Leonidas I

Life

Leonidas was a son of King Anaxandridas II and, as a younger son, was not expected to become king. He went through the harsh Spartan education of the agoge like any other citizen. He came to the throne around 490 BC after the death of his half-brother Cleomenes I, whose daughter Gorgo he married. Gorgo was herself famous for her wit and good sense.

Thermopylae

In 480 BC Xerxes invaded Greece with one of the largest armies of the ancient world. Leonidas led a force of around 7,000 Greeks, including a bodyguard of 300 Spartans, to hold the narrow pass of Thermopylae between the mountains and the sea. For two days they threw back wave after wave of Persian attacks. When a local man, Ephialtes, showed the Persians a mountain path around the pass, Leonidas sent most of the army away and stayed with the Spartans, Thespians and Thebans to fight a rearguard action, in which he was killed.

Legacy

Although Thermopylae was a defeat, it bought precious time and became a lasting symbol of courage and sacrifice. The poet Simonides wrote the famous epitaph for the fallen: “Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.”