How did leonidas die

Leonidas accomplishments
How old was leonidas when he became king
Leonidas 300

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sparta reconsidered

Although Leonidas’ stand at Thermopylae is widely viewed as the epitome of “Spartan” behavior, it was in fact unique in Spartan history. No king had ever died in battle before Thermopylae, and famously, less than hundred years later in 425 BC, several hundred Spartans trapped on the island of Sphacteria surrendered rather than die to the last man. Nor was this later incident the act of isolated, dishonorable individuals. The Spartan government was so anxious to recover the men who surrendered that it sued for peace.

Thus, far from doing only what he had been raised to do, Leonidas’ stand at Thermopylae was a very personal one. To understand it, it is useful to look at him as an individual – starting with his childhood. For the next seven months, I will be looking at Leonidas' biography to trace how he came to make his stand at Thermopylae. I start with his childhood and youth.

Two aspects of Leonidas’ childhood may shed light on his later life: the bitter rift within his family and his education in the agoge.

By the time Leonida

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Leonidas I

Leonidas I (Greek: Λεωνίδας; c. 530 BC–480 BC) was a king of the Greek city-state of Sparta from about 490 BC until his death in 480. The Spartans and associates defended the pass at Thermopylae against the Persian army. Although Leonidas lost the battle, his death at Thermopylae was seen as a heroic sacrifice. Leonidas sent most of his army away when he realized that the Persians had outmaneuvered him. Three hundred of his fellow Spartans stayed with him to fight to the death. Almost everything that is known about Leonidas comes from the work of the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–c. 425 BC)

Thermopylae

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Invasion of Greece

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In 480 BC, the Persians with their king Xerxes attacked Greece. When the Greeks asked the Spartans to join their army against the Persians, the Spartans went to the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle gave a prophecy. It said that either Sparta would fall or the Spartans would lose a king.

Fighting back

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In August 480 BC, Leonidas went to Thermopylae with 300 of his bo

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The real life exploits of Leonidas of Sparta and his 300 warriors at Thermoplyae have given rise to the myth of the Spartan superhero – the supremely disciplined man of few words who had a body of steel, could endure any hardship and would fight to his last breath. Such men really did exist and chief among them was Leonidas, the Spartan king who defied the might of Persia, saving Greece from annihilation. In this week’s Biographics we discover the real life Leonidas.

Early Years

Leonidas I was born around 540 BCE in the Greek city of Sparta. At that time Greece was made up of hundreds of city states, of which Athens and Sparta were the largest. Leonidas’ father, Anaxandrides, was the king of Sparta.

For the Greeks, warfare was the supreme statement of a citizen. It is what made a man and gave him the right to be a part of his city. Every Greek, in every city state was obliged to military service from the age of twenty until the age of forty-five. In order to prepare for that life, boys were put into a military training camp, known as the Agoge, from the age of seven.

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