leonidas and his 300 spartan warriors
are surrounded by persian forces the
spartans deflect blow after blow with
their shields as enemy soldiers crash
against them like a wave in a storm
spears shoot out of the spartan line
like lightning tearing through enemy
flesh but they are vastly outnumbered
many begin to fall shields are
splintered spears broken in two leonidas
and his 300 spartans retreat up a hill
to make their final stand suddenly an
arrow enters the chest of the great king
leonidas falls to the ground as his
blood soaks into the earth around him
the battle of thermopylae went down in
history as one of the most awe-inspiring
fights of all time but how much of what
we see on the big screen and tv is
actually true not everything you've
watched or read about the battle of
thermopylae is correct but some truths
are even more incredible than the
dramatizations of hollywood the invasion
of greece by the persians was predicated
on revenge more than anything else
xerxes the ruler of the persian empire
had lived with the brutal defeat of his
father's forces by the greeks at the
battle of marathon his father was darius
king of everything and everyone from
egypt to west india but he never managed
to conquer the greeks the inability to
defeat the greeks was both a devastating
blow and a humiliating blunder for the
ruling family of persia xerxes was
determined to crush the insolence of the
greeks once and for all ten years after
the failed invasion of greece by darius
xerxes would launch his own campaign
into the heart of the country to the
west this time however the spartans of
legend would join the battle there would
be so much bloodshed and destruction
during the battle of thermopylae that
the final stand at the 300 would never
be forgotten in 480 bce xerxes and his
forces began marching toward the center
of greece toward athens at the time many
greek city-states were warring with one
another but when athens received word of
their impending doom at the hands of the
persians they pleaded with the other
greek city-states to form an army to
stop the invasion force the athenians
had been able to fend off darius and his
forces in the past but xerxes commanded
an army many times larger than his
father surprisingly sparta answered
athens plea for help up until that point
sparta had stayed out of conflicts with
persia but the leaders of the great
city-states saw this new threat to their
people and land as too great to ignore
and decided the persians must be stopped
at all costs from scouting missions and
allies to the east the greeks received
word that xerxes army was enormous it
was estimated that he commanded
somewhere between one hundred thousand
and three hundred thousand men this
military force would be much harder to
defeat than the one darius had brought
with him a decade earlier if the greeks
were not prepared this would spell the
end of democracy and their very way of
life sparta knew that the only way
greece would be able to survive this
invasion would be if they could gather
soldiers from across the city states
together but this would take time it was
decided that the only possibility for
success would be if xerxes forces could
be slowed down giving greece more time
to organize their defenses scouts were
sent across the lands of greece to find
a location to make a stand some place
where the number of soldiers xerxes had
wouldn't matter tensions were high as
some greek city-states refused to join
the cause while others blatantly backed
the persian forces and welcomed their
new overlords but sparta and athens
would not let the progress they'd made
than the freedoms their people enjoyed
be taken away by a foreign power the
scouts eventually returned with a
location that suited their needs there
was a narrow pass at thermopylae that
the persian army would need to pass
through to get from northern greece into
the center where athens and sparta were
located thermally also sat near
waterways that connected mainland greece
to the aegean sea which meant athens's
formidable navy would be able to hold
off persian ships and prevent any forces
from landing on the shores behind
thermopylae this would stop the persians
from circling behind the greek forces
deployed at the narrow pass making sure
the only way into central greece was by
land it was the best possible location
for a defense and the greeks only hoped
for slowing down the swarm of persian
soldiers approaching their lands however
this location was literally the spitting
image of hell the location was named
thermopylae which translates to hot
gates because the landscape was filled
with hot sulfur springs this created an
eerie mist that covered parts of the
battlefield and a terrible smell a more
ominous location could not have been
chosen even if they tried the greek's
plan to slow xerxes now had its
foundation but there was a problem
xerxes was already close and there
wasn't enough time to send all of the
greek armies to thermopylae in fact many
city-states still didn't think there was
an invasion force coming at all it also
didn't help that the olympics and
several important religious festivals
were happening at the end of the summer
which would be at the same time that
xerxes forces would reach the hot gates
many city-states were so focused on
these other events that they couldn't be
bothered by something as trivial as a
massive invasion force knocking on their
front door sparta decided they couldn't
wait for the rest of greece to come to
their senses they needed to send a force
to secure the hot gates and give the
rest of the city-states time to organize
their militaries after weighing their
options sparta determined that they
needed to send one of their two kings
and a force of 300 elite soldiers to
thermopylae to hold the hot gates as
long as possible the king chosen for
this mission was leonidas but before he
could head out sparta needed to speak
