hstry

c. 430–425 BCEThermopylae

about 2,452 years ago

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Thermopylae

A place in this history (Pleiades 541140). 2 posts and events, oldest first.

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431–⁠405 BCE: War with Sparta

Herodotus, Thermopylae

On the last stand at Thermopylae

What was going on: Herodotus is describing the last stand of the Greeks at Thermopylae. After a fierce fight over the body of Leonidas, enemy troops led by Epialtes arrived, and the Spartans and Thespians fell back behind the wall to a small hill at the mouth of the pass.

They fought with swords if they still had them, and with hands and teeth. The enemy buried them under missiles from the front and from all sides.

In that place they defended themselves with swords, if they still had them, and with hands and teeth. The barbarians buried them with missiles, some attacking from the front and throwing down the defensive wall, others surrounding them on all sides.

His own words. Herodotus, Histories 7.225.3, translated by A. D. Godley (1920)

Herodotus, Thermopylae

The Spartans' epitaph at Thermopylae

What was going on: Herodotus is describing the graves at Thermopylae, where the Greeks who fought the Medes were buried where they fell. Several inscriptions were set over them: one for all of them, and another for the seer Megistias.

The Spartans' own epitaph: Stranger, go tell the Spartans that we lie here, obedient to their orders.

That inscription is for them all, but the Spartans have their own: Foreigner, go tell the Spartans that we lie here obedient to their commands.

The Spartans' epitaph at Thermopylae, as Herodotus records it. Herodotus, Histories 7.228.2, translated by A. D. Godley (1920)