When was leonidas born

In summer of BC, Xerxes, the king of Persia, was attacking Greece with a big and well-equiped army. As he had already conquered northern Greece and he was coming to the south, the Greeks decided to unite and confront him in Thermopylae, a narrow passage in central Greece. Leonidas and his army, soldiers, went off to Thermopylae to join the other Greek armies. The Greeks altogether were about 4, soldiers, while the Persian army consisted of 80, soldiers.

Xerxes waited for 4 days before he attacked, believing that the Greeks would surrender. When Xerxes sent his heralds to the Greeks, asking for their weapons, as a sign of submission, Leonidas said the historical phrase Come and get them!

The first days, the Greeks were resisting, until a local man, Ephialtes, revealed to the Persians a secret passage to circle the Greeks and win the battle. Seeing that the Persian army were about to circle them, Leonidas asked the other Greeks to leave the battlefield. He proposed that he and his army would stay back to cover their escape, while the other Greeks would leave to protect the rest of Greece from a future Persian invasion.

Therefore, Leonidas with his Spartans and Thespians, who refused to leave, stayed back to fight the huge Persian army. They were all killed in the battlefield, in this deathtrap, protecting theie homeland and their values. You might even meet some famous Greek heroes, like Hercules!

Well, that is, if Hercules was a real person. However, one very real warrior was said to be the descendant of the legendary demigod.

Who are we talking about? Leonidas, of course! Leonidas was born in the s B. His father was a king, but Leonidas had two older brothers. He was never supposed to take over as ruler. However, fate had other plans.

Both of his brothers died, and Leonidas was crowned around B. Sparta set itself apart from the other Greek city-states in a number of ways. First, it was the largest at about 3, square miles 8, square km. Also, while it was far from an equal society , Spartan women had more rights than those in most other city-states.

Finally, Sparta was known all over Greece for its superior military. All Spartan men trained for military service starting at the age of seven. They lived together with their age groups and trained into adulthood.

Spartan warriors were known as highly skilled, fearless fighters. No Spartan fighter is as famous today as Leonidas. He had trained as a soldier just like other Spartan men. He was known as a fierce warrior when he became king. Today, he is most well-known for leading Greek troops in the Battle of Thermopylae. In B. Leonidas was the son of the Spartan king Anaxandrides died c. He became king when his older half-brother Cleomenes I also a son of Anaxandrides died under violent, and slightly mysterious, circumstances in B.

As king, Leonidas was a military leader as well as a political one. Like all male Spartan citizens, Leonidas had been trained mentally and physically since childhood in preparation to become a hoplite warrior. Hoplites were armed with a round shield, spear and iron short sword. In battle, they used a formation called a phalanx, in which rows of hoplites stood directly next to each other so that their shields overlapped with one another.

During a frontal attack, this wall of shields provided significant protection to the warriors behind it. If the phalanx broke or if the enemy attacked from the side or the rear, however, the formation became vulnerable. Although these many city-states vied with one another for control of land and resources, they also banded together to defend themselves from foreign invasion.

Twice at the beginning of the fifth century B. In B. Under Xerxes I, the Persian army moved south through Greece on the eastern coast, accompanied by the Persian navy moving parallel to the shore. In the late summer of B. Leonidas established his army at Thermopylae, expecting that the narrow pass would funnel the Persian army toward his own force. For two days, the Greeks withstood the determined attacks of their far more numerous enemy. While en route to Thermopylae, Leonidas was joined by Thespians, Thebans, 1, Phocians, and 1, Locrians so that his small army totaled about 7, Simultaneously, the allied Greek state navy took position at Artemision at the northern end of Euboea Island.

Evidence suggests that many Greeks considered these measures sufficient and that no major action would occur before a larger force could be dispatched to reinforce Leonidas. Having reached Thermopylae, scouts and informants revealed the immensity of the approaching Persian army. Leonidas held a council at which several Greek contingents expressed an interest in retreating to Corinth.

The Phocians and Locrians argued vehemently for holding the Pass, probably because their lands would be the first ravaged by the invader. Leonidas decided to stand and fight. At the same time, he sent messengers to several cities to ask for help. The Pass of Thermopylae ran west to east, mountains rose sharply to the left or southern side, and the Aegean Sea washed the right or northern side. Leonidas set his main position in the center and began rebuilding the old Phocian wall which had been the scene of many an ancient martial drama.

His disposition was well-chosen, for the Persian army would have to disrupt their formations to enter the mouth of the Pass and once inside would have to face the Greeks on more equal terms. The wall itself could serve as a defense, or as a rallying point for a counterattack. Leonidas seems to have learned about the "Achilles heel" of Thermopylae only after arriving in the Pass.

A circuitous mountain route existed, known as the Anapaea Path, by which an enterprising enemy might enter in the rear of Thermopylae, trapping the defenders inside. During a council, the Phocians volunteered to defend this path as they were used to the local terrain and local area. Leonidas accepted. In the meantime, one of King Xerxes' scouts rode into the pass. As an act of defiance, the Spartans, aware of the scout, continued to play athletic games and leisurely dressed their hair for battle.

Unmolested, the scout reported to Xerxes. The Persian King immediately called on the exiled Spartan king, Demaratus, for advice. Demaratus explained the Persians were facing the flower of the Greeks. Xerxes delayed four days after this reconnaissance to enjoin battle. During this period, he probably waited for his logistics train to arrive and coordinated strategic plans with his navy. On the fifth day, he attacked.

Xerxes' Mede and Cissian divisions moved in first, fighting inside the Pass for several hours. These units were mauled by the better armed and more skillful Greeks. During the second half of the day, Xerxes called on his elite guard, the Immortals, led by the able Hydarnes. Once inside Thermopylae, however, they could not make their superior numbers felt. Time and again the Greeks drove them back and the Persian King was said to have leapt from his throne out of concern thrice that day.

During the course of the second day's battles, the Persians fared no better. Herodotus relates that the Greek territorial units fought in rotation to relieve each other, and that some units feigned retreat in order to draw out the enemy, then suddenly turned and counterattacked their disordered pursuers.

On that second day, however, the Persian King received an extraordinary windfall. A local Greek by the name of Ephialtes offered to guide the Persians over the Anapaea Path for a reward.

That evening, Hydarnes and his Immortals entered the mountainous forest of oak trees near the Asopus River and climbed to the summit where they caught the Phocian Greeks off guard. Pelting the Phocians with arrows, the Immortals bypassed them and continued along the path, the end of which would place them at the village of Alpenoi at the eastern end of Thermopylae directly at Leonidas's rear.

On the final, fatal dawn, Leonidas heard from scout runners that they would soon be surrounded. He called a council and once again the opinion was divided.