Thermopylae was one of the
classic battles of ancient
Greece. One of the most famous holding tactics of all time.
Xerxes I, the king of
Persia invaded Greece in 480 BC with an army estimated at 250,000 men, as well as an
enormous fleet. Approximately 1,400 Greeks, led by
Leonidas, the king of
Sparta, met the Persian army at Thermopylae ("Hot Gates"), a narrow pass dividing
north and
south Greece named for the hot springs nearby. The bottleneck was easily defended, and the Greeks held the Persians for 2 days before a traitor showed Xerxes an
alternate route around the pass. The Greeks were forced to retreat, but Leonidas and 300 elite Spartans remained behind to delay the Persians, dying in the process, but buying even more time.
The time bought at Thermopylae allowed the Athenians to escape
Athens in their ships, and flee to
Salamis, while their ground troops fell back to fortifications at the
isthmus of
Corinth. Although Athens was taken and razed to the ground by the Persians, the speedier Athenian fleet managed to trap the persian fleet at Salamis and utterly destroy it, despite being outnumbered 3 to 1. A year later, the Greeks, under Spartan general
Pausanias, obliterated the Persian army at the Battle of
Plataea, ending Xerxes designs on Greece.