Original subtitles

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 have watched or read about on 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 of the 300 would never be forgotten.

In 480 B.C.E., Xerxes and his forces began marching towards the center of

Greece towards 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's.

Surprisingly, Sparta answered Athen's plea for help. Up until this point, Sparta had stayed out

of the conflicts with Persia. But the leaders of the great city-state 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 100,000 and 300,000 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 out across the

lands of Greece to find a location to make a stand; someplace 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 had made and 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.

Thermopylae also sat near waterways that connected mainland Greece to the Aegean Sea,

which meant Athens' 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 hope 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 couldn’t have been chosen even if they had 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 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 Leonidus. 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 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 that 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 on land.

Upon departure for Thermopylae, Leonidas had his army of 300 Spartan soldiers,

and around 7,000 other men made up of Athenians, 1,000 Phocians, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans.

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 B.C.E., 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 the 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 Leonidas’ 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 the sea below; on the other were impenetrable jagged mountains. With

his 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 the 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 Dardanelles 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 would be able to surround the Greeks and massacre them.

Leonidas didn’t have enough men to fend off attacks from both the front and back of his

resistance force. Leonidas sent 1,000 Phocians 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 Greeks saw the size of his army, they would run away in fear.

Much to the dismay of Xerxes, this did not happen. The Spartans had no intention of

giving up Thermopylae and letting the Persians pass without a fight. After waiting a few days

to see if the Greeks would 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 attack, he sent scouts to see how

the Spartans were doing in preparation for the battle. Their 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 at Thermopylae, Xerxes ordered his troops forward. He was sure that his

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 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 space of the hot gates. 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 Persians 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 use

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 is 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 Greeks

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 their 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 of 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 his seat and screamed in anger.

This was unbecoming for a ruler who was seen as a god by his followers.

Leonidas, his 300 Spartan warriors, and the other Greek soldiers

had done the impossible. They had stopped the Persian war machine in its tracks.

During the second day of the Battle of Thermopylae,

a local Greek shepherd by the name of Ephialtes 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. Ephialtes eventually got his meeting with Xerxes,

and in exchange for a huge sum of money, he told the Persian emperor of the Anopaia

path that went through the mountains and ended up behind the Greek defensive line.

Xerxes dispatched his Immortals to encircle Leonidas and his forces. By cover of night,

they left the Persian camp and traveled through the mountains.

When the Immortals reached the 1,000 Phokians Leonidas had ordered to guard the mountain pass,

they quickly defeated them. Some accounts say that the Phokians didn’t even put up

a fight but ran away in fear as soon 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 all 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 day, the Immortals arrived from the mountain pass,

and a huge force of Persian soldiers advanced through the hot gates towards the Spartans.

There are two different accounts of what happened next in the epic tale of Leonidas and his 300

warriors. Ephorus and Diodorus Siculus 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 the Persian camp and slaughtered a large number of soldiers before being pushed back.

The other account by Herodotus states that the Persian’s 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 would 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 for 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 is not surprising that Leonidas was still fighting at this age.

The fact that he killed so many enemies while also commanding the Greek troops

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 swords, 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's 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 Leonidas’ 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 passest 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 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 Aristodemus, did return home to Sparta.

However, once he reached the city, he instantly regretted his decision.

From the moment Aristodemus stepped foot in Sparta, he was shunned by everyone in the city.

The fact that he abandoned his duty and left his king to die on the battlefield was unforgivable.

Aristodemus was stripped of his civic rights and had to carry his disgrace as

a coward for the rest of his life. Luckily for Aristodemus, that wouldn’t be very long. The

next year he joined a campaign to fight the Persians once again at the Battle of Platea.

It was said Aristodemus fought like a mad man as he wanted to make up for his shameful decision

to leave the Battle of Thermopylae. He ran to the front lines in a rage-filled furry

and slashed apart the Persian ranks until he was finally brought down and killed.

There is no doubt that Leonidas, his 300 Spartans, and the other Greek soldiers who

fought in the Battle of Thermopylae slowed down the Persian advance through Greece, but 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' army marched into Greece,

they were met by an even larger Spartan force, which must have been incredibly intimidating.

The victories at Salamis and Plataea led to the Greeks finally defeating the invading

Persian force and pushing them out of their borders. The sacrifice of 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 B.C.E, 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.

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