1. Events Leading Up To The Battle of Thermopylae The Hot Gates...

2. Trouble in Ionia Cyrus the Great had brought the Greek colonies in Ionia (colonies from various Greek cities, including Athens) under Persian rule. In 499BC these colonies rebelled against Persia. Athens sent them aid. After some time the Persian emperor Darius I crushed the revolt. However, he was determined to take revenge on Athens. Vase showing Greek hoplite defeating Persian soldier

4. First Invasion of Greece In 492BC Darius I (Darayavaush in Persian) invaded Greece in revenge and because he saw, in the disunited Greek city states, an opportunity to expand Persia’s territories He conquered Thrace and made Macedonia a client-state He thought most Greeks would submit to Persian rule after seeing his victories, and sent emissaries demanding earth and water Most cities submitted but Athens executed the emissaries and the Spartans threw them down a well In 490BC his army was defeated by Athens at Marathon despite the fact they were heavily outnumbered

6. A SECOND Invasion Darius now planned to assemble a great army and completely conquer Greece However his plans were delayed by a revolt in Egypt and he died before carrying them out His son, Xerxes I (Khshayarsha) decided to carry out his father’s plan He spent 4 years planning the route, building ships, assembling troops, carving canals, building bridges...

7. The Massive Force His army was so great that, when Greek spies brought back reports of it, many cities straightaway sent signs of submission (earth and water) It was so great that he had two massive floating bridges built to cross the Marmara and Aegean seas, using 674 ships, just to transport it safely into Europe (a great feat of engineering) Herodotus says it was 1.8 million but modern historians think around 150,000 – still the biggest army ever known at the time

8. A SECOND INVASION

9. PAN-Hellenic congress The threat of invasion was enough to unite the Greek city-states that would not submit They first met at Corinth in 481bc. They initially decided to send troops to block the Persians at the Gorge of Tempe, near the Macedonian border However, the troops were recalled because: – The Macedonian King told them how the Persians could bypass the Gorge – They were unsure of support from Macedonia and Thessaly The decision was made to abandon Northern Hellas (Greece), leading to panic in many Greek cities

10. What to do next? The Greeks debated over whether to meet the Persians at Thermopylae or withdraw even further, to near Corinth, and just defend the Peloponnese This would have meant abandoning Athens and many other cities The great Athenian statesman Themistocles persuaded them to accept his plan, which involved defending the pass at Thermopylae with soldiers and stationing the navy at Artemision to stop the Persians bypassing Thermopylae by sea

12. Problems with the plan By this time a Spartan religious festival, the Carneia, had begun. By law Spartans were not allowed to fight during this time Also the Olympics were underway, requiring all Greeks to lay down arms It could offend the gods to fight

13. The solution The Spartans decided to make a compromise – to send only 300 men under 1 king until the festival was over A prophecy given by the Delphic Oracle said a Spartan king must die or Sparta would fall to the Persians – so King Leonidas did not expect to survive He chose only Spartan men who had living sons to carry on their family name He also took about 300 helots Other Greeks contributed troops along the way – by the time he reached the pass he had about 7000 men

14. A modern statue of Leonidas at the location of the battle

15. Xerxes’ advance Meanwhile Xerxes had brought his army as far as Trachis and was waiting for naval support His navy had been delayed by storms When it reached Trachis there were some initial skirmishes between his ships and the Greek navy, led by Athens Then he reached Thermopylae. It was his only way through to Southern Hellas (Greece). He would have to take the pass or turn back!

16. Persian depictions of Xerxes

17. A modern reconstruction