When Sparta consulted the Oracle at Delphi about the Persian invasion, the priestess delivered a brutal answer: either Sparta would be destroyed, or one of its kings would have to die. No loopholes, no escape. Leonidas, one of Sparta's two kings, understood the message instantly. And instead of running from his fate, he decided to fulfill it himself.
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Crowns & Conquests·2/3·1′
The place
Thermopylae - The Hot Gates
Leonidas and the 300 — The Last Stand
The king who chose death over surrender
480 BCEThermopylae - The Hot Gates
Moral of the Story
“True courage is not the absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear. Leonidas chose duty over survival, and his sacrifice saved a civilization.”
Characters
K
King LeonidasX
XerxesT
The 300 SpartansT
The 700 ThespiansE
EphialtesSource
Herodotus's Histories (Book 7, chapters 201-228), Plutarch's Sayings of the Spartans, Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca Historica