DEFENCE OF THERMOPYLÆ
B.C. 480
HERODOTUS
The invasion of Greece by Xerxes is the subject of the great
history written in nine books by Herodotus. His object is to show
the preëminence of Greece, whose fleets and armies defeated the
forces of the Persians after these latter had triumphed over the
most powerful nations of the earth. Xerxes collected a vast army
from all parts of the empire. The Phoenicians furnished him with an
enormous fleet, and he made a bridge of a double line of boats
across the Hellespont and cut a canal through the peninsula of
Mount Athos. He reached Sardis in the autumn of B.C. 481, and the
next year his army crossed the bridge of boats, taking seven days
and seven nights for the transit. The number of his fighting men
was over two millions and a half. His ships of war were twelve
hundred and seven in number, and he had three thousand smaller
vessels for carrying his land forces and supplies. At the narrow
pass of Thermopylæ, in the northeast of Greece, this immense army
was checked for a while by the heroic Leonidas and his three
hundred Spartans, who, however, perished in their attempt to
prevent the Persian's attack on Athens, which city was almost
entirely destroyed by the invaders. The sea-fight of Salamis was
won by the Greeks against enormous odds; and in the battle of
Platæa, B.C. 479, the defeat of the Persians by the Greek land
forces was made more complete by the death of Mardonius, the most
renowned general of Xerxes.
The Greeks, when they arrived at the Isthmus, consulted on the message
they had received from Alexander, in what way and in what places they
should prosecute the war. The opinion which prevailed was that they
should defend the pass at Thermopylæ; for it appeared to be narrower
than that into Thessaly, and at the same time nearer to their own
territories; for the path by which the Greeks who were taken at
Thermopylæ were afterward surprised, they knew nothing of, till, on
their arrival at Thermopylæ, they were informed of it by the
Trachinians. They accordingly resolved to guard this pass, and not
suffer the barbarian to enter Greece; and that the naval force should
sail to Artemisium, in the territory of Histiæotis, for these places are
near one another, so that they could hear what happened to each other.
These spots are thus situated.
In the first place, Artemisium is contracted from a wide space of the
Thracian sea into a narrow frith, which lies between the island of
Sciathus and the continent of Magnesia. From the narrow frith begins the
coast of Euboea, called Artemisium, and in it is a temple of Diana. But
the entrance into Greece through Trachis, in the narrowest part, is no
more than a half _plethrum_ in width: however, the narrowest part of the
country is not in this spot, but before and behind Thermopylæ; for near
Alpeni, which is behind, there is only a single carriage-road, and
before, by the river Phoenix, near the city of Anthela, is another
single carriage-road. On the western side of Thermopylæ is an
inaccessible and precipitous mountain, stretching to Mount Oeta, and on
the eastern side of the way is the sea and a morass. In this passage
there are hot baths, which the inhabitants call "Chytri," and above
these is an altar to Hercules. A wall had been built in this pass, and
formerly there were gates in it. The Phocians built it through fear,
when the Thessalians came from Thesprotia to settle in the Æolian
territory which they now possess: apprehending that the Thessalians
would attempt to subdue them, the Phocians took this precaution; at the
same time, they diverted the hot water into the entrance, that the place
might be broken into clefts, having recourse to every contrivance to
prevent the Thessalians from making inroads into their country. Now this
old wall had been built a long time, and the greater part of it had
already fallen through age; but they determined to rebuild it, and in
that place to repel the barbarian from Greece. Very near this road there
is a village called Alpeni; from this the Greeks expected to obtain
provisions.
Accordingly, these situations appeared suitable for the Greeks; for
they, having weighed everything beforehand, and considered that the
barbarians would neither be able to use their numbers nor their
cavalry, there resolved to await the invader of Greece. As soon as they
were informed that the Persian was in Pieria, breaking up from the
Isthmus some of them proceeded by land to Thermopylæ, and others by sea
to Artemisium.
The Greeks, therefore, being appointed in two divisions, hastened to
meet the enemy; but, at the same time, the Delphians, alarmed for
themselves and for Greece, consulted the oracle, and the answer given
them was, "that they should pray to the winds, for that they would be
powerful allies to Greece."
