Leonidas of Sparta
Leonidas was a king of ancient Sparta, the seventeenth of the Agiad line. He succeeded to the throne after his half brother Cleomenes committed suicide in around 489 BC. Very little is known about his life, but his heroic death at the pass of Thermopylae is one of the most famous episodes in history. The Persian king, Xerxes, invaded Greece in about 480 BC, with a large army. The Greek army was considerably smaller and inferior to that of the Persian's, and so their only option, to avoid defeat, was to find a position to defend where Persian numbers would be of less account. Two defensive lines remained; at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae, where the Greek fleet could block the north-Euboean strait, or at the Isthmus itself with the fleet a little to the north of Salamis. After much indecision, the choice fell on Thermopylae. Leonidas was sent with about 7000 men to the pass of Thermopylae. In the pass, Leonidas' men repulsed the frontal attacks of the Persians for the first two days, but on the third day Leonida
It is also because, way back and at the hundredth remove, that company stood in the right line of history. After studying Leonidas and what impact he had on his people and other, it is evident that he is of great significance. It is not just that the human reacts directly and beyond all argument to a story of sacrifice and courage, as wine glass must vibrate to the sound of the violin. s learned that a Greek traitor had informed Xerxes of a mountain top trail that would help the Persians break the pass. He was buried with full honours, including a very un-Spartan display of wailing and mourning, and a carved lion was dedicated at his death site to symbolise his courage. Many feel that what Leonidas did gave the rest of Greece more time to mobilise and also increased their moral. Leonidas sent most of the Greeks to safety to Southern Greece and then swung his remaining force of 300 Spartans and 1100 other Greeks, against the enemy with undaunted courage and grim determination worthy of their Gods. Leonidas fell bravely in the thickest of the fight and a fierce struggle raged over the body of the Spartan King, but given the numbers they faced, the body did fall into Persian hands. It has been said by contemporary Greeks, that Leonidas' head was afterwards cut off by Xerxes' order and his body then crucified. It shows how what Leonidas did at Thermopylae has impacted all people, not only because it was heroic and courageous, but because he was fighting for something greater than himself, and that what he stood for has contributed to the freedom we have today. Our knowledge of the circumstances are too slight to enable us to judge Leonidas' strategy, but his heroism and devotion secured him an almost unique place in the imagination not only of his own time, but also of succeeding times. "The best tribute, to Leonidas and his men, however, was paid by the writer William Golding, who wrote in The Hot Gates, that standing by the mound of Leonidas, he knew "that something real happened here. Simonides, a Spartan lyric poet, expressed the Spartan feeling towards the king with the following quote, "Leonidas, the Spartan king, lives in the great ornament he left behind of unending fame and virtue.
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