Above: The Battle of Thermopylae engraving; Xerxes. Source: Public Domain. Click to expand.

Xerxes I was the fourth king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 to 465 BCE. In 480 BCE, Xerxes led a massive invasion of Greece with an army estimated to be between 100,000 and 250,000 men. One of the most famous battles of this invasion was the Battle of Thermopylae, which took place in August or September of 480 BCE. The Greeks, led by King Leonidas I of Sparta, had only a small force of around 7,000 men to defend the pass at Thermopylae, a narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea.

Despite overwhelming odds, the Greeks held off the Persian advance for three days, inflicting significant casualties on the Persian army. However, on the third day, a local resident named Ephialtes showed the Persians a path through the mountains that allowed them to outflank the Greek position.

Above: Caption: "Historical map of Thermopylae. 18th-century illustration of a map from antiquity of Thermopylae (site of a famous battle in 480 BC between the Greeks and Persians), from the atlas by French cartographer Jean-Denis Barbie du Bocage (1760-1825) to accompany 'The Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece' (1787) by French writer Jean-Jacques Barthelemy (1716-1795). This work, which the author pretend was by a grandson of a 6th-century-BC Scythian philosopher, was intended to popularise classical Greek history. Map engraved in the 1780s." Source: Science Photo Library, U.K. Click to expand.

Leonidas, realizing that the Persians had gained the advantage, dismissed most of his army and stayed behind with 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans to make a last stand. The Greeks fought to the death, with all of them being killed except for one Spartan, who was sent back to Sparta to report on the battle.

The Battle of Thermopylae was a significant moral victory for the Greeks, as it showed that they were willing to stand up against the might of the Persian Empire. It also allowed the Greek city-states to mobilize their forces and ultimately defeat the Persians in the naval Battle of Salamis and the land Battle of Plataea.

Xerxes' invasion of Greece ultimately failed, and he returned to Persia in defeat. However, the Battle of Thermopylae has remained an enduring symbol of courage and sacrifice, and has been immortalized in literature and film. Fans of HBO's Band of Brothers miniseries will recall that Xerxes is referenced in episode 7, "The Breaking Point," in a conversation between Lt. Spiers with Company First Sergeant Carwood Lipton. - Scott Lyons, Ed.

Source consulted: Bauer, Susan W. The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007.