The Delphians, having received the oracle, first of all communicated the
answer to those Greeks who were zealous to be free; and as they very
much dreaded the barbarians, by giving that message they acquired a
claim to everlasting gratitude. After that, the Delphians erected an
altar to the winds at Thyia, where there is an inclosure consecrated to
Thyia, daughter of Cephisus, from whom this district derives its name,
and conciliated them with sacrifices; and the Delphians, in obedience to
that oracle, to this day propitiate the winds.
The naval force of Xerxes, setting out from the city of Therma, advanced
with ten of the fastest sailing ships straight to Scyathus, where were
three Grecian ships keeping a look-out: a Troezenian, an Æginetan, and
an Athenian, These, seeing the ships of the barbarians at a distance,
betook themselves to flight.
The Troezenian ship, which Praxinus commanded, the barbarians pursued
and soon captured; and then, having led the handsomest of the marines to
the prow of the ship, they slew him, deeming it a good omen that the
first Greek they had taken was also very handsome. The name of the man
that was slain was Leon, and perhaps he in some measure reaped the
fruits of his name.
The Æginetan ship, which Asonides commanded, gave them some trouble;
Pytheas, son of Ischenous, being a marine on board, a man who on this
day displayed the most consummate valor; who, when the ship was taken,
continued fighting until he was entirely cut to pieces. But when, having
fallen (he was not dead, but still breathed), the Persians who served on
board the ships were very anxious to save him alive, on account of his
valor, healing his wounds with myrrh, and binding them with bandages of
flaxen cloth; and when they returned to their own camp, they showed him
with admiration to the whole army, and treated him well; but the others,
whom they took in this ship, they treated as slaves.
Thus, then, two of the ships were taken; but the other, which Phormus,
an Athenian, commanded, in its flight ran ashore at the mouth of the
Peneus, and the barbarians got possession of the ship, but not of the
men; for as soon as the Athenians had run the ship aground, they leaped
out, and, proceeding through Thessaly, reached Athens. The Greeks who
were stationed at Artemisium were informed of this event by signal-fires
from Sciathus; and being informed of it, and very much alarmed, they
retired from Artemisium to Chalcis, intending to defend the Euripus, and
leaving scouts on the heights of Euboea. Of the ten barbarian ships,
three approached the sunken rock called Myrmex, between Sciathus and
Magnesia. Then the barbarians, when they had erected on the rock a stone
column, which they had brought with them, set out from Therma, now that
every obstacle had been removed, and sailed forward with all their
ships, having waited eleven days after the king's departure from Therma.
Pammon, a Scyrian, pointed out to them this hidden rock, which was
almost directly in their course. The barbarians, sailing all day,
reached Sepias in Magnesia, and the shore that lies between the city of
Casthanæa and the coast of Sepias.
As far as this place and Thermopylæ, the army had suffered no loss, and
the numbers were at that time, as I find by calculations, of the
following amount: of those in ships from Asia, amounting to one thousand
two hundred and seven, originally the whole number of the several
nations was two hundred forty-one thousand four hundred men, allowing
two hundred to each ship; and on these ships thirty Persians, Medes, and
Sacæ served as marines, in addition to the native crews of each; this
farther number amounts to thirty-six thousand two hundred and ten. To
this and the former number I add those that were on the
_penteconters[51]_ supposing eighty men on the average to be on board of
each. Three thousand of these vessels were assembled; therefore the men
on board them must have been two hundred and forty thousand. This, then,
was the naval force from Asia, the total being five hundred and
seventeen thousand six hundred and ten. Of infantry there were seventeen
hundred thousand, and of cavalry eighty thousand; to these I add the
Arabians who drove camels, and the Libyans who drove chariots, reckoning
the number at twenty thousand men. Accordingly, the numbers on board the
ships and on the land, added together, make up two millions three
hundred and seventeen thousand six hundred and ten. This, then, is the
force which, as has been mentioned, was assembled from Asia itself,
exclusive of the servants that followed, and the provision ships, and
the men that were on board them.
[Footnote 51: Fifty-oared ships.]