with the oracle at delphi this was not
an uncommon occurrence the oracle needed
to be consulted before going to war and
making major decisions however when the
oracle looked into the future they had
bad news for the spartans the oracle
foretold that the persians would destroy
either sparta as a whole or one of the
kings of sparta would need to die when
this prophecy reached leonidas he did
not hesitate for a moment he would
gladly lay down his own life if it meant
securing victory for sparta now that the
oracle had been consulted leonidas
needed to select his 300 soldiers and
head to thermopylae to prepare for
battle it seems likely that leonidas
knew that he and his forces would not be
making it back alive as he only chose
men who had already had a male heir to
carry on their family lineage spartan
warriors fought until victory or death
and since they were so outnumbered and
the main objective was to slow xerxes
down as much as possible no one was
coming home also leonidas had the
oracle's prophecy to contend with unless
he somehow managed to defeat 100 000 men
with his 300 spartans and a handful of
other greek soldiers he would need to
fight to the death in order to ensure
the prophecy was fulfilled and sparta
itself did not fall sparta recruited as
many other soldiers as possible for the
mission from their allies and the
surrounding area the athenians were in
charge of protecting the seas so they
could only offer a limited number of
soldiers upon land upon departure for
thermopylae leonidas had his army of 300
spartan soldiers and around seven
thousand other men made up of athenians
one thousand phosians 700 thespians and
400 phibians the force marched from
central greece to thermopylae the stage
was set for the greatest battle in
ancient history in late july or early
august of 480 bce leonidas and his
forces reached the hot gates and set up
their defenses they were a few days
ahead of the persians which gave them
time to scout out the area and make sure
everyone knew what to do during battle
the spartans were hardened warriors who
had fought in wars before however the
same could not be said about all the
soldiers that made up the rest of the
united's resistance force the pass
through the hot gates was approximately
20 to 100 meters across on one side was
a sheer cliff that dropped into a sea
below on the other were impenetrable
jagged mountains with its 300 spartans
at the front and in key positions along
the opening of the pass leonidas could
fend off the oncoming persian forces the
narrowness of the hot gates rendered the
number advantage that xerxes had over
the greeks almost completely useless and
would mean that his cavalry wouldn't be
able to outflank greek forces but would
this be enough to allow leonidas and his
men to slow the persian army only time
would tell up until this point xerxes
and his military had met little
resistance they had marched across the
persian empire crossed the dardanelle
strait on two pontoon bridges and made
their way through northern greece to
thermopylae as leonidas waited for the
persian army to reach the hot gates he
sent men out to scout the area
everything seemed to be going according
to plan the spartans and their allies
were eating and preparing themselves for
battle when one of the scouts
frantically returned to the camp he had
terrible news a hidden path in the
mountains led from where the persians
would be camped to behind the greek line
if the persians discovered the trail
they'd be able to surround the greeks
and massacre them leonidas didn't have
enough men to fend off attacks from both
the front and the back of his resistance
force leonidas sent 1 000 fossians to
guard the path in case the persians
discovered it when xerxes and his forces
finally arrived at thermopylae they
decided to wait four days before
commencing their attack one reason for
this was to give the persian troops time
to rest but xerxes also had something
else in mind he was almost positive that
when the greek saw the size of his army
they'd run away in fear much to the
dismay of xerxes this did not happen the
spartans had no intention of giving up
thermally and letting the persians pass
without a fight after waiting a few days
to see if the greeks would just give up
xerxes sent an envoy to ask leonidas to
lay down his arms according to the
philosopher plutarch leonidas response
was come and take them xerxes did not
receive this defiance very well and
decided it was time to prepare for
battle before launching his first
attacks he sent scouts to see how the
spartans were doing in preparation for
battle the report shocked the persian
king the scouts had found the spartans
exercising naked and grooming each
other's hair the reason for this likely
had to do with the religious and
funerary beliefs of the spartans since
spartan soldiers fought until they were
victorious or dead they needed to ensure
their bodies were prepared for the
afterlife therefore before a battle they
would groom each other another little
known fact about the way spartans looked
was that all spartan men shaved their
upper lip like most greek men they still
let their beards grow long but the upper
lip was always shaved five days after
arriving in thermopylae xerxes ordered
his troops forward he was sure that the
superior numbers would make quick work
of the small greek force so he initially
sent only his most mediocre soldiers
into battle xerxes quickly found out
that this was a huge mistake the
spartans fighting ability was unmatched
by any other soldiers in the field the
greeks had been practicing their tactics
on the rough terrain of thermopylae for
several days which also gave them a
slight advantage they used a phalanx
formation which was extremely effective
in the tight spaces of the hot gates and
the greek warriors would stand shoulder
to shoulder forming a wall of shields in
front of them wave after wave of persian
