Battle of Thermopylae 480 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 480 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | Greece | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Second Persian invasion of Greece | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Achaemenid Empire, Sparta, Thebes, Thespiae | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 38.7958, 22.5369 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Thermopylae () was fought in 480 BC at Thermopylae between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Lasting over the course of three days, it was one of the most prominent battles of both the second Persian invasion of Greece and the wider Greco-Persian Wars.
The engagement occurred simultaneously with the naval Battle of Artemisium: between July and September during 480 BC. The second Persian invasion under Xerxes was a delayed response to the failure of the first Persian invasion, which had been initiated by Darius I and ended in 490 BC by an Athenian-led Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon. By 480 BC, a decade after the Persian defeat at Marathon, Xerxes had amassed a massive land and naval force, and subsequently set out to conquer all of Greece. In response, the Athenian politician and general Themistocles proposed that the allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae while simultaneously blocking the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium.
Around the start of the invasion, a Greek force of approximately 7,000 men – including an estimated 300 Spartans – led by Leonidas marched north to block the pass of Thermopylae.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Thermopylae (revision 1381239482), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Thermopylae (1941) 1941 · 0 km
- Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC) 191 BC · 1 km
- Battle of Scarpheia 146 BC · 1 km
- Battle of Thermopylae (254) 254 · 2 km
- Battle of Thermopylae (279 BC) 279 BC · 2 km
- Battle of Thermopylae (323 BC) 323 BC · 2 km
Other battles of the Second Persian invasion of Greece
- Battle of Artemisium 480 BC
- Battle of Salamis 480 BC
- Battle of Mycale 479 BC
- Battle of Plataea 479 BC
All 5 battles of the Second Persian invasion of Greece →
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