THE BATTLE
The Persians had attacked Greece before, but the Battle of Thermopylae was a decisive battle. In 480 B.C., Xerxes, the Persian King, sent 250,000 soldiers across the Aegean sea. Xerxes’ army conquered Northern Greece, and in an effort to stop the Persians, 20 Greek city-states banded together. The Spartans led the army and the Athenians led the navy. King Leonidas led the army. 7,000 Greek soldiers headed to the narrow pass of Thermopylae. Thermopylae is located in eastern central Greece. At one point in time, Xerxes even sent in his personal bodyguards, named Immortals. They were 10,000 in number. The Spartans proved they were wrongly named by killing off over 2,000. When an Immortal was killed, he was quickly replaced by another. There, the Greek soldiers held off the Persians for 3 days. This gave the people of Athens time to flee from Athens to the island of Salamis. A Greek traitor named Ephialtes helped the Persians get around the pass, and the Persian Army killed every soldier guarding the pass. Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks in hope of a reward from the Persians. They positioned themselves on a cliff, firing arrow after arrow down at the Spartans in the mountain pass of Thermopylae.The Spartans held out for a very long time, but after Leonidas was killed, the soldiers were vulnerable as they went to retrieve his body so the Persians wouldn’t take Leonidas’ body. After every Spartan was killed, the Persians continued to Athens. They found it nearly deserted, and set it on fire. The Persians then went to Salamis, where the Greeks had a victory over the Persians.