Preview

The Battle of Thermopylae

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1585 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Battle of Thermopylae
The Stand at Thermopylae
The Battle of Thermopylae was one of the most legendary battles history had ever seen, and had been a popular topic in hundreds of poems, stories, and even present day movies, such as “300”. However, many of the facts were omitted or inaccurate. So what is the story behind all the blood and glory? The battle had been a crucial part of the Second Persian Invasion, taking place in 480 BC. Although the battle only took place over a span of 7 days, it was considered one of the most famous last stands in history. In the battle, a vastly outnumbered Greek force pitted themselves against the immense Persian force, blocking the invader’s path of conquest into Southern Greece. The Battle of Thermopylae had an interesting prelude along with an intriguing series of events, and had a huge effect on Second Persian Invasion.
It all began when some of the Greek city-states such as Athens aided the Greek colonies in Persia to rebel during the Ionian Revolts in 499 to 494 BC (Miller). Darius, the king of Persia, was able to put down the revolts, but was furious at the Greeks city-states. To punish them, he set out to subjugate Ancient Greece, resulting in the First Persian Invasion. However, the Persians were defeated at the Battle of Marathon, and the remaining forces retreated back to Persia. Undaunted, Darius started to prepare a massive for a second invasion, but was postponed when his Egyptian subjects revolted. Darius died before the invasion can be launched. The responsibilities were handed down to his son, Xerxes I. Xerxes crushed the Egyptian revolt, and quickly restarted the preparations. A previous expedition was sent to reconquer Thrace and to force Macedon to become Persia’s client kingdom (“Battle of Thermopylae”).
Xerxes started the invasion of Greece in 480 BC (Fyre). The Persians built two pontoon bridges a mile long across the strait of Hellespont to enter Europe, then marched toward Greece through Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly. As



Cited: “Battle of Thermopylae”. New World Encyclopedia. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Battle_of_Thermopylae >. (21/11/2012). “Battle of Thermopylae”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae#Aftermath>. (21/11/2012). Battle of Thermopylae 480BC. 9 March, 2010. <http://getasword.com/blog/81-battle-of-thermopylae-480-bc/>. (22/11/2012). Fyre, David. “Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Thermopylae”. Military History. 12 June, 2006. <http://www.historynet.com/greco-persian-wars-battle-of-thermopylae.htm>. (28/11/2012). Kase, Edward W., Kraft, John C., Rapp, George Jr., Szemler, George J., Tziavos, Christos. “The Pass at Thermopylae, Greece”. Journal of Field Archeology. 18/01/2012: 181, 182, 183. Miller, J.D. Thermopylae. 17/04/2005. <http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/ancient/articles/thermopylae.aspx >. (22/11/2012). The Battle. <http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/thermopylae.html>. (22/11/2012) Last Stand - The First Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC). <http://www.juniorgeneral.org/greece/thermopylae.html>. (22/11/2012)

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The battle of Thermopylae was the first between the Persians and Greeks during the Persian invasion of 480-479 BC. The Greek force was very small but was determined to make a stand against the huge Persian army. The battle of Thermopylae resulted in a massive loss to the Greeks as the Persian army heavily defeating them.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Thermopylae Speech

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The battle at Thermopylae was a long awaited battle, after both powers Athens and Persia submitted to a 10 year inter-war period from 490BC to 480BC, in order to carefully prepare a second invasion from the Persian’s, following the humiliating defeat of Darius at marathon. Xerxes actions were motivated by revenge and the urge to burn Athens to the ground, just like Sardis, however he knew it would not be easy. The Persians spent multiple years recruiting new infantry from all areas of its Empire, gathering a total of 500,000 new soldiers,archers, cavalry and inmortals for the second invasion. Not only this, but Xerxes determination to conquer the Greeks was so great he ordered his engineers to build a Poonton consisting of 314 ships crossing the Hellospont for him and his troops.…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Herodotus was a Greek historian whose work encompassed Western civilization involving conflicts between Greece and the Persian Empire. There were many differences between the Greeks and the Persians. For instance, the Greeks struggled to find freedom during 480 B.C – 400 B.C. They were determined to train their soldiers, especially Spartan warriors, to be brave, courageous, and strong for defensive purposes from Persian invasion. On the other hand, the Persians differed from the Greeks because they believed their Empire needed more power. The Persians exercised gaining absolute power under their leader, Xerxes, by invading civilization west of Asia to strengthen their Empire. Xerxes’ intentions for invasion were also based on vengeance from previous battles for expansion of their Empire. Xerxes motives for invading Greece were tyrannical, and the events that lead the Persian Empire western invasion were based on reckless intentions from a ruthless leader.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Xerxes

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The invasion of Greece, planned by his father, was put on hold because he faced a rebellion in Egypt in 486bc. Xerxes led the campaign against Egypt and ‘decisively crushed them’ (Herodotus) and reduced the Egyptians to abject slavery and placed the country once again firmly under Persian control. Unlike, his father, who made an attempt to preserve Egyptian culture and customs, Xerxes showed no tolerance. He not only treated…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Legacy of Xerxes

