The Battle of Thermopylae (pronounced /θərˈmɒpɨliː/, thər-MOP-i-lee; Greek: Θερμοπύλαι) took place over three days during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August or September 480 BC, at the pass of Thermopylae ('The Hot Gates'). It was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I. The Persian invasion was a delayed resp...
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The Battle of Thermopylae (pronounced /θərˈmɒpɨliː/, thər-MOP-i-lee; Greek: Θερμοπύλαι) took place over three days during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August or September 480 BC, at the pass of Thermopylae ('The Hot Gates'). It was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I. The Persian invasion was a delayed response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon. Xerxes had amassed a huge army and navy, and set out to conquer all of Greece. The Athenian general Themistocles had proposed that the Allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae, and simultaneously block the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium.
An Allied force of approximately 7,000 men thus marched north to block the pass in the summer of 480 BC. The Persian army, alleged...
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