What did the Persian spy see the Spartans doing before the final battle?
Xerxes used the time waiting for the fleet to arrive to good advantage. First he sent a spy to see what the Greeks were doing; the astonished horseman returned to report that he had seen the Spartans stripping for exercise and fixing each other’s hair.
How many Persians did the Spartans killed?
The Persian assault began on August 17 and lasted for three days before the Persians finally killed the 298 Spartans who had defended the mountain pass with another small Greek contingent of roughly three to four thousand men. Before the Spartans and others died, however, they had slain twenty thousand Persians.
Did the 300 Spartans get betrayed?
In the 1962 film The 300 Spartans, Ephialtes was portrayed by Kieron Moore and is depicted as a loner who worked on a goat farm near Thermopylae. He betrays the Spartans to the Persians out of greed for riches, and, it is implied, unrequited love for a Spartan girl named Ellas.
What happened to the Spartans after the Battle of Thermopylae?
An army of Spartans, Thespians and Thebans remained to fight the Persians. Leonidas and the 300 Spartans with him were all killed, along with most of their remaining allies. The Persians found and beheaded Leonidas’ corpse–an act that was considered to be a grave insult.
How many Spartans died in 300?
The battle of Thermopylae (August 480 BC) is one of the most famous military defeats in history, and is best known for the fate of the 300 Spartans, killed alongside 700 Thespians on the final day of the battle (Greco-Persian Wars).
How many Spartans were in the Battle of Thermopylae?
In the late summer of 480 B.C., Leonidas led an army of 6,000 to 7,000 Greeks from many city-states, including 300 Spartans, in an attempt to prevent the Persians from passing through Thermopylae.
How many men were on the last stand at Thermopylae?
Thus the Greek’s last stand at Thermopylae involved around 1400 men and not 300 as is popularly proclaimed and portrayed. With the Persians surrounding the Greek army, the Phalanx was broken and there was open battle.
What happened to the Persians after the Battle of Salamis?
After the Battle. Leonidas’ sacrifice, along with that of his Spartan hoplites, did not prevent the Persians from moving down the Greek coast into Boeotia. In September 480 B.C., however, the Athenian navy defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salamis, after which the Persians returned home.
Why didn’t the Persians ever conquer the Thermopylae?
It is believed that the Thermopylae pass at the time was only 200 yards at its widest and so the Persians had to come through it in small numbers which could be countered by the relatively small Greek force. Also their cavalry would be rendered useless.