When Darius received news about what had happened at the Battle of Marathon he was outraged and his desire to wreak vengeance on the Greeks and particularly Athens grew even stronger. The almighty Persian Empire could not be seen to let themselves be intimidated by a tiny hostile state living on the edge of its border, and accordingly Darius threw all of his energy into making preparations for a second attack on Greece. In 485BC however, Darius died before the work was complete and power passed to his son Xerxes, who after ascending the throne and putting down a rebellion in Egypt, began following his fathers plan to attack Greece with an almighty army.

For the next four years Xerxes worked towards preparing a massive imperial force, the largest ever to be seen in Europe until the time of the allied landing at Normandy during World War II over two thousand years later. Modern estimates put the Persian army's strength between 250-500,000 infantry and possibly 40,000 cavalry and it's said that they drank rivers dry and stripped the land bare as the hordes advanced mercilessly through Asia. The army constructed a bridge made of ships across a narrow part of the Hellespont, which marks the border between Europe and Asia Minor, and in 480 BC Xerxes finally advanced with his enormous force.

In 493BC a man named Themistocles came to power in Athens, he was one of three archons or state leaders that presided over the democratic administration. Themistocles realised that it was only a matter of time before the Persians would return after their defeat at Marathon and that Athens would be their prime target. He also knew that when their enemies returned they would make certain that they were prepared for the Greeks and they stood little chance of defeating them this time, at least on land.            With this in mind Themistocles proposed that the Athenians should build up their naval force, but instead of telling them that this was for defense against the Persians, he said that they needed it to exert their influence over one of the city's local rivals. This was a clever political move on the part of Themistocles and his reasoning for it was because the Persian threat was still a sensitive issue among the people and its was best not to remind them of it. The construction of a fleet was, however, expensive and would mean increased taxes, but in the year 483BC Athens had an extremely good stroke of fortune. A large deposit was discovered at the state's silver mines and with this new found wealth Themistocles convinced the citizens to build a fleet.            The state of the art warship of the day was the Greek trireme, designed by the Corinthians it was a long, fast and sleek weapon that was powered by nearly two hundred oarsmen who were split into three decks. An enormous brass plated ram extended from the prow, which was used to smash into the enemy ship and often the soldiers would disembark and fight hand to hand on the top deck. These ships were the key to victory for Greece and Themistocles planned to use them to fight the Persians at sea, which would severely damage the supply and communication lines of the land forces.           In 480BC Xerxes crossed the Hellespont and advanced through northern Greece, descending through Macedonia and Thessaly to the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae northwest of Athens. This fifteen metre wide road was the only entrance through to central Greece and its where the Persians met 10,000 hoplite soldiers under the command of the Spartan King Leonidas. The plan was to block the Persian advance at the pass in the hope that other Greek city-states to the south would eventually rally to the cause and send in support to the defenders or that the Athenian fleet would be victorious in an engagement at sea.

At the core of the hoplite army Leonidas had brought with him a force of three hundred Spartan troops, and the reason they had not yet committed more troops was due to the disagreement as to where the Greeks should counter the Persian attack, and any other reason on the part of the Spartans is certainly a possibility. Sparta favoured a battle at the Isthmus of Corinth and other states preferred locations further north, while the leaders of Athens stood firm in their opinion of fighting the war at sea.           The Athenian navy, the 200 strong fleet of triremes assembled due to the foresight of Themistocles, was backed by another 100 ships from the other city-states and around August of 480BC they sailed north to meet the Persians while Leonidas commanded the infantry force on land. When Xerxes arrived at Thermopylae, the Greek army stood defiantly in front of the 15 metre wide pass and the Persians were in disbelief that they would even attempt to face their army which outnumbered theirs by possibly more than fifty to one.            When Xerxes sent his scouts to assess the enemy, they found the Spartans quite relaxed combing their hair and talking calmly amongst each other. The Persian King found this incredible behaviour for men who were about to risk their lives and he became contemptuous towards their whole absurd concept of warfare. He called on a Spartan man who had been exiled from Greece to explain to him this curious behaviour, he told Xerxes all about the nature of the Spartan soldiers and ended by stating, "Rest assured that if you overcome these men and those remaining behind at Sparta, there is no one else on Earth who will raise his hands to withsatand you. You are now attacking the fairest kingdom in Hellas and men who are the very best."           After four days of waiting, still convinced that the Greeks would retreat at any moment, Xerxes ordered a contingent of his troops to attack, only to be outfought by the Greeks and they retired after fighting the whole day. The next day the Persians sent in an elite force they called the Immortals, however these too were courageously outfought by Leonidas' men and their superior use of tactics. One of these tactics that the Spartans excelled in was to act out a retreat, which encouraged the Persians to launch forward and chase them down, but when they were amongst their men, the Spartans would about face, stand firm, and slaughter the oncoming enemy with their swords and spears.           The following day the fighting continued, Xerxes believing that the Greeks must surely be tiring and wounded by now and that it was only a matter of time before he crushed them. The Greeks however, who were ranged in ordered divisions according to their states, fought the enemy each in turn and again defeated them.

