The Battle of Thermopylae

Battle of Thermopylae

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August...

of 480 BC

480 BC

Year 480 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vibulanus and Cincinnatus...

, has long been the topic of cultural inspiration, as it is perhaps the most famous military last stand

Last stand

Last stand is a loose military term used to describe a body of troops holding a defensive position in the face of overwhelming odds. The defensive force usually takes very heavy casualties or is completely destroyed, as happened in "Custer's Last Stand" at the Battle of Little Big HornBryan Perrett...

 of all time. This "against all odds" story is passed to us from the writings of the Greek Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

, who was not present at the battle himself. He relates the story of 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians defending the Pass of Thermopylae

Thermopylae

Thermopylae is a location in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur springs. "Hot gates" is also "the place of hot springs and cavernous entrances to Hades"....

 against almost "2 million" Persians for three days.

Although modern historians have questioned the numbers presented by Herodotus, with most at around 100,000 to 250,000 invaders, the story has resonated with authors and poets for centuries over the inspiring bravery and resolution of the Spartans.

The performance of the defenders at the battle of Thermopylae is often used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment, and good use of terrain to maximize an army's potential, and has become a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds. Even more, both ancient and modern writers used the Battle of Thermopylae as an example of the superior power of a volunteer army of freemen defending native soil. The sacrifice of the Spartans and the Thespians has captured the minds of many throughout the ages and has given birth to many cultural references as a result.

Cultural references

• Thermopylae has been used as a name for ships; for example, a clipper ship 212 feet in length displacing 91 tons was launched in Aberdeen in 1868. Christened Thermopylae
  Thermopylae (clipper)
  Thermopylae was an extreme composite clipper ship built in 1868 by Walter Hood & Co of Aberdeen, to the design of Bernard Weymouth of London.-Construction:...
  
  , it established speed records and was also notable for having a male figurehead wearing Greek armor, helmet, shield and sword.

• The Greek phrase "Μολών λαβέ
  Molon labe
  The Ancient Greek phrase ' means "Come and take them". It is a classical expression of defiance reportedly spoken by King Leonidas I in response to the Persian army's demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons at the Battle of Thermopylae...
  
  " ("molon labe", or "come and take them"), a quote attributed to Leonidas at the battle, has been repeated by many later generals and politicians in order to express an army's or nation's determination to not surrender without a battle. The motto "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" is on the emblem of the Greek First Army Corps. Both the original Greek phrase and its English translation are often heard from pro-gun activists as a defense of the US constitutional
  Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
  The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...
  
   right to keep and bear arms.

• The Battle of Wizna
  Battle of Wizna
  The Battle of Wizna was fought between September 7 and September 10, 1939, between the forces of Poland and Germany during the initial stages of Invasion of Poland. It was arguably the most heroic battle in the campaign, in which 720 Poles defended a fortified line for three days against more than...
  
   is often called the Polish Thermoplyae

• The phrase was written on the flag fashioned by the Texans during the Battle of Gonzales
  Battle of Gonzales
  The Battle of Gonzales was the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution. It was fought near Gonzales, Texas, on October 2, 1835, between rebellious Texian settlers and a detachment of Mexican army troops....
  
  .

• The name "Leonidas" passed into Russian
  Russian language
  Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
  
   as well as Ukrainian
  Ukrainian language
  Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
  
   (shortened to "Leonid"), and remains a fairly common male name among the speakers of these languages. Among the prominent persons of that name are Soviet Union
  Soviet Union
  The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
  
   premier Leonid Brezhnev
  Leonid Brezhnev
  Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev  – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
  
   and Leonid Kuchma
  Leonid Kuchma
  Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...
  
  , president of the post-Soviet Ukraine
  Ukraine
  Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
  
  .