soldiers crashed against the greek line
but it did not break the phalanx was so
successful because the greek shields
were stronger than the persian weapons
and their spears provided a further
reach the persians were using short
javelins and wicker shields these
definitely provided them an advantage in
open field combat as they offered more
mobility but in the tight quarters of
thermopylae these weapons were just not
as effective against the heavily armed
spartans it seemed that no matter what
they did the persians couldn't get past
the front line of the greeks leonidas
and his spartans were fierce they would
patiently wait for a build-up of persian
soldiers against their shields and then
used their spears from further back to
decimate any enemy who left themselves
vulnerable to attack imagine being a
persian soldier and watching line after
line of your comrades die at the hands
of spartan warriors each wave of attack
brings you closer to the deadly phalanx
you find yourself face to face with
greek shields at your feet are the dead
bodies of your friends you look up and
lock eyes with leonidas as his spear
rockets out from behind the phalanx and
through your heart it's no wonder that
many persian soldiers turned and fled
the battlefield after witnessing the
carnage that the spartans unleashed
after hours of battling the ground was
soaked in persian blood while the greek
sustained minor casualties xerxes
realized he needed to try a different
tactic and ordered his archers to
release a barrage of arrows at the
spartan forces unfortunately for the
persians their arrows were about as
effective as their soldiers were against
the greek shields and armor which is to
say they had little to no effect at all
for two days everything went according
to plan for leonidas and his army even
xerxes most elite fighters the immortals
couldn't defeat the spartans and their
allies this group of soldiers got its
name from the ability to immediately
replace casualties making it seem that
their numbers never diminished however
the greek's luck was about to change it
was said that during the first two days
of battle the spartans and other greek
forces killed over ten thousand persian
soldiers they sustained some their own
casualties but most of the greek force
was still strong and could continue
fighting indefinitely xerxes watched the
battle from his golden throne atop a
nearby hill he became so enraged at the
defeat of his soldiers he jumped up from
a seat and screamed in anger this was
unbecoming for a ruler who was seen as a
god by his followers leonidas and his
300 spartan warriors and the other greek
soldiers had done the impossible they'd
stop the persian war machine in its
tracks during the second day of the
battle of thermopylae a local greek
shepherd by the name of epheltis asked
for an audience with xerxes he told the
guards he had information that would
allow the persians to defeat the
spartans at this point xerxes had lost
all patience it seemed that the wall of
greek soldiers would not be broken he
was ready to try anything if the altis
eventually got his meeting with xerxes
and in exchange for a huge sum of money
he told the persian emperor of the
anopya path that went through the
mountains and ended up behind the greek
defensive line xerxes dispatched his
immortals to encircle the united
cover of night they left the persian
camp and traveled through the mountains
when the immortals reached the 1000
phosians leonidas had ordered to guard
the mountain pass they quickly defeated
them some accounts say the phosians
didn't even put up a fight but ran away
in fear as they spotted the enemy
soldiers either way the persians were
coming luckily word reached leonidas
before the enemy forces did the spartan
king ordered his men and the rest of the
greek forces to retreat further south to
make their final stand but before the
battle would take place leonidas did
something that would secure his name in
the history books forever leonidas
decided that all of the greek soldiers
could leave the battle and return home
to fight another day however he and his
300 spartans would stay and hold off the
persians as long as possible taking as
many with them before they were killed
along with the spartans a group of
thebans would also stay and fight but
the remaining soldiers were to be sent
back to their cities to tell the tale of
leonidas and the 300 spartans who defied
a persian king and slaughtered thousands
of his men it would seem that leonidas
would indeed fulfill the prophecy of the
oracle as the sun rose on the third day
of the battle of thermopylae leonidas
gathered his men they all knew what was
to come and they were happy to die for
their king and for sparta leonidas
looked at each of them in turn before
the day got underway at which point he
said have a hearty breakfast for tonight
we dine in hades later that night the
immortals arrived from the mountain pass
and a huge force of persian soldiers
advanced through the hot gates toward
the spartans there were two different
accounts of what happened next in the
epic tale of leonidas and his 300
warriors if forrest and diotras cycle
say that like a dangerous beast trapped
in a corner leonidas decided to do
something unpredictable and attack first
in this scenario the spartans charged
into persian camp and slaughtered a
large number of soldiers before being
pushed back the other account by
herodotus states that the persians
struck first but not before xerxes
presented an offering to the gods for
his generals before launching the final
attack that would wipe out the spartans
either way the outcome of what came next
was the same leonidas and his men
repositioned themselves in an open area
where they'd be able to move around
better and kill as many persian soldiers
as possible as the immortals closed in
on one side and the rest of xerxes
forces moved in on the other the