While Xerxes was struggling as to what to do about this situation and no doubt growing more furious by the day, a Greek man named Epialtes came to him and offered to show the king another route over the mountain which led behind the pass at Thermopylae. This man was generaly responsible for the deaths of the Spartan troops who remained to face Xerxes men at the end of the battle.            When the Persian troops crossed the mountain and arrived at the pass they were confronted by 1000 men who were guarding the upper part of it. These troops eventually retreated under a hail of arrows and the Persians continued down the mountain towards the rest of the army.

The Greeks, now facing the enemy on both sides, were all in disagreement as to what should be done next. Some cities wanted to retreat, others wanted to hold their position, and in the end the majority of them departed. Leonidas however, remained behind with his 300 Spartan soldiers and vowed to defiantly hold the pass until the death. He had told the majority of the troops to leave, most likely because their morale was broken and they were unwilling to run the risks that he was, and also for the glory it would bring to himself and Sparta. Only the Thespians and the Thebans remained with him, Leonidas held the Thebans against their will as hostages while the Thespians enthusiastically volunteered to join the last stand.           When Xerxes sent his troops in to attack them, the defiant Spartans charged out further than they had before, and knowing that they faced certain death from the rear they fought with tremendous spirit and courage, hacking and thrusting desperately with their swords and spears. The Greeks killed many more men than they lost, in fact over the whole battle they slaughtered 20,000 Persians and when their heroic commander fell in the brutal fighting they circled his body and gallantly held back the attackers while they took it away. "There was a great struggle between the Persians and the Lacedaemonians over Leonidas' body, until the Hellenes by their courageous prowess dragged it away and routed their enemies four times." (Herodotus VII, 225).           With the exception of the Thebans who gave themselves up to Xerxes, the Greeks fought on and rallied together on a hill at the entrance to the pass, where the Persian archers let loose on them and surrounded them on all sides. Many of their weapons were by now broken, but they never lost heart and according to Herodotus they relentlessly continued on with their hands and teeth. True to their word, every last one of the Greeks left at Thermopylae fought to the death.            A man named Dieneces is said to have been told before the battle that the hail of Persian arrows would be so big that it would cover the sun, to which the Spartan replied that at least they would be fighting in the shade. Such was the attitude and the morale that existed amongst the men.            The heroic actions of the three hundred troops left at Thermopylae inspired the hearts of the other Greeks and helped give them confidence that they could still overcome the Persians and win the war. A statue still stands to commemorate the Spartan warlord Leonidas near the base of the pass at Thermopylae, and huge mounds can be seen covering the tombs of the dead.            Before the battle the Spartans had consulted the oracle at Delphi about the outcome and the fate of their city. Pythia, the priestess of Apollo who delivered the message of the oracle, spoke the following words :       "For you, inhabitants of wide wayed Sparta,        Either your great and glorious city must be wasted by Persian men,        Or if not that, then the bound of Lacedaemon must mourn a dead king from        Heracles line.        The might of bulls or lions will not restrain him with opposing strength, for he        has the might of Zeus.        I declare that he will not be restrained until he utterly tears apart one of these."

Battle of Thermopylae - 480 BC

Statue of Leonidas