Last stand: Thermopylae

‘Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.’

Inscription on the Cenotaph at Thermopylae

In the Cambridge English dictionary, a ‘prototypical example’ is defined as ‘the first example from which later forms can be developed’. Thus the defence of Thermopylae in 480 BC may well be considered in historical terms as the prototypical ‘last stand’ of a small military force against overwhelming numbers of enemy.

Because of its historical distance, we have limited information on the actual fight, but we are fortunate in having a few written records that attest to the desperate struggle in a narrow pass on the Greek peninsula.

Located approximately 200 kilometres north-west of Athens on the Gulf of Maliakos, the place-name Thermopylae, meaning ‘Hot Gates’, refers to the presence of hot sulphur springs nearby. In antiquity, these were frequently imagined to be the entrance to Hades. For many of those who fought there, so they turned out to be.

One might assume, given the widespread recognition afforded the battle and the sacrifice of the Spartan King Leonidas and his brothers-in-arms, that Thermopylae had a major military impact on the outcome of the war. But this was not the case.

In the event, Thermopylae was an exercise in futility, for in the following months Xerxes went on to subdue much of Greece, even burning Athens. It would be a full year before an allied Greek force was able to defeat the Persians and expel them from the Greek homeland.

But if the defence of Thermopylae was ineffectual, it nonetheless captures the imagination – and has some valuable lessons to teach with regard to terrain appreciation.

The Persian Wars

Ancient Greece was an interesting military environment, a collection of diverse and independent city-states, a characteristic dictated by the topography of the area. Nearly every valley, island, and plain is cut off from its neighbours by water or hill-country, encouraging the development of countless separate polities.