• The name "Leonidas" exists also among speakers of English
  English language
  English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
  
  , Spanish
  Spanish language
  Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
  
  , and Portuguese
  Portuguese language
  Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
  
   - as well as, of course, modern Greek
  Greek language
  Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
  
   (see Leonidas (disambiguation)
  Leonidas (disambiguation)
  Leonidas is Leonidas I, king of Sparta, ruled c. 489–480 BC., leader at the battle of ThermopylaeLeonidas may also refer to:-People:*Leonidas II, Greek king of Sparta, ruled c...
  
  ).

• Asteroid 2782 Leonidas
  2782 Leonidas
  2782 Leonidas is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 24, 1960 by Cornelis Johannes van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory.- External links :*...
  
   is named for the Spartan king.

• The Luftwaffe Leonidas Squadron
  Leonidas Squadron
  The Leonidas Squadron, formally known as 5th Staffel of Kampfgeschwader 200 was a unit which was originally formed to fly the Fieseler Fi 103R , a manned version of the V-1 flying bomb that was never used in combat because Werner Baumbach, the commander of KG 200, and his superiors considered it an...
  
   under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Heiner Lang, flew "Self-sacrifice missions" (Selbstopfereinsatz) against Soviet held bridges over the Oder River from 17 April until 20 April 1945 during the Battle for Berlin.

• Australia
  Australia
  Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
  
  n groups seeking to get greater recognition for the heroic acts of soldiers in the World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
   Battle of Isurava (September 1942, in New Guinea) have dubbed that battle "Australia's Thermopylae" and established a website setting out in detail the grounds for making such a comparison (see http://www.users.bigpond.com/battleforaustralia/battaust/KokodaCampaign/Isurava/IsuravaIndex.html).

• The Battle of Thermopylae has also been compared to various battles of the Anglo-Zulu War.

Poetry and song

Verse(s)	Notes
Earth! render back from out thy breast A remnant of our Spartan dead! Of the three hundred grant but three, To make a new Thermopylae!	Lord Byron Don Juan Canto iii, Stanza 86, 7
The King with half the East at heel is marched from land of morning; Their fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air, And he that stands will die for nought, and home there's no returning. The Spartans on the sea-wet rock sat down and combed their hair.	A. E. Housman A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman , usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems were mostly written before 1900... , The Oracles (last verse) from his book "Last Poems".
I was neither at the hot gates Nor fought in the warm rain Nor knee deep in the salt marsh, heaving a cutlass, Bitten by flies, fought.	Observation by the decaying, regretful speaker of T. S. Eliot's T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...  "Gerontion".
O love, O celibate. Nobody but me Walks the waist high wet. The irreplaceable Golds bleed and deepen, the mouths of Thermopylae.	Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer... , suicide at 31, faces her own Thermopylae walking in the garden in the poem "Letter in November".
"Go tell it" -- What a Message -- To whom—is specified -- Not murmur—not endearment -- But simply—we—obeyed -- Obeyed—a Lure—a Longing? Oh Nature—none of this -- To Law—said sweet Thermopylae I give my dying Kiss --	In Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life... 's "'Go tell it' — what a message".
When boyhood's fire was in my blood I read of ancient free men In Greece and in Rome where bravely stood 300 men and 3 men	The first verse of Thomas Osborne Davis Thomas Osborne Davis (Irish politician) Thomas Osborne Davis was a revolutionary Irish writer who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland movement.-Early life:... ' "A Nation Once Again A Nation Once Again "A Nation Once Again" is a song, written in the early to mid-1840s by Thomas Osborne Davis . Davis was a founder of an Irish movement whose aim was the independence of Ireland.... ". Now considered a prime example of Irish rebel music Irish rebel music Irish rebel music is a subgenre of Irish folk music, with much the same instrumentation, but with lyrics predominantly concerned with Irish republicanism.-History:...  and sung by the Wolfe Tones Wolfe Tones The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band who incorporate elements of Irish traditional music in their songs. They are named after the Irish rebel and patriot Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double entendre that a wolf tone is a spurious sound...  and many other Irish singers. The "3 men" are the Horatii Horatii According to Livy, the Horatii were male triplets from Rome. During a war between Rome and Alba Longa during the reign of Tullus Hostilius , it was agreed that settlement of the war would depend on the outcome of a battle between the Horatii and the Curiatii...
When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today	The epitaph inscribed on the Commonwealth Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...  cemetery Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...  war memorial War memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...  at Kohima Kohima Kohima is the hilly capital of India's north eastern border state of Nagaland which shares its borders with Burma. It lies in Kohima District and is also one of the three Nagaland towns with Municipal council status along with Dimapur and Mokokchung.... . It was probably inspired by the epitaph of Simonides and is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds John Maxwell Edmonds John Maxwell Edmonds was an English classicist. He is credited for having written a famous epitaph in the Kohima Allied war cemetery." When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today "-Works:... .

