The Battle of Thermopylae… or, the ‘300 Spartans’ – Part 4 of 5 (480 BC)
Near the end of the second day, Xerxes received a visitor that would change the entire course of the battle: a traitor named Ephialtes, motivated by the potential of reward from the Persian king, told Xerxes of a path around the Hot Gates. Ephialtes offered to lead the army through the pass – and so Xerxes, clearly unwilling to give up this opportunity, sent 10,000 more of his Immortals and 30,000 additional troops to flank the Greeks… at night!
Leonidas had stationed 1,000 Phocian volunteer troops along the path to guard it, and ensure that the Persians would not take the pass before reinforcements were able to stabilize the situation. However, the Phocians did not hold their position – they fell asleep, and upon hearing the Persian force approach, awoke startled and then retreated at the first sign of Persian arrows.
Just before dawn, Leonidas learned that the Phocians had failed to hold the pass. He called a council of war, where some Greeks argued for withdrawal in the face of seemingly inevitable loss. Though some Greeks pledged to remain with the Spartans, who refused to leave, Leonidas allowed all those allied Greeks who wished to leave – instead of fight a losing battle – to depart without consequence.
Having pledged themselves to fight to the death – indeed, the oath required of every Spartan warrior was to “stand in place, win or die” – the remaining Spartans and Greek allies moved away from the Phocian wall to a wider part of the pass, in an attempt to slaughter as many Persians as possible. They fought with spears until they broke, whereupon they switched to swords.
Upon learning the location of the Immortals, the Spartans withdrew from the pass and took their last stand on a small hill. Some Spartans still had their swords, others fought only with their hands and teeth… tasting victory, Xerxes tore down the wall, surrounded the 300 Spartans, and ordered arrows rained down upon them until every Greek was dead. Archaeological excavations have found evidence for this final shower of arrows, and it was in this place that a monument was later erected to honor the bravery of the 300 Spartans against Xerxes’ hundreds of thousands of warriors. It read:
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.
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Tomorrow: The aftermath
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