Battle of Thermopylae

Not only does Herodotus try to glorify the Spartans, he leaves out important facts regarding the thebans at the battle of thermopylae. This can be seen in diodorus account, diodorus himself explains the member of the greek mary, Diodorus states,“And there gathered at Thermopylae also a thousand Locrians, an equal number of Melians,and almost a thousand Phocians, as well as some four hundred Thebans of the other party; for the inhabitants of Thebes were divided against each other with respect to the

Introduction In history there have been many infamous battles. Ia Drang, Guadalcanal, Bataan, Pointe Du Hoc, San Juan Hill, Little Big Horn, and The Alamo are America’s hallowed battles. They are events that shaped our collective consciousness as a nation. One notorious conflict that has shaped the world as the aforementioned have shaped our nation is the Battle of Thermopylae. This epic struggle between the hoards of Persia and the decedents of Herakles decided the course of western civilization

In the Battle of Thermopylae, the much smaller Spartan army held off the Persian invasion at Thermopylae. In this battle the Greeks and the Persians were fighting. The regions were fighting because the Persians were trying to punish Athens for burning down a Persian city 25 years earlier, and the Spartans were trying to stop the Persians from getting into Greece and burning down the city of Athens. The battle took place at a narrow pass called Thermopylae in 480 B.C. The site of the battle was an

of Fire also tells the tale of the Battle of Thermopylae. Both the film and epic novel recreate the famous battle by mixing fiction and nonfiction components; however, they each have their own way of telling the tale. Although mostly fiction, Gates of Fire is unique in laying out what exactly happened at the battle of Thermopylae through the eyes of Xeones and a Persian historian retelling the tale of the battle to King Xerxes whom saved Xeones life from battle just to learn all he can about the

tactics were praised by other armies and this resulted in the majority of the Greek armies adopting the crimson cloak by 400BC. Spartan’s were not trained in archery as they considered it ‘womanish’; this reluctance to use archers affected Spartans in battle as they were vulnerable. In 425BC, a Spartan army even refused to fight when they were being fired

the warrior king of Sparta because of his superior military skills, after the death of his older brother who had been tortured to death (History.com Staff). He showed his superior military strategies at the battle of Thermopylae by saving his troops. Leonidas showed his

his life, but his heroic death at the pass of Thermopylae is one of the most famous episodes in history. The Persian king, Xerxes, invaded Greece in about 480 BC, with a large army. The Greek army was considerably smaller and inferior to that of the Persian's, and so their only option, to avoid defeat, was to find a position to defend where Persian numbers would be of less account. Two defensive lines remained; at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae, where the Greek fleet could block the northEuboean

facing invasion from the mighty Persian army. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks eventually triumphed by defeating their enemies at Plataea, but not before fighting one of history’s greatest military stands at Thermopylae. By using Sun Tzu’s classic text to analyze the

the foresight and strategies of a respectable, wealthy Athenian citizen, Themistocles. Themistocles' strengthening of the Athenian navy and unification of Greek states in the Panhellenic League along with his strategies in the battles of Thermopylae, Artemisium the pivotal Greek naval triumph at

year, gained revenge for Thermopylae with victories at Salamis and Plataea; the latter even led by Pausanius, nephew of Leonidas. Xerxes' invasion was emphatically rebuffed and those who fell at Thermopylae were not forgotten. A monument was set up at the site with the words of Simonedes’ epitaph stating: ‘go tell the Spartans, you who read: We took their orders and here lie dead’. A stone lion was also placed in memory of Leonidas and his men. Forty years after the battle the king’s remains were