Verse original	Verse translation	Notes
“Exercitus noster est magnus,” Persicus inquit, “et propter numerum sagittarum nostrarum caelum non videbitis!” Tum Lacedaemonius respondet: “In umbra, igitur, pugnabimus!” Et Leonidas, rex Lacedaemoniorum, exclamat: “Pugnate cum animis, Lacedaemonii; hodie apud umbras fortasse cenabimus!”	“Our army is great,” the Persian says, “and because of the number of our arrows you will not see the sky!” Then a Spartan answers: “In the shade, therefore, we will fight!” And Leonidas, king of the Spartans, shouts: “Fight with spirit, Spartans; perhaps we will dine today among the ghosts!”	Wheelock's Latin Inspired by Cicero Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief... 's, Tusculanae Disputationes, 1.42.101
Τιμή σ' εκεινους όπου στην ζωή των ώρισαν να φυλάγουν Θερμοπύλες. Πότε από το χρέος μη κινούντες΄ δίκαιοι κ' ίσοι,σ'ολες των τες πράξεις, αλλά με λύπη κιόλας κ' ευσπλαχνία, γενναίοι οσάκις είναι πλούσιοι κι όταν είναι πτωχοί, πάλ' εις μικρόν γενναίοι, πάλι συντρέχοντες, όσο μπορούνε΄ πάντοτε την αλήθεια ομιλούντες, πλην χωρίς μίσος για τους ψευδωμένους. Και περισσότερη τιμή τους πρέπει όταν προβλέπουν (και πολλοί προβλέπουν) πως ο Εφιάλτης θα φανεί στο τέλος, και οι Μήδοι επί τέλους θα διαβούνε.	Let honor be to those in whose life it was set to guard Thermopylae. Never moving away from duty; Just and equals in all of their acts But with sadness and compassion Brave once they are rich and when They are poor, again brave Coming to aid as much as they can; Always speaking the truth But without hate for those who lie. And even more honor they deserve When its predicted (and many predict) That Ephialtes will appear in the end And the Medes will finally pass through	The Greek poet Kavafis who lived in Alexandria Alexandria Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving... of Egypt Egypt Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...  at the turn of the 20th century wrote one of his more famous poems entitled Thermopylae in 1903. The poem actually created the expression guarding Thermopylae and has been told in honor of other dead, such as those of the Imia crisis.
Przechodniu powiedz Polsce żeśmy polegli wierni w jej służbie	Passerby, tell Poland that we fell faithfully in her service	Inscription on the Polish Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...  war cemetery at Monte Cassino Battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino was a costly series of four battles during World War II, fought by the Allies against Germans and Italians with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome.In the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was being anchored by Germans... :
La patria así se forma Termópilas brotando; constelación de Cíclopes su noche iluminó	And so the nation forms Thermopylae springing; a Cyclops constellation its night enlightened	The National Anthem of Colombia National Anthem of Colombia Himno Nacional de la República de Colombia is the official name of the national anthem of Colombia... , IX Stanza IX:
... едно име ново, голямо антично, като Термопили славно, безгранично, що отговор дава и смива срамът, и на клеветата строшава зъбът.	... A new name, its roots to antiquity tracing, As great as Thermopylae, all fame embracing, A name to wipe shame away, with its plain truth Smashing to smithereens calumny's tooth.	The volunteers at Shipka, by Ivan Vazov Ivan Vazov Ivan Minchov Vazov was a Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright, often referred to as "the Patriarch of Bulgarian literature". He was born in Sopot, a town in the Rose Valley of Bulgaria ....

