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View of the Thermopylae pass from the area of the Phocian Wall. In ancient times the coastline would have been much closer to the mountain.

The source of this stream is a hot spring. In the background, you can see buildings of the modern baths. In ancient times the springs created a swamp.

Thermopylae (pronounced /θɚˈmɒpəli/) (Ancient and Katharevousa Greek Θερμοπύλαι, Demotic Θερμοπύλες: "hot gateway") is a location in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from several natural hot water springs. It is primarily known for the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC in which an outnumbered Greek force of roughly 7,000 men temporarily held off advancing Persians under Xerxes, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and the term since has been used to reference heroic resistance against a more powerful enemy^[1].

The location is a near-mandatory passage in the main north-south road between Lokris and Thessaly in Greece with excellent defensive terrain. For this reason it has been the site of several battles.

In the time of Leonidas in 481 BC, the pass was a narrow track (probably about 14 metres/yards wide) under the cliff. In modern times, the deposits of the Spercheios River have widened it to a breadth of 2 to 5 kilometers (1 to 3 miles).^[2] The short part of the path has thus migrated to the East so the battle of Spercheios in 10th century between the forces of Samuil of Bulgaria and the Byzantine general Nikephoros Ouranos took place more to the north, while the 1821 revolution Battle of Alamana and the Hani of Gravia were very close, they did not take place on Thermopylae.

A main highway now splits the pass, with a modern-day monument of Leonidas on the east side of the highway. It is directly across the road from the hill where Simonides of Ceos's epitaph is engraved in stone at the top ("Tell it in Sparta, thou that passes by/Here, faithful to her charge, her soldiers lie").^[3] Thermopylae is part of the infamous "horseshoe of Maliakos" also known as the "horseshoe of death": it is the narrowest part of the highway connecting the north and the south of Greece. It has many turns and has been the site of many vehicular accidents.

The hot springs from which the pass derives its name still exist close to the foot of the hill.

Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques-Louis David (1814)

Modern monument of Leonidas and the Spartans in Thermopylae.

Modern monument of the 700 Thespians at Thermopylae.

Main article: Battle of Thermopylae

Thermopylae is primarily known for the battle that took place there in 480 BC, in which an outnumbered combined Greek force of approximately 7,000 held off the advancing Persians under Xerxes for three days before being betrayed. A local named Ephialtes revealed a mountain pass that allowed Xerxes to outflank the Greeks. Leonidas sent the main army in retreat while a small band of Spartans, Thespians and Helots stayed behind and resisted the advance to the last man.

The combined Greek force included 300 Spartans, 4,900 additional heavy infantry from Arcadia, Corinth, Thespiae, Phocis, Tegea, Mantinea, Mycenae, Phleious, and Thebes, an unspecified amount from the Opuntian Locrians and a number of slaves (each hoplite could be expected to have at least one lightly armed retainer)^[4].

Although the Persians were many in number, and their manpower clearly exceeded that of the Greeks, estimates of their actual strength vary widely, from an army as small as 20,000 to as large as 5,000,000 (Greek historian Herodotus numbered the Persian army at 2,000,000); the most widely accepted number is between 200,000 and 300,000.

The Thermopylae defensive position was chosen by the Athenian leader, Themistocles, because it was possible in that location for Greek naval and land forces to provide each other with mutual support in the face of vastly superior Persian numbers. The Greek navy fought a parallel holding action in the narrow area between Euboea and the mainland, preventing the Persians from using their navy to bypass and surround the Thermopylae position (Battle of Artemisium) Greek land forces gave equal protection to the naval contingent. The loss of the Thermopylae position forced the Greek navy to retreat back to Athens.

In 279 BC a Gallic army led by a Brennus (not to be confused with the Brennus who sacked Rome in 387 BC) successfully defeated a Greek army under the Athenian Calippus.

In 191 BC Antiochus III the Great of Syria attempted in vain to hold the pass against the Romans under Manius Acilius Glabrio. Less famous is the confrontation of 353 BC/352 BC during the Third Sacred War when 5,000 Athenian hoplites and 400 horsemen denied passage to the forces of Philip II of Macedon and the battle of 267 when the Heruli defeated the Greek force that tried to stop them.

Main article: Battle of Alamana

In 1821, a force of Greek fighters led by Athanasios Diakos made a stand near the pass to stop a force of 8,000 Turks from marching down from Thessaly to put down revolts in Roumeli and the Peloponnese. Diakos, after making a last stand at the bridge of Alamana with 48 of his men, was captured and killed.

Main article: Battle of Thermopylae (1941)

In 1941 during World War II the ANZAC forces delayed the invading German forces in the area enough to allow the evacuation of the British expeditionary force to Crete. This conflict also became known as the Battle of Thermopylae, probably because the two sides were aware only of the name of this site in the entire Phthiotis region. Such was the fame of Thermopylae that the sabotage of the Gorgopotamos bridge in 1942 was referred in German documents of the era as "the recent sabotage near Thermopylae".

1. ^ OED entry for Thermopylae.
2. ^ John C. Kraft; George Rapp, Jr.; George J. Szemler; Christos Tziavos; Edward W. Kase. The Pass at Thermopylæ, Greece. Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 14, No. 2. (1987), pp. 181–198.
3. ^ http://collections.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1261
4. ^ Herodotus, Histories, 7.202

• Cartledge, Paul, Thermopylae; the Battle that Changed the World, Overlook Press, New York, 2006
• "Thermopylae, Battle of." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 24 May 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9380602>.

• The Hot Gates
• Gates of Fire
• 300

• maps of Attica and Thermopylae
• Battle at Thermopylae - 480 B.C.
• Thermopylae
• 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae (NEH EDSITEment Lesson Plan)

Coordinates: 38°48′19″N, 22°33′46″E