My Ph.D. advisor is a Greek FROM Greece and gave me this brief history on the battle and some info on why the Spartans lost:
Pronounced: molo'n lave'
This is what Leonidas told the Persians at Thermopylae when they asked him and his troops to hand their weapons to them and surrender. When the Persian king Xerxes arrived there with an immense army (2.5 million troops as Herodotus writes), he found the narrow pass at Thermopylae (between a mountain and the sea) to be defended by 300 Spartans under Leonidas and some other Greeks (total about 7,100 troops). First he sent some spies to see what the Greeks are doing and to their amazement they reported back that they were very relaxed, doing their daily physical training and even bathing and combing their hair! He subsequently sent his guards to ask the Spartans to give up their weapons and surrender. At that time Leonidas told them to tell Xerxes "Molon Labe" (come and get them yourself). In the battle that followed the Persians were being defeated badly and they managed to win at the end when a local peasant called Efialtis (the word "efialtis" is being used now in the Greek language for the word "nightmare") defected and led some Persians through a narrow and treacherous mountain pass behind the Spartans. Leonidas and his troops fought bravely but were all killed. The defiance of Leonidas is now legendary and "Molon Labe" essentially means "No Fear" in modern greek.
The battle took place in the late summer of 480bc.
Pronounced: molo'n lave'
This is what Leonidas told the Persians at Thermopylae when they asked him and his troops to hand their weapons to them and surrender. When the Persian king Xerxes arrived there with an immense army (2.5 million troops as Herodotus writes), he found the narrow pass at Thermopylae (between a mountain and the sea) to be defended by 300 Spartans under Leonidas and some other Greeks (total about 7,100 troops). First he sent some spies to see what the Greeks are doing and to their amazement they reported back that they were very relaxed, doing their daily physical training and even bathing and combing their hair! He subsequently sent his guards to ask the Spartans to give up their weapons and surrender. At that time Leonidas told them to tell Xerxes "Molon Labe" (come and get them yourself). In the battle that followed the Persians were being defeated badly and they managed to win at the end when a local peasant called Efialtis (the word "efialtis" is being used now in the Greek language for the word "nightmare") defected and led some Persians through a narrow and treacherous mountain pass behind the Spartans. Leonidas and his troops fought bravely but were all killed. The defiance of Leonidas is now legendary and "Molon Labe" essentially means "No Fear" in modern greek.
The battle took place in the late summer of 480bc.
