Most of us may not know a thing about the Battle of Thermopylae but once we hear about the movie “300,” it actually brings vivid pictures of this battle into our minds. This epic fight between the Spartans and the Persians on a narrow pass within the mountains of Thermopylae (meaning “hot gates”) was the famous Battle of Thermopylae. This narrow pass that controlled the single road between Thessaly and Central Greece was where King Leonidas, his 300 Spartans and other allies made a stand against the thousands of troops led by Xerxes of Persia.
The Battle of Thermopylae was just one of the wars fought by Greeks during many centuries when almost the entire world was dominated by Persians. However, before this war happened, Athenians were able to defeat the Persians led by King Darius during the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Thus, Persians failed to conquer mainland Greece. Marathon sparked the ire of Xerxes, King Darius’ son and successor, who after replacing his father on the throne, planned to avenge his father’s defeat. In 480 BC, after building up an army of about one hundred fifty thousand men and six hundred ships of navy, Xerxes was prepared to invade Greece.
The Greeks, on the other hand, were led by Athenians and Spartans. King Leonidas of Sparta came with 300 of his hoplites, elite soldiers who were trained all their lives for battle, to lead the Greek troops that during this time numbered by ten thousand and were called “10,000 Immortals.” They were the ones who decided to sacrifice themselves by fighting Xerxes head-on and to delay the Persians from invading the whole of Greece. This happened when they found themselves making a stand at Thermopylae. Unfortunately, Ephialtes, a Greek who turned traitor told Xerxes of an alternate route around the pass. This gave the Persians a chance to attack the Greeks from the rear. Leonidas upon learning of Ephialtes’ treachery, told the Greek army to retreat but leaving him and his 300 hoplites to stay until they were able to safely leave the battleground in Thermopylae. The Battle of Thermopylae ended with Leonidas and each of his Spartan hoplites dead but this boosted the morale of Greeks that led them to defeat the Persians in subsequent battles.
For costumes and accessories related to Thermopylae, drop by the “300″ section at realmscollection.com.
January 30th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
[...] movie and comic book are the fictional versions of the Battle of Thermopylae which occurred in 480 BC. This historical event happened at the pass of Thermopylae where the [...]