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Battle Of Thermopylae Essay

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The Battle of Thermopylae was a war that lasted 3 days in approximately 480bc between allied Greek city-states who made up a force of approximately 7,000 who were led by King Leonidas, and the Persian army alleged by the ancient sources to have numbered over one million however today we consider their army to have been roughly 100,000 was led by King Xerxes. Thermopylae is a mountain pass near the sea in northern Greece as seen in the picture below. The Greeks were defending the pass which was the only known way to central Greece to the Persians at the time. The Spartans took turns to hold the front line and fought off wave after wave of attacking Persians. In the narrow space, the Persians were not able to make use of their larger numbers and the spears of the Greeks which had longer reach meant that they had a much larger advantage over the Persians. 2 days of slaughter of the Persians meant that their morale was lowered drastically however their luck …show more content…
This secret passage allowed the Persians to pass secretly through the mountains and around behind the Greek army guarding the pass below. This act of treachery by the Greek traitor Ephialtes ultimately led to the defeat of the Spartans guarding the entrance to central Greece. After the battle, Xerxes ordered that Leonidas’ head be put on a stake and displayed at the battlefield.
At the time of this battle Xerxes I aka Xerxes the Great son of Darius I, was the king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. His formal title was Shahanshah which is usually translated as either emperor or king of kings. His army which was incredibly large for the time, the exact number of troops which Xerxes assembled for the battle of Thermopylae has been disputed since the battle. Herodotus (A Greek historian) claimed that in total 2.6 million military personnel, accompanied by an equivalent number of support personnel was the exact

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