Ephialtes and the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC)

The Zack Snyder film 300, released in 2006, depicts a sensationalized account of the Battle of Thermopylae, which was fought in 480 BC between Persia, under the command of Xerxes, and a contingent of Greek soldiers led by the Spartan King Leonidas. Howerver, the film is not based on history, but on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, and, not surprisingly, there are many scenes in the film that are not historically accurate. Some of these scenes involve the betrayal of Sparta by Ephialtes, who, needless to say, in reality was not a hunchback monster who looked like a character from Lord of the Rings. Beyond that blatant visual discrepancy, there are a number of details about Ephialtes’ background and role in the battle which in the film are purely fictional. At the same time, his basic function in the narrative of the film corresponds to the narrative of the 5th century BC historian Herodotus: there was a person named Ephialtes who betrayed the Spartans and this was indeed one of the essential components of the Persians’ victory at the Battle of Thermopylae.

The film also neglects the fact that these events occurred within the context of a series of battles between Persia and Greece, which are essential to understanding the Battle of Thermopylae. The first of these events occurred in 546 BC, when Persia expanded as far as western Asia Minor, conquering the Greek cities along the Asian coast. These states revolted in 499, but the revolt was crushed by 494, and the Persian King Darius I decided to invade mainland Greece. In 490 BC, Persian forces landed at Marathon and were defeated by Athenian land forces; after this battle, the Athenians began preparing a navy in case Persia renewed its attack, which indeed it did. In 481 BC, Dar...

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...f the Spartans was instrumental to the victory of Xerxes at the Battle of Thermopylae.

Primary Sources:

Herodotus. History 7.201-232. Trans. Aubrey de Sélincourt. In The Norton Book of Classical Literature, 287-295. Ed. Bernard Knox. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993.

Secondary Sources:

Cline, Eric H., and Mark W. Graham. Ancient Empires: From Mesopotamia to the Rise of Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Green, Peter. A Concise History of Ancient Greece. London: Thames & Hudson, 1973.

Hammond, Nicholas G.L. “Sparta at Thermopylae.” Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Vol. 45, No. 1 (1st Qtr., 1996), 1-20.

Kebric, Robert. Greek People, 2nd ed. Mountain View, Ca: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997.

Pomeroy, Sarah B. et al. A Brief History of Ancient Greece. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.