spartans began fighting in a frenzied
manner they did not forget their
training but used every method at their
disposal to rip through the persians as
their spears broke off inside of enemy
soldiers and their shields shattered
from slamming into the bodies of the
immortals the spartans drew their swords
and began to slash their way through the
persian ranks it was a bloodbath but
there were just too many persians less
than 300 spartans and a handful of other
greek soldiers remained against the
might of the entire persian army xerxes
still had tens of thousands of soldiers
at his disposal while there was no hope
for reinforcements or relief from the
greeks during the carnage leonidas fell
his men surrounded their king and fought
off the hordes of enemy soldiers they
managed to grab leonidas and pull his
body to safety until he passed away from
the wounds at the time of the battle of
thermopylae leonidas was somewhere
between 50 and 60 years old he was by no
means a young man but spartan warriors
started their training as teenagers and
would serve in the military until their
60s so it's not surprising that leonidas
was still fighting at this age the fact
that he killed so many enemies while
also commanding a greek troop at the
battle of thermopylae makes him one of
the most respected warriors of all time
even after leonidas fell the spartans
that remained continued to fight they
had fallen back to higher ground and
used a protective wall to slow the
onslaught of enemy troops many of them
had lost their sword shields and spears
so they fought with their bare hands an
unarmed spartan warrior was still a
deadly adversary the persians knew this
and even after breaking down the spartan
protective wall and seeing that many of
them were unarmed they did not advance
the persian soldiers could see in the
eyes of the spartans that if they got
too close they would very likely lose
their lives so the persians took the
easy way out rather than trying to
defeat the spartans in hand-to-hand
combat they used bows and arrows to kill
the remaining warriors this may seem
like a cowardly thing to do but after
witnessing how much damage and death the
spartans had caused over the last three
days they probably wanted to stay as far
away from them as possible a barrage of
arrows was fired into the remaining
spartans killing them all now that the
defiant spartans had been defeated
xerxes could move freely across the
battlefield without fear of being killed
he did not fight alongside his soldiers
like leonidas did once the battle of
thermopylae ended xerxes had leonidus's
head cut off and his body impaled on a
stake after xerxes and his forces moved
on greek citizens recovered the bodies
of the dead soldiers including leonidas
and buried them at thermopylae after the
persian war ended a stone monument in
the shape of a lion was erected on the
spot where the 300 spartans were buried
on it the words go tell the spartans
thou that passes by that here obedient
to their words we lie were written by
the poet simonides basically he was
saying that the 300 spartans who said
they would fight to the death to slow
the advance of the persian army were
true to their word now to be fair
several spartan soldiers died in the
battle before the final stand also king
leonidas allowed two spartans who were
ill to return home instead of forcing
them to fight in the final battle one
refused to leave and was killed with the
rest while the other a man named
aristotemus did return home to sparta
however once he reached the city he
instantly regretted his decision from
the moment aristotle has stepped foot in
sparta he was shunned by everyone in the
city the fact that he had abandoned his
duty and left his king to die on the
battlefield was unforgivable aristotemus
was stripped of his civic rights and had
to carry his disgrace as a coward for
the rest of his life luckily for
aristotamus that wouldn't be very long
the next year he joined a campaign to
fight the persians once again at the
battle of platya it was said aristotle
is fought like a madman as he wanted to
make up for a shameful decision to leave
the battle of thermopylae he ran to the
front lines in a rage-filled fury and
slashed apart the persian ranks until he
was finally brought down and killed
there is no doubt that leonidas his 300
spartans and other greek soldiers who
fought the battle of thermopylae slowed
down the persian advance through greece
there was a much more important effect
that the battle had on the greek
populace after the story of the 300
spread across the lands of greece more
and more people felt it was their duty
to fight this was a matter of pride for
many and a way to avenge the deaths of
the 300 spartans who had fallen at the
battle of thermopylae it was also clear
at this point that the persians were
coming for everyone and all men who
could fight needed to do so the spartans
stopped the persian forces at the hot
gates for several days and did
significant damage to their ranks and
morale the persian soldiers who fought
against leonidas and his 300 spartans
would not soon forget how vicious and
deadly they were as xerxes armies
marched into greece they were met by an
even larger spartan force which must
have been incredibly intimidating the
victories at salamis and platia led to
the greeks finally defeating the
invading persian force and pushing them
out of their borders the sacrifice made
by the men at the battle of thermopylae
was definitely a call to arms for many
greeks without it the persians may very
well have conquered the rest of greece
and enveloped it into their empire
around 440 bce decades after the persian
wars were over the bones of leonidas
were dug up and brought back to sparta
his tomb still exists where the modern
city of sparta is today now watch most
hardcore soldiers spartan or check out
one navy seal versus the spartan 300 who
actually would win