THE BEECHMONT CREST GUIDE TO ANCIENT GREECE
The Battle of Thermopylae
Meanwhile, the Persians were occupied with a major revolt in the provinces in Egypt. Then Darius died in 486 B.C. His successor was Xerxes. The new Persian ruler was even more eager to expand the empire than Darius had been, and he was anxious to teach the Greeks a long overdue lesson. The Battle of Thermopylae Xerxes made his move against Greece in 480 B.C. He assembled a force of more than 150,000 men and 700 warships. They crossed the Hellenspont by assembling a bridge of ships across the narrow stretch of water. The Persians drove down into Greece through Thrace and Macedonia.
Word of the advancing Persian invasion force soon reached the city-states of Greece. The city-states—never particularly good at working cooperatively—had difficulty in reaching agreement on a plan. They finally decided to hold the line at Thermopylae, a narrow pass along the road from Thessaly to Boeotia.
This set the stage for one of the most analyzed and dramatized battles of all time. Thermopylae has been the subject of countless books, plays, and movies. Most recently, the battle was brought to life in the movie 300 .
Thermopylae began as a last-minute plan to counter a Persian invasion. It ended in a demonstration of self-sacrifice and bravery, which is why is has had such an enduring hold on the imagination of the Western world.
A Greek force of 9,000 men initially stood against the Persians at Thermopylae. The Greeks were led by three hundred Spartans and their king, Leonidas. When told that the Persian archers were able to fill the sky with enough arrows to block out the sun, one of the Spartans supposedly quipped, “Then at least we will fight in the shade.”
The Greeks held off the Persians for two days. Then a traitor defected to the Persian camp, and told Xerxes of a hidden mountain pass that his men could use to outflank the Greeks. After this development, the battle turned against the Greeks. Leonidas and the three hundred Spartans fought until the last man, securing themselves a place in history and folklore.
The sacrifice of the Spartans inspired the Greeks to unite against the Persian threat. Shortly after Thermopylae, the Athenian navy defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salimis.
Xerxes ordered most of his forces to withdraw to Thessaly, in northern Greece. The following year, Sparta led an expedition against the remaining Persians. The Persians lost this battle, too; and the Persians made their way back to Asia.