These wars are also described in less detail by a number of other ancient historians including Plutarch, Ctesias of Cnidus, and are referred to by other authors, as by Aeschylus in The Persians.Īrchaeological evidence, such as the Serpent Column (now in the Hippodrome of Constantinople), also supports some of Herodotus' specific reports. Diodorus is fairly consistent with Herodotus' writings. The Sicilian historian Diodorus Siculus, writing in the 1st century BC in his Bibliotheca historica, also provides an account of the Greco-Persian wars, partially derived from the earlier Greek historian Ephorus. The primary source for the Greco-Persian Wars is the Greek historian Herodotus. The performance of the defenders is also used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment, and use of terrain as force multipliers. However, the following year saw a Greek army decisively defeat the Persians at the Battle of Plataea, ending the Persian invasion.īoth ancient and modern writers have used the Battle of Thermopylae as an example of the power of an army defending its native soil. Wary of being trapped in Europe, Xerxes withdrew with much of his army to Asia (losing most to starvation and disease), leaving Mardonius to continue the Greek campaign. The Greek fleet-seeking a decisive victory over the Persian armada-attacked and defeated the invaders at the Battle of Salamis in late 480 BC.
The Persians overran Boeotia, then captured the evacuated city of Athens. Since the Greek defensive strategy had required both Thermopylae and Artemisium to be held, it was decided to withdraw to the island of Salamis. Themistocles was in command of the Greek navy at Artemisium when he received news that the Persians had taken the pass at Thermopylae. With the exception of the Thebans, most of whom reportedly surrendered, the Greeks fought to the death. It has been reported that others also remained, including up to 900 helots and 400 Thebans. Leonidas, aware that his force was being outflanked, dismissed the bulk of the Greek army and remained to guard their retreat with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians. After the second day, a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by showing the Persians a small shepherd path leading behind the Greek lines. During two full days of battle, the small force led by Leonidas blocked the only road by which the massive Persian army could traverse the narrow pass. The vastly outnumbered Greeks held them off for seven days (including three of battle) before the rear-guard was annihilated in one of history's most famous last stands.
The Persian army arrived at the pass in late August or early September. Modern scholars believe it to have been much smaller, ranging between about 100,000 and 150,000 soldiers. Simonides put the Persian force as high as three million. The Persian army was vast: the contemporary historian Herodotus put its strength at one million men and went to great pains to describe how they were counted in groups of ten thousand at a review of the troops. The Athenian politician and general Themistocles had proposed that the allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae, while simultaneously blocking the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium.Ī Greek force of approximately 7,000 men marched north to block the pass in the middle of 480 BC. By 480 BC, Xerxes had amassed a massive army and navy and set out to conquer all of Greece. The Persian invasion was a delayed response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. It occurred at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae ("The Hot Gates") in August or September 480 BC. The battle took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium. It was fought in 480 BC over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece. The Battle of Thermopylae ( / θ ər ˈ m ɒ p ɪ l iː/ thər- MOP-i-lee Greek: Μάχη τῶν Θερμοπυλῶν, Máchē tōn Thermopylōn) was fought between an alliance of Ancient Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas I of Sparta, and the Achaemenid Empire of Xerxes I.
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