The Spartan Three Hundred
I
1. About five hundred years before the birth of Christ, almost all the nations of Asia were under the rule of Xerxes, the king of Persia, whom the Greeks called the Great King. Xerxes had conquered tribe after tribe and nation after nation, until the greater part of the known world acknowledged his rule.
2. But the little free states along the eastern Mediterranean still remained unconquered, and against these states of Greece Xerxes was leading all the power of his mighty empire.
Ten years before, at the battle of Marathon, a small Greek army had defeated the Persian hosts, and Xerxes was resolved to avenge this humiliation.
3. At the battle of which I am going to tell you, the overwhelming numbers of the Persians did indeed win the victory, but the honor and glory of the day rest with the little band of Greek heroes who fought to the death for the freedom of their country.
4. The Persian army in advancing on Greece were obliged to march through a narrow pass, with the sea on one side and a steep precipice on the other. This pass was called Thermopylæ, and it was here that the Greeks resolved to make a stand. They did not know till they had marched to Thermopylæ that behind the pass there was a mountain path by which soldiers might climb round and over the mountain and fall upon their rear.
5. The Greek army encamped in the pass, between the narrow, northern gateway by which the enemy must enter, and a gateway to the south. They were protected in front by an old wall which they repaired.