• Dimitris Varos
  Dimitris Varos
  Dimitris Varos was born 1949 on the island of Chios. He is a modern Greek poet, journalist, and photographer.- Career :...
  
   Ω ξείν… (O stranger) is a poetic book written in 1974.

Literature

Author	Novel	Description
Heinrich Böll Heinrich Böll Heinrich Theodor Böll was one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers. Böll was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.- Biography :...	Wanderer, kommst Du nach Spa...	This short story takes its title from the German translation of the inscription on the Spartans' tomb. In it a young German soldier at the end of the Second World War is wounded on the Eastern Front Eastern Front (World War II) The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...  and is brought to a field hospital Field hospital A field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities... , which had been a school. He wonders if it could be his school, which he had only recently left to become a soldier. On seeing in his own writing the truncated quotation of the title on a chalkboard, his question is answered. ("Sparta" was truncated because the narrator had run out of room at the edge of the board.)
David Gemmell David Gemmell David Andrew Gemmell was a bestselling British author of heroic fantasy. A former journalist and newspaper editor, Gemmell had his first work of fiction published in 1984. He went on to write over thirty novels. Best known for his debut, Legend, Gemmell's works display violence, yet also explore...	Lion of Macedon	Discusses the Battle of Thermopylae several times as part of the studies of the lead character, a Spartan named Parmenion Parmenion Parmenion was a Macedonian general in the service of Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great, murdered on a suspected false charge of treason....  who idolizes Leonidas and owns his sword.
	The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend is a fantasy novel first published in 1993 and was written by British author David Gemmell. The novel is a prequel to the popular title Legend...	The Battle of Thermopylae very lightly re-sprayed into Gemmell's Drenai fantasy setting.
Stephen King Stephen King Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...	The Dark Tower	Includes a comparison with the Battle of Thermopylae when a character fights alone against a series of enemies coming through a single doorway.
Valerio Massimo Manfredi Valerio Massimo Manfredi Valerio Massimo Manfredi is an Italian historian, writer, archaeologist and journalist.-Biography:He was born in Piumazzo di Castelfranco Emilia, province of Modena and is married to Christine Fedderson Manfredi, who translates his published works from Italian to English...	The Spartan	Gives an account of the Battle of Thermopylae. The novel uses the battle to set up one of the protagonists who is apparently sent out on a mission by King Leonidas before the final Persian attack.
Steven Pressfield Steven Pressfield Steven Pressfield is an American novelist and author of screenplays, principally of military historical fiction set in classical antiquity...	Gates of Fire Gates of Fire Gates of Fire is a 1998 historical fiction novel by Steven Pressfield that recounts the Battle of Thermopylae through Xeones, a Spartan Helot and the sole Greek survivor of the battle....	Depicts the battle as told by the Spartan helot Xeones, who had been wounded during the fight, but was revived to tell Xerxes of the Spartans' heroism.
Mary Renault Mary Renault Mary Renault born Eileen Mary Challans, was an English writer best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece...	The Lion in the Gateway	Tells the story of the conflict between the Persians and Greeks across the reigns of Darius and Xerxes, including Marathon, Salamis and Thermopylae.
John Ringo John Ringo John Ringo is an American science fiction and military fiction author. He has had several New York Times best sellers. His books range from straightforward science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers...	Ghost, 2004	Includes a description of the battle fought at Thermopylae and a quote of the epigram by Simonides'.
Eric Nylund	Halo: The Fall of Reach Halo: The Fall of Reach Halo: The Fall of Reach is a 2001 science fiction novel by Eric Nylund based on the Halo series of video games and acts as a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game in the series. It is set in the fictional Halo universe, taking place in the 26th century across several planets and locations... , 2001	The series' main protagonist, John, is one of 75 children selected for the SPARTAN-II program, a secret project to create an elite corps of supersoldiers. Also, a direct reference to the 300 is made in 2 situations: First where they are watching a holographic image of the battle in their class, and when Dr. Halsey thinks of the Spartans as 'more effective than Homer's gods had ever been' incorrectly labeling them as gods.
Greg Donegan (pen name of Bob Mayer Bob Mayer Robert "Bob" Mayer is an author, writing instructor, and former Green Beret. He has written over 30 titles under his name and his four pen names . Mayer has applied the principles from his training in the special forces to his career as a writer and as a writing instructor... )	Atlantis: Gate	In the fourth volume (2002) of a Science Fiction Science fiction Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...  series, Leonidas and Thermopylae are part of an interdimensional battle to save all earths from a trans-dimensional race bent on stealing resources from other worlds and destroying them in the process.
John Ringo John Ringo John Ringo is an American science fiction and military fiction author. He has had several New York Times best sellers. His books range from straightforward science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers...	The Hot Gate (Troy Rising, book three)	The second "troy"-class massive SAPL-converging-point nickel-iron inflated asteroid battlestation is called Thermopylae, and the name of the third book in the series is named after the translation of Thermopylae.

