![]() ![]() The Greek fleet-seeking a decisive victory over the Persian armada-attacked and defeated the invading force at the Battle of Salamis in late 480 BC. The Persians overran Boeotia and then captured the evacuated city of Athens. Since the Greek defensive strategy had required both Thermopylae and Artemisium to be held, the decision was made to withdraw to the island of Salamis. Themistocles was in command of the Greek naval force 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 the Persians to the death. It has been reported that others also remained, including up to 900 helots and 400 Thebans. Subsequently, Leonidas, aware that his force was being outflanked by the Persians, 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 revealed to the Persians the existence of a path leading behind the Greek lines. #Half life opposing force commands full#During two full days of battle, the Greeks blocked the only road by which the massive Persian army could traverse the narrow pass. They arrived at Thermopylae by late August or early September the outnumbered Greeks held them off for seven days (including three of direct battle) before their rear-guard was annihilated in one of history's most famous last stands. Ancient authors vastly inflated the size of the Persian army, with estimates in the millions, but modern scholars range it between 120,000 and 300,000 soldiers. In response, the Athenian politician and general Themistocles 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.Īround the start of the invasion, a Greek force of approximately 7,000 men led by Leonidas marched north to block the pass of Thermopylae. By 480 BC, a decade after the Persian defeat at Marathon, Xerxes had amassed a massive land and naval force, and subsequently set out to conquer all of Greece. The second Persian invasion under Xerxes I was a delayed response to the failure of the first Persian invasion, which had been initiated by Darius I and ended in 490 BC by an Athenian-led Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon. The engagement at Thermopylae occurred simultaneously with the Battle of Artemisium: between July and September 480 BC. Lasting over the course of three days, it was one of the most prominent battles of both the second Persian invasion of Greece and the wider Greco-Persian Wars. 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 in 480 BC between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. ![]()
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