In the world where the Persians represented the East, the Greeks represented the West. Once upon a time, the Persian Achaemenid Empire was very powerful and wanted to conquer Greek lands as well. Leonidas is one of the heroes who said to stop the Persian invasion.
(490-480 BC) When Persian King Seres I began invading Greece in the 480s, he had to traverse the narrow paths of Thermophile while watching the Greek army in retreat. Here he encountered an unexpected obstacle: 300 Spartan warriors who attracted attention with their cold-blooded valor and resistance. At their head was their king, Leonidas. The Persian King ordered his pioneers to flock to the pass. Thus began a hopeless war. The Persians attacked the pass in waves but were ruthlessly repulsed by the Spartans. By evening, Leonidas and all his soldiers had been put to the sword, but the Greek army was able to breathe a sigh of relief since the Persians had also lost a lot of time.
Life story
King Leonidas, the protagonist of 300 Sparta movies, is a Spartan King. 2. He is the son of Anaxandridas. His grandfather is King Leon. He ascended the throne after Cleomenes I. King Leonidas is famous for the Battle of Thermopylae, which he waged against the Persian army, which was outnumbered by his own army.
King Leonidas of Sparta has two older brothers. In this case, the probability of ascending the throne is quite low, and his brother named Dorieus was killed in a war in Sicily, and his only brother named Cleomenes remained. Leonidas became the sole heir to the throne with the death of this brother after a suspicious suicide case. Leonidas marries Celomene's daughter, Gorgo, and later becomes king of Sparta, as he is the sole heir to the throne after his father's death.
Battle of Thermopylae
King Leonidas is famous for the legendary Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, against the Persian Army, which, despite the small number of soldiers he had, was outnumbered. In this war, which took place in 480 BC, he sent ephors, that is, gods and priests. 300 royal bodyguards and soldiers were sent to travel with Leonidas to Thermopylae Pass.
King Leonidas, who will be met with a large Persian army under Xerxes at the pass, has no chance. The reason why he was sent to the pass with a small number of soldiers is that he was thought to die for sure at the end of the mission. Because before being sent to war, an oracle said that Sparta's salvation would come only through the death of one of the kings.
Leonidas encountered the Persian army under Xerxes at the pass of Thermopylae. On the first day of the war, Serhan told the Spartans to lay down their arms. Although there is no written source on Leonidas' military experience abilities, the courage of Leonidas and the Spartans is known. This king was famous for his courage, and the 300 Spartans under his command refused to lay down their arms.
While being sent to this pass, Leonidas, who was sent against the Persian army with the promise that additional troops would be sent to him, knew that no additional troops would actually come to him. He was aware of the prophecy, but he fought with his warriors for 2 days in this pass, as he would fail to fulfill a task given by the ephors. Leonidas did not receive any additional troop assistance, both for the fulfillment of the prophecy and because it took a long time to recover when Ancient Greece was in a fragmented state.
For two days, Leonidas and his 300 Spartans remained in the pass, successfully resisting the Persian archers and horsemen. On the third day, Leonidas told his warriors to have a nice breakfast because they would eat dinner with Hades.
The Spartans, who were outnumbered by the Persian army, could not resist the attacks from both sides on the third day and were killed together with Leonidas. The Spartans tried to retrieve Leonidas' body, but it was not possible to retrieve Leonidas' dead body, as evidenced by the army size differences during the war. According to Herodotus; Leonidas' head was cut off by the order of Xerxes, and his remaining body was crucified.
Spartans normally do not mourn death in battle, seeing that death in battle is the most glorious death, but Leonidas was buried in lamentation and mourning. This upright and dignified stance of Leonidas was told by word of mouth among all Spartans and was heard throughout Ancient Greece.
At the place where Leonidas died, an engraved lion monument was erected to commemorate the loss of him and his men, with the following inscription:
Go tell the Spartans, a stranger passing by,
Here we lie, obedient to his laws.
300 Spartans Movie
The film, which is about the epic battle of Leonidas and his soldiers called Thermopylae, was released on March 16, 2007, under the name 300 Spartans. Gerard Butler played the character of Leonidas in this movie directed by Zack Snyder.