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Thermopylae is a place in
Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name
from its hot sulphur springs. The Hot Gates is "the place of hot
springs" and in Greek mythology it is the cavernous entrances to Hades.
Thermopylae is world-famous for the battle that took place there between the
Greek forces (notably the Spartans, Lachedemonians, Thebans and Thespians) and
the invading Persian forces, commemorated by Simonides in the famous epitaph,
"Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, That here obedient to their
laws we lie." Thermopylae is the only land route large enough to bear any
significant traffic between Lokris and Thessaly. This passage from north to
south along the east coast of the Balkan peninsula requires use of the pass and
for this reason Thermopylae has been the site of several battles. In ancient
times it was called Malis which was named after the Malians, a Greek tribe that
lived near present-day Lamia at the delta of the river, Spercheios in Greece.
The Malian Gulf is also named after them. In the western valley of the
Spercheios their land was adjacent to the Aenianes. Their main town was named
Trachis. In the town of Anthela, the Malians had an important temple of
Demeter, an early center of the Anthelan Amphictiony. The surface on which the
famous Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 is now buried under 20 metres
(66 ft) of soil. The shoreline has also advanced over the centuries because of
the sedimentary deposition. The level of the Malian Gulf was also significantly
higher during prehistoric times and the Spercheios River was significantly
shorter. Its shoreline advanced by up to 2 kilometers between 2500 and 480 but
still has left several extremely narrow passages between the sea and the
mountains. The narrowest point on the plain, where the Battle of Thermopylae
was probably fought, would have been less than 100 metres (330 ft) wide.
Between 480 and the 21st century, the shoreline advanced by as much as 9 km
(5.6 mi) in places, eliminating the narrowest points of the pass and
considerably increasing the size of the plain around the outlet of the
Spercheios. Thermopylae is primarily known for the battle that took place there
in 480, in which an outnumbered Greek force probably of seven thousand
(including the famous 300 Spartans, 500 warriors from Tegea, 500 from Mantinea,
120 from Arcadian Orchomenos, 1000 from the rest of Arcadia, 200 from Phlius,
80 from Mycenae, 400 Corinthians, 400 Thebans, 1000 Phocians, 700 Thespians,
and the Opuntian Locrians) held off a substantially larger force of Persians
under Xerxes. Over 1,000 Greeks remained in the pass when most of the army
retreated: the survivors from previous fighting of the famous 300 Spartans, the
700 Thespians, and the 400 Thebans - the latter somewhat unwillingly according
to Herodotus. For three days they held a narrow route between hills and the sea
against Xerxes' vast cavalry and infantry force, before being outflanked on the
third day via a hidden goat path named the Anopaea Pass. According to the Greek
legend, a traitor named Ephialtes of Trachis showed the path to the invaders.
The following epitaph by Simonides was written on the monument: "Go tell
the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we
lie."
In 353/352 during the Third Sacred War,
fought mainly between the forces of the Delphic
Amphictyonic
League, principally represented by Thebes, and latterly by Philip II of
Macedon, and the Phocians. The war was caused by a large fine imposed on the
Phocians in 357 for cultivating sacred land. The Spartans, who were also fined
in that war, actually never fought in it as they were later pardoned.
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