Heroic Stand: Thermopylae

Commonly known as the Stand of the 300, the Battle of Thermopylae was an extraordinary battle. The Persian Empire's troops, led by Xerxes I, faced 300 Greek forces led by the Spartans under Leonidas' command. Will you repel the Persians? Will you defeat them before the flanking forces attack from the surrounding hills? Resist and become legendary! (480 BC)

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. The clash at Thermopylae occurred simultaneously with the Battle of Artemisium: between July and September 480 BC.

Lasting three days, it was one of the most important battles of the second Persian invasion of Greece which, under Xerxes I, was a late response to the failure of the first Persian invasion, initiated by Darius I and ended in 490 BC with a Greek victory led by Athens at the Battle of Marathon.

Xerxes had gathered a huge land and naval force and aimed to conquer all of Greece. The Athenian politician and general Themistocles proposed that the allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae.

At the start of the invasion, a Greek force of about 7,000 men led by Leonidas marched north to block the pass of Thermopylae against the Persian army, composed of 120,000 to 300,000 soldiers. The Greeks, outnumbered, held them back for seven days (including