Comic

Author	Title	Description
Frank Miller Frank Miller (comics) Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...	Sin City: The Big Fat Kill The Big Fat Kill The Big Fat Kill is a five-issue comic book limited series published by Dark Horse Comics in November 1994–March 1995.-Plot:The story opens in Shellie's apartment, where a drunken former fling is furiously rapping on her door, demanding to be let in. Shellie is obviously scared, but is...	Dwight McCarthy Dwight McCarthy Dwight McCarthy is a main protagonist in Frank Miller's Sin City universe. He appears in A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, Family Values, The Babe Wore Red and That Yellow Bastard. In the 2005 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Clive Owen.-Appearance:In Dwight's first appearance in A Dame To... , facing a fight against a large number of enemies, mulls on the Battle of Thermopylae, concluding that "a careful choice of where to fight" saved Greek civilization.
Frank Miller Frank Miller (comics) Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...	Hell and Back (A Sin City Love Story) Hell and Back (A Sin City Love Story) Hell and Back is a nine-issue comic book limited series, first published by Dark Horse Comics in July 1999–April 2000.-Plot:...	During the comic, Wallace Wallace (Sin City) Wallace is the protagonist of Hell and Back, the longest of the Sin City yarns written by Frank Miller.Wallace starts off as an ex-military civilian...  hallucinates and sees his friend appear as King Leonidas as portrayed in Miller's 300.
Frank Miller Frank Miller (comics) Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...	Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is a four-issue comic book limited series written and drawn by Frank Miller, originally published by DC Comics under the title Batman: The Dark Knight in 1986. When the issues were released in a collected edition later that year, the story title for the first issue...	In Frank Miller's tale of an aging Batman Batman Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics... , the translation of the name Thermopylae ("Hot Gates") shows up as the name of a porn star who is doing a new film version of Snow White Snow White "Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...  "for the kids". In the sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Again Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again is a Batman mini-series by Frank Miller with Lynn Varley. It is a sequel to Miller's 1986 miniseries, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.-Overview:... , Hot Gates makes herself "Dictator of Ohio".
Frank Miller Frank Miller (comics) Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...	300	A 1998 graphic novel Graphic novel A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...  series (later collected into a single hardcover issue) written and illustrated by Frank Miller Frank Miller (comics) Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...  with painted colors by Lynn Varley Lynn Varley Lynn Varley is an award-winning colorist, notable for her collaborations with her former husband, comic book writer/artist Frank Miller, whom she divorced in 2005.-Biography:... , a retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae Battle of Thermopylae The Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August...  and the events leading up to it from the perspective of Leonidas of Sparta. 300 was particularly inspired by the 1962 film The 300 Spartans The 300 Spartans The 300 Spartans is a 1962 Cinemascope film depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. Made with the cooperation of the Greek government, it was shot in the village of Perachora in the Peloponnese... , a movie that Miller watched as a young boy.
Héctor Germán Oesterheld Héctor Germán Oesterheld Héctor Germán Oesterheld , also known as his common abbreviation HGO, was an Argentine journalist and writer of graphic novels and comics who has come to be celebrated as a master in his field....	Mort Cinder Mort Cinder Mort Cinder is an Argentine comic book horror-science fiction series featuring an eponymous character, created in 1962 by the writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld and artist Alberto Breccia...	A comic book from Argentina (1964) featuring an immortal character who had lived at many historical ages. He tells about the battle as having been a spartan warrior at it, who also would have been the one to say the famous quote of "In the shade, therefore, we will fight!". The author, however, focus the narrative more in the humanity of the small and unknown soldiers rather than in the main battle itself.
Max Bunker (Luciano Secchi) and Magnus (Roberto Raviola Roberto Raviola Magnus, pseudonym of Roberto Raviola, was an Italian comic book artist, regarded as one of the foremost cartoonists of all time in his country.-Biography:Born in Bologna in 1939, Raviola lived there for his whole life.... )	Alan Ford	In these Italian comic book series, Number One tells the story about Leonidas being fat, and the Persians were stopped when he got stuck in Thermopylae.

