King · 540 BC – 480 BC
Leonidas I
Little-Known Facts
- An inscription at Thermopylae honored the dead: 'Go tell the Spartans... here, obedient to their laws, we lie.'
- Far more than 300 Greeks fought, but the Spartans famously stayed to the end.
Myths & Misconceptions
Were there really only 300 at Thermopylae?
Leonidas led about 300 Spartans, but they were joined by thousands of other Greek allies; the '300' refers to the Spartan core who made the final stand.