The Battle

-The Battle took place between the Greeks (made up of the Greek city-states and led by King Leonidas) and the Persian (led by Xerxes, King of Persia) at the mountain pass, Thermopylae

-the motives behind the battle were unclear because Greece didn't have any resources that the Persian wanted, but they always wanted to take over Athens and the Spartans.

-After the Persian attempted to attack Greece, the Athens and Spartans made an alliance to defend Greece.

-"In 490 BCE Greek forces led by Athens met the Persians in battle at Marathon and defeated the invaders. The battle would take on mythical status amongst the Greeks, but in reality it was merely the opening overture of a long war with several other battles making up the principal acts," (Cartwright).

-when Xerxes finally became king, he decided to go full out against Greece. After hearing the size of the Persian army, the Greeks decided to use the mountain passage Thermopylae to their advantage.

-"The Greek forces included 300 Spartans and their helots with 2,120 Arcadians, 1,000 Lokrians, 1,000 Phokians, 700 Thespians, 400 Corinthians, 400 Thebans, 200 men from Phleious, and 80 Mycenaeans," (Cartwright).

--"The various nations had each captains of their own under whom they served; but the one to whom all especially looked up, and who had the command of the entire force, was the Lacedaemonian, Leonidas," (Herodotus).

-The Persian tended to fight with long range weapons, like bows and arrows while the Spartan tended to fight up close with heavy shields and better armor, which gave them an advantage.

-The Greeks held off the pass for three days, and on the last day, the Spartan King rallied his troops to finally abolish the Persian forces.

-The Persian King was able to attack from both sides of the Greek army, so Leonidas decided to move his troops into an open field, resulting in his death.

-The rest of the Greek army was slaughtered and Leonidas' head was put on a stake