"Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie."So reads an ancient stone at Thermopylae in northern Greece, the site of one of the world's greatest battles.
In the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the Spartan enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history.
History buffs may enjoy the epic dramatization of the battle, 300, or the History Channel's documentary, Last Stand of the 300. We also recommend Paul Cartledge's new non-fiction book, Thermopylae : the Battle that Changed the World and an older novel, Gates of Fire : an Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield.