But the force brought from Europe must still be added to this whole
number that has been summed up; but it is necessary to speak by guess.
Now the Grecians from Thrace, and the islands contiguous to Thrace,
furnished one hundred and twenty ships; these ships give an amount of
twenty-four thousand men. Of land-forces, which were furnished by
Thracians, Pæonians, the Eordi, the Bottiæans, the Chalcidian race,
Brygi, Pierians, Macedonians, Perrhæbi, Ænianes, Dolopians, Magnesians,
and Achæans, together with those who inhabit the maritime parts of
Thrace--of these nations I suppose that there were three hundred
thousand men, so that these _myriads_, added to those from Asia, make a
total of two millions six hundred and forty one thousand six hundred and
ten fighting men!
I think that the servants who followed them, and with those on board the
provision ships and other vessels that sailed with the fleet, were not
fewer than the fighting men, but more numerous; but supposing them to be
equal in number to the fighting men, they make up the former number of
_myriads_.[52] Thus Xerxes, son of Darius, led five millions two hundred
and eighty-three thousand two hundred and twenty men to Sepias and
Thermopylæ!
[Footnote 52: In Greek numeration, ten thousand.]
This, then, was the number of the whole force of Xerxes. But of women
who made bread, and concubines, and eunuchs, no one could mention the
number with accuracy; nor of draught-cattle and other beasts of burden;
nor of Indian dogs that followed could any one mention the number, they
were so many; therefore I am not astonished that the streams of some
rivers failed, but rather it is a wonder to me how provisions held out
for so many _myriads_; for I find by calculation, if each man had a
_choenix_ of wheat daily, and no more, one hundred and ten thousand
three hundred and forty _medimni_ must have been consumed every day; and
I have not reckoned the food for the women, eunuchs, beasts of burden,
and dogs. But of these _myriads_ of men, not one of them, for beauty and
stature, was more entitled than Xerxes himself to possess the supreme
command.
When the fleet, having set out, sailed and reached the shore of Magnesia
that lies between the city of Casthanæa and the coast of Sepias, the
foremost of the ships took up their station close to land, others behind
rode at anchor--the beach not being extensive enough--with their prows
toward the sea, and eight deep. Thus they passed the night; but at
daybreak, after serene and tranquil weather, the sea began to swell, and
a heavy storm with a violent gale from the east--which those who inhabit
these parts call a "Hellespontine"--burst upon them; as many of them
then as perceived the gale increasing, and who were able to do so from
their position, anticipated the storm by hauling their ships on shore,
and both they and their ships escaped. But such of the ships as the
storm caught at sea it carried away, some to the parts called Ipni, near
Pelion, others to the beach; some were dashed on Cape Sepias itself;
some were wrecked at Meliboea, and others at Casthanæa. The storm was
indeed irresistible.
The barbarians, when the wind had lulled and the waves had subsided,
having hauled down their ships, sailed along the continent; and having
doubled the promontory of Magnesia, stood directly into the bay leading
to Pagasæ. There is a spot in this bay of Magnesia where it is said
Hercules was abandoned by Jason and his companions when he had been sent
from the Argo for water, as they were sailing to Colchis, in Asia, for
the golden fleece; and from there they purposed to put out to sea after
they had taken in water. From this circumstance, the name of "Aphetæ"
was given to the place. In this place, then, the fleet of Xerxes was
moored.
Fifteen of these ships happened to be driven out to sea some time after
the rest, and somehow saw the ships of the Greeks at Artemisium. The
barbarians thought that they were their own, and sailing on, fell among
their enemies. They were commanded by Sandoces, son of Thaumasius,
governor of Cyme, of Æolia. He, being one of the royal judges, had been
formerly condemned by King Darius (who had detected him in the following
offence), to be crucified. Sandoces gave an unjust sentence, for a
bribe; but while he was actually hanging on the cross, Darius,
considering within himself, found that the services he had rendered to
the royal family were greater than his faults. Darius, therefore, having
discovered this, and perceiving that he, himself, had acted with more
expedition than wisdom, released him. Having thus escaped being put to
death by Darius, he survived; but now, sailing down among the Grecians,
he was not to escape a second time; for when the Greeks saw them sailing
toward them, perceiving the mistake they had committed, they bore down
upon them and easily took them.
