King of Sparta Leonidas I - from the Agid clan, ruled in 491-480 BC. e. Member of the Greco-Persian Wars, died in the Battle of Thermopylae. Leonidas was the son of Anaxandrid II. Considered a twentieth generation descendant of Hercules. He was the third of four sons, but after the death of Cleomenes I and Dorius he became king of Sparta: "Leonidas was the younger brother of Cleomenes I and came to the throne after Cleomenes died without leaving a male offspring."
Leonidas ascended the throne at the age of seventeen and did nothing outstanding in the first decade of his reign, but in the centuries he immortalized his name at the last battle of Thermopylae. The Persian king Xerxes, wanting to conquer Greece, invaded Hellas in 480 BC. BC, when the Hellenes held the Olympic Games, and the Spartans had the eve of the sacred holiday of Carnea. These holidays required a sacred truce, and this was one of the reasons that only a small Greek army met the huge Persian army at Thermopylae pass.
The Persian king decided to end the independence of Greece. The preparations for the campaign were unprecedented: 56 peoples subject to Xerxes were removed from their place at his order. From the most distant countries, militias moved to assembly points, to the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. It seemed that all of Asia was in motion.
Win together or die together
Thermopylae ("Warm Gates") are called so because of the hot sulfur springs that exist today. The general council of the Greek leaders decided to take this place. Leonidas moved to Thermopylae with a small detachment of 300 Spartans, who became famous throughout Greece as the most fearless and powerful warriors. "Win together or die together!" - read the law of the Spartans.
Despite how few people the King of Sparta Leonidas I took with him, even the battered hearts of the Spartan elders trembled. They said to the Spartan king: "Take at least a thousand." To which Leonid I replied: "To win, and a thousand is not enough, to die, three hundred are enough." On the way, about 5,500 more men from various cities and regions of Greece joined the detachment. Thus, the total number of his troops was no more than 6 thousand people.
The Greeks camped behind a wall blocking the narrow Thermopylae pass.
Promotional video:
Xerxes was quite confident of victory. When in the Persian camp they seized the Greek spies and wanted to execute them, the Persian king accidentally found out about it. He abolished the execution, ordering the Greeks to be escorted throughout the Persian camp and to show everything they wanted to see. After inviting them to his place, he asked if they all saw what they wanted, and let them go.
Such a gesture should have made a strong impression on the Greeks. The king of the Persians hoped that now, having convinced of his power and determination, the Greeks would eventually come to their senses, stop holding on to some of their own, incomprehensible to the Persians, freedom and voluntarily submit to his will.
One of the local residents, telling the Hellenes about the numerous army of barbarians, added that "if the barbarians shoot their arrows, the sun will be eclipsed from the cloud of arrows." In response, the Spartan Dienek lightly joked: "Our friend from Trachino brought wonderful news: if the Medes darken the sun, then it will be possible to fight in the shadows" (in some sources this statement is attributed to the king of Sparta Leonidas I).
Xerxes waited four days in the hope that the Greeks would be frightened and retreat, but when the Persians, on behalf of their king, offered the Spartans to surrender their weapons, the Spartan king boldly replied: "Come and take it!" The time passed, and Xerxes ordered to storm the gorge. "The enemy is coming!" - shouted the Greek guard. "Excellent! - said Leonid. "And we are approaching the enemy."
The king of the Persians sent the most efficient detachments of the Medes born to the assault. Having received a tough rebuff, the Medes retreated. After that, the king changed the Medes to the Kissians and Sakas, who were famous for their belligerence. The more lightly armed barbarians were unable to break through the dense phalanx of the Spartans, hiding behind a solid wall of large shields.
Xerxes sent the bravest of his army, the "immortals", but they could not crush the Spartans.
Xerxes did not know what to do next, at this time a local resident came to him, a certain Ephialtes, who volunteered for a reward to lead the Persians along a mountain path bypassing Thermopylae. A select Persian detachment of 20 thousand people under the command of Gidarn walked covertly all night, and by morning suddenly attacked a defensive detachment of the Phocians. Having driven them to the top of the mountain, Gidarn continued to move to the rear of the Hellenes guarding Thermopylae.
The Phocians sent runners to inform the Greeks about a detour by the Persians, and one defector from the Persian camp warned the Greeks about this even at night. Then the Greeks began to hold a general council. The opinions of the allies were divided - the majority, obeying the will of circumstances, set off for their cities, preferring retreat to inevitable death. Only 300 Spartans of King Leonidas, 700 Phocians and 400 Thebans remained, who did not count on victory, but only on a glorious death.
The last battle
Morning came, the last morning for the defenders - it was the 7th day that a handful of Greeks held the Persian army back. The king of Sparta Leonidas put on royal clothes and, according to the customs of his people, brought a sacrifice to the gods. With this rite, he celebrated the funeral for himself and his comrades.
The soothsayer Megistius, according to the insides of the sacrificial animal, prophesied death to the wars of Leonidas I. The king said: "Let's have breakfast, friends, because we will have to dine in Hades." In the camp of the Persians, a war cry was heard, at this signal they struck from the front. The Spartans were bravely able to repulse the first blow, and, closing even more closely, pushing their long pikes even further, moved forward in a formidable formation.
The Persians fell from the cliff into the sea, climbed the rocks, fled - everything was swept away by the phalanx, advancing with the usual measured step. Many noble Persians were killed in the battle, two brothers of the king were killed one after another. When the Greeks broke their spears, they grabbed the swords and stones. They are stepped on, trampled, pressed; enemy strikes became more frequent. Many Persians were killed by the Spartan king, but he too fell, slain in an unequal battle.
The Persians wanted to take his body and present it "as a gift" to their king. But the Spartans could not allow this. A whole battle unfolded around the body of Leonidas. The Greeks won! They bought the time needed for their compatriots to move on. The Greeks learned that the Persians, led by the traitor, had descended from the mountain path, and were about to strike them in the rear. Upon learning of this, they lifted the body of the king in their arms and retreated behind the wall. Their last battle took place there. They all perished as one over the body of the Spartan Tsar Leonidas, did not give it to the enemy, closed it with themselves …
When the battle subsided, Xerxes, surrounded by his retinue, went between the dead bodies to look for Leonidas. I searched for a long time. Finally I found it. And "he ordered to cut off the head of the Spartan king and impaled it." Never before and never later did a Persian king show such hatred for his enemies.
The detachment of the king of Sparta Leonidas died, and this legendary battle is known as one of the most ancient heroic pages in the history of mankind. Under Thermopylae, according to Herodotus, up to 20 thousand Persians and 4 thousand Greeks fell. The fallen Hellenes were buried on the same hill where they fought their last battle. A stone was placed on the grave with the epitaph of the poet Simonides of Keossky: “Wanderer, tell the Spartans that we were killed in this place. Keeping faithfulness to the end of the will of his fellow citizens”.
The next year, 479 BC. e. the army of the Persians was completely defeated at the Battle of Plataea in Boeotia. In that battle, the Spartan Aristodemus, the only survivor of the 300 Spartans, who was left by the king before the last battle in a neighboring village due to injury, distinguished himself.
Sparta announced a reward for the head of the traitor Ephialtes, and he was subsequently killed. The remains of the Spartan king were reburied in Sparta 40 years after his death. The inhabitants of the city, 600 years after the legendary battle, already in Roman times, held competitions in honor of the national hero every year. The names of all the fallen at Thermopylae were engraved on the slab.