Leonidas of Sparta essays

Leonidas of Sparta essays Leonidas was a king of ancient Sparta, the seventeenth of the Agiad line. He succeeded to the throne after his half brother Cleomenes committed suicide in around 489 BC. Very little is known about his life, but his heroic death at the pass of Thermopylae is one of the most famous episodes in history. The Persian king, Xerxes, invaded Greece in about 480 BC, with a large army. The Greek army was considerably smaller and inferior to that of the Persians, and so their only option, to avoid defeat, was to find a position to defend where Persian numbers would be of less account. Two defensive lines remained; at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae, where the Greek fleet could block the north-Euboean strait, or at the Isthmus itself with the fleet a little to the north of Salamis. After much indecision, the choice fell on Thermopylae. Leonidas was sent with about 7000 men to the pass of Thermopylae. In the pass, Leonidas men repulsed the frontal attacks of the Persians for the first two days, but on the third day Leonidas learned that a Greek traitor had informed Xerxes of a mountain top trail that would help the Persians break the pass. Leonidas sent most of the Greeks to safety to Southern Greece and then swung his remaining force of 300 Spartans and 1100 other Greeks, against the enemy with undaunted courage and grim determination worthy of their Gods. Leonidas fell bravely in the thickest of the fight and a fierce struggle raged over the body of the Spartan King, but given the numbers they faced, the body did fall into Persian hands. It has been said by contemporary Greeks, that Leonidas head was afterwards cut off by Xerxes order and his body then crucified. He was buried with full honours, including a very un-Spartan display of wailing and mourning, and a carved lion was dedicated at his death site to symbolise his courage. The mourning of Leonidas death reinforces his import...