Introduction
In 480 BC, the Persian King Xerxes (r. 486-465 BC) led a campaign to punish the sovereign city-states of Greece for their refusal to join his vast and dictatorial empire. An enormous Persian army recruited from all over Asia reached the eastern mainland late in August, only to find four thousand preening Greeks barring the way.
THE coastal road at Thermopylae threads its way between mountainous forest on one side and soft sands on the other, and in 480 BC it was along this narrow track that the vast army of Xerxes, reportedly two million six hundred thousand strong,* had to pass if the Persian emperor was to conquer Greece.*
Leonidas, King of Sparta, who had been elected Greek commander-in-chief, raised a barricade across the road, defended by barely four thousand men.* When Persian scouts reported seeing a few Greeks seated on it combing their hair, Xerxes (unaware that it was a battle ritual) was inclined to laugh, and delivered the makeshift garrison a terse message: ‘Send your weapons’. ‘Come take them’ invited Leonidas.* But for two days every Persian raid failed.
However, a traitor named Ephialtes sold Xerxes news of a wooded mountain pass that would bring the Persians around behind the Greeks. The King seized his chance, and though Leonidas’s men tried valiantly to lure the Persian column into the forest for hand-to-hand combat, they were brushed aside.
For this story, the strengths given by Herodotus have
been used. He records an inscription that read:
‘Here once,
facing in fight three hundred myriads of foemen,
Thousands four did
contend, men of the Peloponnese.’
A myriad is ten thousand. Modern
scholars take the numbers down to between 120,000 and 300,000.
This was Persia’s second attempt, as Xerxes’s father Darius I had been frustrated at The Battle of Marathon ten years earlier.
Using Herodotus’s sometimes confusing tallies. Modern scholars prefer a number in the region of 7,000 all told.
According to Plutarch, the exchange was: ‘πέμψον τὰ ὅπλα,’ ἀντέγραψε ‘μολὼν λαβέ.’ He also tells us that Xerxes offered Leonidas the kingship of all Greece as a vassal of Persia. ‘If you had any knowledge of the noble things of life,’ Leonidas retorted, ‘you would refrain from coveting others’ possessions; but for me, to die for Greece is better than to be the sole ruler over the people of my race.’
Ephialtes of Trachis. Onetas, a native of Carystus and son of Phanagoras, and Corydallus, a native of Anticyra, were also rumoured to be the traitor; but Herodotus noted that when the Athenian deputies put out a reward for his capture it was Ephialtes who was named.
Précis
In 480 BC, Xerxes I of Persia invaded Greece with an enormous army that had to pass through a narrow stretch of road at Thermopylae. Led by Leonidas of Sparta, a tiny battalion of Greeks set up a barricade and defied all attempts to disarm them. However, a traitor sold Xerxes news of a path around them. (57 / 60 words)
In 480 BC, Xerxes I of Persia invaded Greece with an enormous army that had to pass through a narrow stretch of road at Thermopylae. Led by Leonidas of Sparta, a tiny battalion of Greeks set up a barricade and defied all attempts to disarm them. However, a traitor sold Xerxes news of a path around them.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, besides, despite, if, just, since, whereas, who.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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