Films

Film	Date	Description
The 300 Spartans The 300 Spartans The 300 Spartans is a 1962 Cinemascope film depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. Made with the cooperation of the Greek government, it was shot in the village of Perachora in the Peloponnese...	1962	Depicts the Battle of Thermopylae. Starring Richard Egan Richard Egan (actor) Richard Egan was an American actor. In some films he is credited as Richard Eagan.-Career:Born in San Francisco, California, Egan served in the United States Army as a judo instructor during World War II...  and Ralph Richardson Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
Patton Patton (film) Patton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H...	1970	General Patton refers to the Battle of Thermopylae when talking with his generals and aides but does not tell them the result of the battle (defeat and massacre of the heroes) until after the U.S. troops have already been sent off to fight.
Go Tell the Spartans Go Tell the Spartans Go Tell the Spartans is a 1978 American war film based on Daniel Ford's 1967 novel Incident at Muc Wa, about U.S. Army military advisors during the early part of the Vietnam War in 1964, a time when Ford was a correspondent in Vietnam for The Nation.The film's title is from Simonides's epitaph to...	1978	Set in Vietnam, the film includes a scene in which US troops come across the grave of French defenders of a Vietnamese village which has the famous epitaph to the Spartans written over its entrance and, by implication, forecasts the same result for a later generation of American soldiers.
Rambling Rose Rambling Rose (film) Rambling Rose is a 1991 American film set in Georgia during the Great Depression starring Laura Dern, Diane Ladd and Robert Duvall, directed by Martha Coolidge....	1991	Robert Duvall Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career.... 's character refers to Thermopylae as he resists Rose's sexual advances.
The Last Samurai The Last Samurai The Last Samurai is a 2003 American epic drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay based on a story by John Logan. The film was inspired by a project developed by writer and director Vincent Ward, who had previously filmed the movie in 1990, starring...	2003	The main characters refer to the battle of Thermopylae twice, including right before engaging in a battle they are almost certain to lose. The Battle of Thermopylae parallels the main characters' situation, in which they are outnumbered and realize that victory is unattainable but choose to fight for a purpose beyond the battle itself.
300 300 (film) 300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant...	2007	Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel 300, a retelling of the battle from the perspective of Leonidas. The original graphic novel was a mythical retelling of the story, told as if by the point of view of a Spartan reciting a story around a campfire.
Last Stand of the 300 Last Stand of the 300 Last Stand of the 300 is a TV documentary/reenactment which premièred on The History Channel in 2007. It was directed by David Padrusch known for directing projects such as Journey to 10,000 BC and Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War for the History Channel.-Synopsis:In 480 B.C, during the...	2007	Documentary. Broadcast on The History Channel The History Channel History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-... .
Meet the Spartans	2008	A parody movie of 300 in which the Spartans led by King Leonidas win the first day of battle against the Persians in a hip-hop dance competition.

