The Stand at Thermopylae

King Leonidas of Sparta led a force drawn from several Greek communities at Thermopylae. The pass limited the attackers’ advantage until a mountain route allowed Persian troops to outflank the defenders.

Spartans, Thespians and other Greeks remained in the final fighting. Later memory often focuses only on the three hundred Spartans, obscuring the wider coalition and the uncertainties in ancient casualty figures.