Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

They're told that they're going to defend a pass against the army of Xerxes, but they're told there's a way around it. And so they abandon the position. And so they retreat and they think about what they should do next. There is an obvious geographical point where historically you stop an army moving south into Greece.

That point is Thermopylae and it continues to be, I mean, it is important here and it continues to be important right down into the Second World War. The last battle of Thermopylae that we know of is 1941. This is a continuous thing throughout history that if you want to stop that army marching into central Greece, Thermopylae, a narrow strip of land along the coast, is where you do it.

That point is Thermopylae and it continues to be, I mean, it is important here and it continues to be important right down into the Second World War. The last battle of Thermopylae that we know of is 1941. This is a continuous thing throughout history that if you want to stop that army marching into central Greece, Thermopylae, a narrow strip of land along the coast, is where you do it.

That point is Thermopylae and it continues to be, I mean, it is important here and it continues to be important right down into the Second World War. The last battle of Thermopylae that we know of is 1941. This is a continuous thing throughout history that if you want to stop that army marching into central Greece, Thermopylae, a narrow strip of land along the coast, is where you do it.

It's your last hope, isn't it, really? Yeah, exactly. So at that point, you're on the threshold of Boeotia. So you're really going into like the area of Greece that most urbanized, most highly developed, where all of the famous states essentially are. If Thermopylae falls, central Greece falls, there's no other position where you can hold an army. So that is where you send your force.

It's your last hope, isn't it, really? Yeah, exactly. So at that point, you're on the threshold of Boeotia. So you're really going into like the area of Greece that most urbanized, most highly developed, where all of the famous states essentially are. If Thermopylae falls, central Greece falls, there's no other position where you can hold an army. So that is where you send your force.

It's your last hope, isn't it, really? Yeah, exactly. So at that point, you're on the threshold of Boeotia. So you're really going into like the area of Greece that most urbanized, most highly developed, where all of the famous states essentially are. If Thermopylae falls, central Greece falls, there's no other position where you can hold an army. So that is where you send your force.

And helpfully, the sea alongside Thermopylae, there's a sort of inlet between the mainland and the island of Euboea, which is also quite narrow and also for a fleet quite defensible. So what the Greeks agreed to do is send an army to Thermopylae and send a fleet to Artemision, which is where this sort of dual defense on land and sea is supposed to take place.

And helpfully, the sea alongside Thermopylae, there's a sort of inlet between the mainland and the island of Euboea, which is also quite narrow and also for a fleet quite defensible. So what the Greeks agreed to do is send an army to Thermopylae and send a fleet to Artemision, which is where this sort of dual defense on land and sea is supposed to take place.

And helpfully, the sea alongside Thermopylae, there's a sort of inlet between the mainland and the island of Euboea, which is also quite narrow and also for a fleet quite defensible. So what the Greeks agreed to do is send an army to Thermopylae and send a fleet to Artemision, which is where this sort of dual defense on land and sea is supposed to take place.

But the army that they send to Thermopylae is, compared to the later army that they would send out in the following year to Plataea, it's tiny. It's very, very small. There's a small force of Spartans, a thousand strong, and then similarly sized contingents of the Spartan allies. So they're really, really quite small forces, maybe about a tenth of their available strength.

But the army that they send to Thermopylae is, compared to the later army that they would send out in the following year to Plataea, it's tiny. It's very, very small. There's a small force of Spartans, a thousand strong, and then similarly sized contingents of the Spartan allies. So they're really, really quite small forces, maybe about a tenth of their available strength.

But the army that they send to Thermopylae is, compared to the later army that they would send out in the following year to Plataea, it's tiny. It's very, very small. There's a small force of Spartans, a thousand strong, and then similarly sized contingents of the Spartan allies. So they're really, really quite small forces, maybe about a tenth of their available strength.

Maybe as much as a third in some cases, but they're very, very small pieces of their levies. There's always been a question of why did they send so few troops? Why are these armies so small? The traditional argument has been, and is already there in Herodotus, that this is because the Spartans expected to lose, and they knew it was a suicide mission, and so they'd only send a small force.

Maybe as much as a third in some cases, but they're very, very small pieces of their levies. There's always been a question of why did they send so few troops? Why are these armies so small? The traditional argument has been, and is already there in Herodotus, that this is because the Spartans expected to lose, and they knew it was a suicide mission, and so they'd only send a small force.

Maybe as much as a third in some cases, but they're very, very small pieces of their levies. There's always been a question of why did they send so few troops? Why are these armies so small? The traditional argument has been, and is already there in Herodotus, that this is because the Spartans expected to lose, and they knew it was a suicide mission, and so they'd only send a small force.

But then the big question is why did they send so many, essentially?

But then the big question is why did they send so many, essentially?

But then the big question is why did they send so many, essentially?

They sent their king, Leonidas, with an army. Right, yeah. It seems like a very official move, but the later explanation is, oh, they needed to lose a king to meet a prophecy to save the rest of Greece. That's the argument. But it's very hard to explain why they would send so large an army in that case. I mean, send three guys, for God's sake. Send Leonidas himself alone. It doesn't matter.