The 300 Spartans Who Held the Pass at Thermopylae for Three Days in 480 BCE and Were Killed to a Man When Their Position Was Outflanked
King Leonidas I of Sparta and approximately 7,000 allied Greek troops held the narrow pass of Thermopylae against the Persian invasion army of Xerxes I for three days in August 480 BCE. A Greek defector named Ephialtes showed the Persians a flanking mountain path on the evening of the second day. Leonidas dismissed most of the allied troops on the third morning. The 300 Spartans, plus about 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans who refused to retreat, were killed at the pass.
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