Television

Show	Episode	Description
Samurai Jack Samurai Jack Samurai Jack is an American animated television series created by animator Genndy Tartakovsky that aired on both Cartoon Network and Toonami from 2001 to 2004. It is noted for its highly detailed, outline-free, masking-based animation, as well as for its cinematic style and pacing...	"Jack and the Spartans"	A group of warriors, similar in appearance to Spartans, defend a narrow gateway against a vast robot army. Jack shows the Spartans the narrow path to allow them to obtain victory after 6 generations. At the end of the episode the King remarks the 300 and 1 (300 warriors and Jack) when retelling the tale on his death bed.
Xena: Warrior Princess Xena: Warrior Princess Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....	"One Against an Army"	Xena and Gabrielle have to defend the pass of Thermopylae from the invading Persian army. However, in this version of the story, Xena herself is up against 300 Persian soldiers, and not 300 Spartans against thousands of Persians.
Robot Chicken Robot Chicken Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...	Moesha Poppins	A highly stylized trailer Trailer (vehicle) A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle. Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for transport of goods and materials....  for 1776 (film) 1776 (film) 1776 is a 1972 American musical film directed by Peter H. Hunt. The screenplay by Peter Stone was based on the 1969 stage musical of the same name. Portions of the dialogue and some of the song lyrics were taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants of the Second...  that parodies the trailer for 300. Includes the line This! Is! AMERICA!  Another Episode has Leonidas saying THIS IS SPARTA-like quotes in mundane situations, such as watching Two and a Half Men Two and a Half Men Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake... .
seaQuest DSV SeaQuest DSV seaQuest DSV is an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon. It originally aired on NBC between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was renamed seaQuest 2032. Set in "the near future", seaQuest mixes high drama with realistic scientific fiction...	"Spindrift"	After being shot during a rescue mission of his shipmate Loonie Henderson, SeaQuest's chief of security Jim Brody's last dying words are "With your shield or on it", a reference to a saying attributed to mothers of Spartan men as they went to war. Captain Hudson later explains to Henderson that Brody meant his sacrifice for her, just like the Greeks at Thermopylae, was worth it.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...	"What You Leave Behind"	Dr. Julian Bashir Julian Bashir Lieutenant Julian Subatoi Bashir, M.D., played by Alexander Siddig, is a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Bashir is the chief medical officer of space station Deep Space Nine and the USS Defiant.-Overview:... , who has a penchant for last stand Last stand Last stand is a loose military term used to describe a body of troops holding a defensive position in the face of overwhelming odds. The defensive force usually takes very heavy casualties or is completely destroyed, as happened in "Custer's Last Stand" at the Battle of Little Big HornBryan Perrett... s, offers to take Ezri Dax Ezri Dax Ezri Dax , played by Nicole de Boer, is a counselor aboard Deep Space Nine in the seventh season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Casting:The role of Ezri Dax was created when Terry Farrell decided to leave the show and her character was subsequently killed by Dukat.When Nicole de Boer read for the...  on a date in a holosuite program depicting the Battle of Thermopylae.
South Park South Park South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...	"D-Yikes! D-Yikes! "D-Yikes!" is episode 1106 of Comedy Central's animated comedy series South Park, first aired on April 11, 2007. The episode is rated TV-MA, and is a parody of the film 300.-Plot:When the episode begins, Mrs... "	In a parody of the aforementioned film 300 300 (film) 300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant... , Mrs. Garrison goes to a "girl bar" which is being bought out by Persians. She is indignant about it, especially their tacky blue carpet and gold curtain rods. When the representative comes, she kicks him in the testicles and starts a war. They go tell their boss, Xerxes, who sends many more Persians in a wave. The Lesbians are able to fend them off, and they retreat. Mrs. Garrison then gets Mexicans, disguised as Persians, to infiltrate the Persian club. They find out that Xerxes is a woman and they use that to get him to keep Les Bos a girl bar. Lesbos is an actual island in Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... .
Deadliest Warrior Deadliest Warrior Deadliest Warrior is a television program in which information on historical or modern warriors and their weapons are used to determine which of them is the "deadliest" based upon tests performed during each episode...	"Spartan vs. Ninja"	During the explanation of the Spartan specs, Team Spartan talks about the Battle of Thermopylae, being a "rear guard action" similar to a "Greek Alamo Alamo The Battle of the Alamo was a battle fought during the Texas Revolution.Alamo may also refer to:-Places:*Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas*Alamo, California*Alamo, Georgia*Alamo Township, Michigan*Alamo, Nevada*Alamo, New Mexico... ".

