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Leonidas I (/ l i ə ˈ n aɪ d ə s,-d æ s /; Ancient Greek: Λεωνίδας, Leōnídas; born c. 540 BC; died 11 August 480 BC) was king of the Ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. He was the son of king Anaxandridas II and the 17th king of the Agiad dynasty , a Spartan royal house which claimed descent from the mythical demigod Heracles .
Killed in battle against Aristodemus, the tyrant of Megalopolis: c. 265 – 262 BC: Acrotatus II: c. 262 – 254 BC: Areus II [6] c. 254 – 242 BC: Leonidas II: Briefly deposed while in exile avoiding trial c. 242 – 241 BC: Cleombrotus II: c. 241 – 235 BC: Leonidas II: c. 235 – 222 BC: Cleomenes III: Exiled after the Battle of Sellasia
Aristodemus was the only Spartan survivor, as he was not present at the last stand. Aristodemus was stricken with a disease of the eye, causing King Leonidas to order him and another soldier to return home before the battle, but Eurytus turned back, though blind, and met his end charging into the fray. [1] [2] [3]
News also reached Leonidas, from the nearby city of Trachis, that there was a mountain track that could be used to outflank the pass of Thermopylae. Leonidas stationed 1,000 Phocians on the heights to prevent such a manoeuvre. [56] Finally, in mid-August, the Persian army was sighted across the Malian Gulf approaching Thermopylae. [57]
Ephialtes (/ ˌ ɛ f i ˈ æ l t iː z /; Greek: Ἐφιάλτης Ephialtēs) [a] was a Greek renegade during the Greco-Persian Wars.Born to Eurydemus (Εὐρύδημος) of Malis, [1] he betrayed his homeland and people to the Achaemenid Empire by revealing the existence of a path around the Greek coalition's position at Thermopylae. [2]
Xerxes I (/ ˈ z ɜː r k ˌ s iː z / ZURK-seez [2] [a] c. 518 – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, [4] was a Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC.
Cleomenes I (/ k l iː ˈ ɒ m ɪ n iː z /; Greek Κλεομένης; died c. 490 BC) was Agiad King of Sparta from c. 524 to c. 490 BC. One of the most important Spartan kings, Cleomenes was instrumental in organising the Greek resistance against the Persian Empire of Darius, as well as shaping the geopolitical balance of Classical Greece.
In 479 BC, Pausanias was leader of the Spartan army alongside Euryanax, son of Dorieus, as the Agiad king of Sparta Pleistarchus, son of Leonidas I, was too young to command. Pausanias led 5000 Spartans to the aid of the league of Greek cities created to resist the Persian invasion. [2]