King Xerxes encamped in the Trachinian territory of Malis, and the
Greeks in the pass. This spot is called by most of the Greeks,
"Thermopylæ," but by the inhabitants and neighbors, "Pylæ," Both
parties, then, encamped in these places. The one was in possession of
all the parts toward the north as far as Trachis, and the others, of the
parts which stretch toward the south and meridian of this continent.
The following were the Greeks who awaited the Persians in this position.
Of Spartans, three hundred heavy-armed men; of Tegeans and Mantineans,
one thousand (half of each); from Orchomenus in Arcadia, one hundred and
twenty; and from the rest of Arcadia, one thousand (there were so many
Arcadians); from Corinth, four hundred; from Phlius, two hundred men;
and from Mycenæ, eighty. These came from Peloponnesus. From Boeotia, of
Thespians seven hundred; and of Thebans, four hundred.
In addition to these, the Opuntian Locrians, being invited, came with
all their forces, and a thousand Phocians; for the Greeks themselves
had invited them, representing by their embassadors that "they had
arrived as forerunners of the others, and that the rest of the allies
might be daily expected; that the sea was protected by them, being
guarded by the Athenians, the Æginetæ, and others, who were appointed to
the naval service; and that they had nothing to fear, for that it was
not a god who invaded Greece, but a man; and that there never was, and
never would be, any mortal who had not evil mixed with _his prosperity_
from his very birth, and to the greatest of them the greatest _reverses
happen_; that it must therefore needs be that he who is marching against
us, being a mortal, will be disappointed in his expectation." They,
having heard this, marched with assistance to Trachis.
These nations had separate generals for their several cities, but the
one most admired, and who commanded the whole army, was a Lacedæmonian,
Leonidas, son of Anaxandrides, son of Leon, son of Eurycratides, son of
Anaxander, son of Eurycates, son of Polydorus, son of Alcamenes, son of
Teleclus, son of Archelaus, son of Agesilaus, son of Doryssus, son of
Leobotes, son of Echestratus, son of Agis, son of Eurysthenes, son of
Aristodemus, son of Aristomachus, son of Cleodæus, son of Hyllus, son of
Hercules, who had unexpectedly succeeded to the throne of Sparta.
For, as he had two elder brothers, Cleomenes and Dorieus, he was far
from any thought of the kingdom. However, Cleomenes having died without
male issue, and Dorieus being no longer alive--having ended his days in
Sicily--the kingdom thus devolved upon Leonidas; both because he was
older than Cleombrotus--for he was the youngest son of Anaxandrides--and
also because he had married the daughter of Cleomenes. He then marched
to Thermopylæ, having chosen the three hundred men allowed by law, and
such as had children. On his march he took with him the Thebans, whose
numbers I have already reckoned, and whom Leontiades, son of Eurymachus,
commanded. For this reason Leonidas was anxious to take with him the
Thebans alone of all the Greeks, because they were strongly accused of
favoring the Medes: he therefore summoned them to the war, wishing to
know whether they would send their forces with him, or would openly
renounce the alliance of the Grecians; but they, though otherwise
minded, sent assistance.
The Spartans sent these troops first with Leonidas, in order that the
rest of the allies, seeing them, might take the field, and might not go
over to the Medes if they heard that they were delaying; but
afterward--for the Carnean festival was then an obstacle to them--they
purposed, when they had kept the feast, to leave a garrison in Sparta
and to march immediately with their whole strength. The rest of the
confederates likewise intended to act in the same manner; for the
Olympic games occurred at the same period as these events. As they did
not, therefore, suppose that the engagement at Thermopylæ would so soon
be decided, they despatched an advance-guard.
The Greeks at Thermopylæ, when the Persians came near the pass, being
alarmed, consulted about a retreat; accordingly, it seemed best to the
other Peloponnesians to retire to Peloponnesus, and guard the Isthmus;
but Leonidas, perceiving the Phocians and Locrians were very indignant
at this proposition, determined to stay there, and to despatch
messengers to the cities, desiring them to come to their assistance,
they being too few to repel the army of the Medes.
