small and large, looked to Sparta for leadership. August was of religious significance to the Spartans as it was the Doric lunar festival of the Carneia, during which it was unfavourable to lead the army away from their temples to war.
The Spartans made an extraordinary exception to the rule, and sent one of their Kings, Leonidas of the Agiads, with 300 of his personal bodyguards. Herodotus said that when deciding, the Spartans received a message from the Pythia at Delphi that "either your glorious city will be sacked … or Laconia must mourn the loss of a king." Leonidas, close to 60 years old, departed for Thermopylae with 300 Spartiate warriors and an unknown number of Helot attendants. They were soon joined by many other Peloponnesians, Phocians, Locrians, Thebans & Thespians to name a few.
At Thermopylae, the Greeks numbered no more than 7,000. The Persians according to Herodotus numbered over 1 million and ~300,000 according to modern historians. Many Greeks demanded a retreat to the Isthmus of Corinth, but Leonidas convinced them that to fail to defend Thermopylae was to fail to defend all Greece.
Before the battle, Leonidas was informed by locals from nearby Trachis of a mountain path that led behind Thermopylae, threatening to outflank them. Leonidas stationed a unit of Phocians to defend the mountain path. For four days, the Greeks fortified their position, until Xerxes attacked.
DAY ONE: On the first day, after Persian arrows proved ineffective, Xerxes sent forward his first wave of light infantry. Ctesias, an ancient historian, recounts that the Persians were “cut to pieces” by the Spartans, who only lost a handful in return for thousands of Persian dead. In anger, Xerxes sent 10,000 "Immortals" against the Greeks, so called because they had never lost a battle. The Spartans, feigning retreat, wheeled back around and routed the Immortals, dispelling the myth.
DAY TWO: Thinking the Greeks exhausted after the first wave, Xerxes sent another infantry wave against them. Not only was the attack repulsed, but Xerxes rose from his throne three times, enraged at the losses inflicted upon his army.
Now came a change of fate, that would leave an indelible mark on Greek history as the epitome of betrayal. A Trachinian native known as Ephialtes betrayed his countrymen and fatherland to the Persians for a handful of coins, giving away the location of the mountain trail. Ephialtes' name would be derided throughout history, coming to mean "nightmare" in modern Greek.
DAY THREE: The Persians sent a division to begin the march across the mountain trail to encircle the Greeks. The Phocians whom Leonidas had stationed there were alerted to the Persians by the rustle of bushes, but after being pushed back, the Persians were free to swoop down behind the Greek forces. After discovering the Phocians' defeat, Leonidas called a council with the other Greek leaders, most of whom were in favour of retreat. Leonidas, however, knew a retreat would be impossible without a rear-guard. To ensure the safety of the rest of the force, and to honour Sparta's laws, Leonidas and his Spartans were to stay.
Those of the 300 Spartans left alive, as well as Demophilus with 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans stood against the Persian host. Xerxes, aware they were surrounded, sent his infantry to charge the Greeks, covered under a hail of Persian arrows. Leonidas, fighting in the fray, was struck by an arrow. The struggle over his body was desperate, but with Persians streaming in from the mountain pass, the Thebans saw that they were flanked and "lifted up their hands and left their allies walking to the barbarians". After their betrayal, the Spartans and Thespians fought with "spear, sword, hand and tooth" until the Persians ended the battle with a final volley of arrows.
In their sacrifice, they ensured the survival of their compatriots, giving valuable time for the free Greeks to rally a greater force, defeating the Persians first at Salamis and then at Plataea. Today at Thermopylae, just a dry and lonely plain, lies a small plaque on which is written an epitaph for the Spartans composed by Simonides of Ceos:
Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.
“O stranger, go tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obedient to their words”.