Video games

Developer	Year	Video Game	Description
Bungie Studios		Marathon (computer game series) and Halo (series) Halo (series) Halo is a multi-million dollar science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and now managed by 343 Industries and owned by Microsoft Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant...	Bungie games often contain classical references. Among the references to Sparta, Marathon 2 contains a level called "My Own Private Thermopylae" and in the Prologue of the Halo novel Ghosts of Onyx, Operation PROMETHEUS has 300 Spartans from the SPARTAN-III program fighting against a Covenant force of more than 1000 ground troops supported by 10 Cruisers.
Collision Studios	2007	300: March to Glory 300: March to Glory 300: March to Glory is a video game for the PlayStation Portable that was released on February 27, 2007, based on the comic book mini-series 300 by Frank Miller and the movie of the same name.- Story :...	Based on the film 300 300 (film) 300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant... .
Realtime Games Software Realtime Games Software Realtime Games Software Ltd. is a defunct British video game developer. It was founded in 1984 by three Leeds University students, Ian Oliver, Andrew Onions and Graeme Baird....	1988	Carrier Command Carrier Command Carrier Command is a landmark 1980s computer game available on Amiga, Atari ST, PC, ZX Spectrum, Apple Macintosh, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC computers....	The Action mode starts with the opposing carriers facing off over an island named Thermopylae.
Slitherine	2004	Gates of Troy	One of the scenarios is the battle of Thermopylae where you have to resist for 20 turns against the Persian army.
Red Storm Entertainment Red Storm Entertainment Ubisoft Red Storm is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ubisoft Entertainment, specializing in video games and related merchandise, mainly based on the works of the writer Tom Clancy. The company develops and markets their own CD/DVD-ROM games...	2005	Rainbow Six Lockdown	In the cutscene before the last mission, Rainbow sniper Dieter Weber briefly explains about the battle before getting himself into position, saying the Spartans were "outnumbered 800 to one, but they went down fighting."
Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...	2008	World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, often referred to as WotLK, WLK or Wrath, is the second expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade...	The Battle of Light's Hope Chapel, as played out in the quest "The Light of Dawn" (one of the last of the death knight starter quests), pits 300 Defenders of the Light against 10,000 undead of the Scourge, including player-character death knights. However, unlike history, the 300 defeat the much larger force, due to fighting on holy ground (Light's Hope Chapel).

See also

• Laconophilia
• Sparta in popular culture
  Sparta in popular culture
  Sparta has long been the topic of cultural inspiration. Such admiration of the Spartans is referred to as Laconophilia. In modern popular culture this is typically centered on the Battle of Thermopylae, which is perhaps the most famous military last stand of all time.- Battle of Thermopylae in...
  
  
• The 300 Spartans
  The 300 Spartans
  The 300 Spartans is a 1962 Cinemascope film depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. Made with the cooperation of the Greek government, it was shot in the village of Perachora in the Peloponnese...
  
  
• 300 (film)
  300 (film)
  300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant...
  
  

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