While they were deliberating on these matters, Xerxes sent a scout on
horseback, to see how many they were and what they were doing; for while
he was still in Thessaly, he had heard that a small army had been
assembled at that spot, and as to their leaders, that they were
Lacedæmonians, and Leonidas, who was of the race of Hercules. When the
horseman rode up to the camp, he reconnoitred, and saw not indeed the
whole camp, for it was not possible that they should be seen who were
posted within the wall, which having rebuilt they were now guarding; but
he had a clear view of those on the outside, whose arms were piled in
front of the wall. At this time the Lacedæmonians happened to be posted
outside; and some of the men he saw performing gymnastic exercises, and
others combing their hair. On beholding this he was astonished, and
ascertained their number, and having informed himself of everything
accurately, he rode back at his leisure, for no one pursued him and he
met with general contempt. On his return he gave an account to Xerxes
of all that he had seen.
When Xerxes heard this, he could not comprehend the truth that the
Grecians were preparing to be slain and to slay to the utmost of their
power; but, as they appeared to behave in a ridiculous manner, he sent
for Demaratus, son of Ariston, who was then in the camp, and when he was
come into his presence Xerxes questioned him as to each particular,
wishing to understand what the Lacedæmonians were doing. Demaratus said:
"You before heard me when we were setting out against Greece, speak of
these men, and when you heard, you treated me with ridicule though I
told you in what way I foresaw these matters would issue; for it is my
chief aim, O king, to adhere to the truth in your presence; hear it,
therefore, once more. These men have to fight with us for the pass and
are now preparing themselves to do so; for such is their custom when
they are going to hazard their lives, then they dress their heads; but
be assured if you conquer these men and those that remain in Sparta,
there is no other nation in the world that will dare to raise its hand
against you, O king! for you are now to engage with the noblest kingdom
and city of all among the Greeks and with the most valiant men." What
was said seemed incredible to Xerxes and he asked again, "how, being so
few in number, they could contend with his army." He answered: "O king,
deal with me as with a liar if these things do not turn out as I say!"
By saying this he did not convince Xerxes. He therefore let four days
pass, constantly expecting that they would be taking themselves to
flight; but on the fifth day, as they had not retreated, but appeared to
him to stay through arrogance and rashness, he, being enraged, sent the
Medes and Cissians against them, with orders to take them alive, and
bring them into his presence. When the Medes bore down impetuously upon
the Greeks, many of them fell; others followed to the charge, and were
not repulsed, though they suffered greatly; but they made it evident to
every one, and not least of all to the king himself, that they were
indeed many men, but few soldiers. The engagement lasted through the
day.
When the Medes were roughly handled, they thereupon retired, and the
Persians whom the king called "Immortal," and whom Hydarnes commanded,
taking their place advanced to the attack thinking that they indeed
would easily settle the business. But when they engaged with the
Grecians they succeeded no better than the Medic troops, but just the
same; as they fought in a narrow space and used shorter spears than the
Greeks, they were unable to avail themselves of their numbers. The
Lacedæmonians fought memorably in other respects, showing that they knew
how to fight with men who knew not, and whenever they turned their backs
they retreated in close order, but the barbarians, seeing them retreat,
followed with a shout and clamor; then they, being overtaken, wheeled
round so as to front the barbarians, and having faced about, overthrew
an inconceivable number of the Persians, and then some few of the
Spartans themselves fell, so that when the Persians were unable to gain
anything in their attempt on the pass by attacking in troops and in
every possible manner, they retired.
It is said that during these onsets of the battle, the king, who
witnessed them, thrice sprang from his throne, being alarmed for his
army. Thus they strove at that time. On the following day the barbarians
fought with no better success; for considering that the Greeks were few
in number, and expecting that they were covered with wounds and would
not be able to raise their heads against them any more, they renewed the
contest. But the Greeks were marshalled in companies and according to
their several nations, and each fought in turn, except only the
Phocians; they were stationed at the mountain to guard the pathway.
When, therefore, the Persians found nothing different from what they had
seen on the preceding day, they retired.