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Xerxes continued his father strategy of consolidating and tightening control of the empire, particularly in Egypt, Babylon and Asiatic Greece. Xerxes felt he needed to invade Greece as he didn’t want to fall short of Darius’s ambition to punish them, he hoped to just frighten them but then intended to conquer them in battle since frightening the Greeks into submission did not work out.…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Themistocles was responsible for the Greek victory in the Persian wars to a considerable extent. The key to Athens' strength in the 5th Century BC was in this general and statesman and therefore, as Greek victory relied so heavily on Athens, Themistocles vitally contributed to the outcome of the Persian king’s invasion of 480-479 BC. His early life reflects the character and skills developed that were responsible for these contributions. Five pivotal roles he undertook were of varying degrees responsible for Greece’s success against Xerxes. Themistocles possessed an incredible foresight and began to prepare against the inevitable Persian invasion early on, his political leadership to a domestic level in Athens contributed to the state’s naval strength, and similarly, his political leadership in the conception of a united Greek defence was a significant achievement. As well as this, Themistocles’ strategy in key battle such as Thermopylae, Artemisium and Salamis were vital to to war effort.…

    • 4252 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    [ 3 ]. J. T. Hooker, Ancient Spartans(Great Britain: JM Dent & Sons Ltd. 1980) 136-137…

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Battle of Thermopylae, which Herodotus recorded in his writing The Histories, was one of the most arduous and notable battles of western history. Herodotus was an extremely significant historian who lived during the 5th century B.C. In this primary source writing, he portrays how Xerxes was superstitious and tyrannical, how the battle informs you about the Spartan culture, how the values of Greek promoted society, and he displayed how significant the Persian invasion was on Greek development, for example, their political and intellectual expansion. The Persian King Xerxes thought he could smoothly invade the Greek mainland, devastating the Greeks because of his army’s prevailing numbers and dominance.…

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the year 486 BC, when the first king of Persia, King Darius, passed away, his son Xerxes was left with the task of avenging the burning of Sardis and the embarrassing defeat at Marathon in honor of his father. Xerxes desperately wanted to make his father proud, so he set his eyes on conquering Greece, and the wealth, control, and power that came with such a feat. Not only would a successful campaign honor the memory of his father, but also if this proved successful, it would pave the way for him to solidify his place in the…

    • 1641 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Conflict among the Greeks and the Persians all began when Athens and Eretria made the fatal mistake of embroiling themselves in the ‘Ionian Revolt’. Consequently, the help given by the Athenians to the Ionians, according to Pamela Bradley – “drew upon them the vengeance of Darius, who now set in motion his first expedition against Greece”. This first expedition was to be known as the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. According to the Modern Historians Bengtson and Paul K. Davis, a Persian force of 20,000 led by the tyrant Hippias, landed at the Bay of Marathon, about 25.5 miles from Athens. A council was held in Athens to decide whether to march out and meet the Persians, or stay and defend the city. Miltiades, one of the ten Generals, persuaded the Athenians to ‘take food and March’. Miltiades, who had inside knowledge of Persian warfare, played a crucial role in the outcome of the Battle of Marathon in that it was his initiative that produced the success of the Greeks. “Miltiades’ words prevailed, and by the vote of Callimachus (the polemarch, or commander in chief)…the decision to fight was made” – Herodotus. In response, the Athenians marched out from Athens with a force of approximately 11,000 Greek hoplites (10,000 Athenian and 1,000 Plataean) to meet the…

    • 2837 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    THE SPARTAN HEGEMONY

    • 8124 Words
    • 23 Pages

    The Spartan commitment to hand over the Ionian cities to Persia was of concern to other Greek city-states. There was some hope with the death of Darius II in 404BC. His son, Artaxerxes II succeeded him. The younger son, Cyrus, was ambitious and asked for Spartan assistance to overthrow his brother…

    • 8124 Words
    • 23 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The vast majority of information about the battle comes from writing of Herodotus. Although, he does provide valuable insight into the actual battle one also has to consider his biases when analyzing specifics details. This is particularly true because Herodotus was born after the battle and certainly could have added embellishments to promote his own agendas. It does appear that his basic facts agree with other historical and physical evidence. The battle probably took place in September of 490 B.C., although, according to other secondary sources in could have been August. (Sowerby 83) The majority of the battle took place outside the village of marathon near the bay. According to Herodotus there were 10,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plateans led by Miltades fighting a much larger group of Persians. Later ancient sources place the numbers between 100,000 and 600,000, while other more modern estimates place the Persian numbers closer to 20,000 to 60,000. (Green 35 -37) Before the actual fighting began there was five days of peace where the two opposing forces faced off without any violence. This was certainly to the advantage of Athens. Herodotus suggests that they sent of a young foot soldier to ask for help from the neighboring Spartans. Herodotus identifies the soldier as Pheidippides. This journey would have been a little more than 140 miles and supposedly done in slightly over two days. (Green 111, 113) After looking at other sources that discuss the physical training of…

    • 1348 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Persian pride that was lost in the Battle of Marathon & as a Persian king carry out his duties to further expand the empire into Greece. Along with the inheritance of Darius’ plan, Xerxes was urged to invade Greece by his cousin Mardonius who was…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gates Of Fire Book Report

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Battle of Thermopylae took place at the pass of Thermopylae in northern Greece, in 480 B.C. Xeones is the teller of the…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Battle Of Thermopylae

    • 173 Words
    • 1 Page

    The movie 300 is based on the battle of Thermopylae. The battle was between the Persians and the Greeks and was around 480-479 BC. Greece had much respect for the Spartans so during the battle of Thermopylae Xerxes began invaded Greece so all the cities agreed Sparta would lead the Greek army. The Greeks only had an army of about 6000 soldiers and the Persians had 100,000 so Greece knew they were outnumbered. The Spartans set up on a pass that would lead the Persians to Greece and they were going to use that to hold the Persians. Xerxes knew that the Spartans would fight to death and that they were brave men. The Persians push was unsuccessful and the Spartans would end up killing a lot of Persians. A traitor from the Greece community…

    • 173 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics