Battle at Thermopylae

King Xerxes, son of Darius, ascended to the throne of Persia after his father's death in 486 BC. After securing the throne, Xerxes began to gather forces to invade Greece. By 480 BC, he had an army approximately 100,000 to 180,000 men and a fleet of nearly 600 ships, a large army by Greek standards. This time, instead of an invasion by sea, this massive army would cross the Hellespont, and march around the Aegean sea and conquer Greece by …

…read: Here did four thousand men from Pelops' land Against three hundred myriads bravely stand. Another was for the Spartans alone: Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell That here, obeying her behests, we fell. The third inscription was from a seer of Leonidas: The great Megistias' tomb you here may view, Whom slew the Medes, fresh from Spercheius' fords. Well the wise seer the coming death foreknew, Yet scorned he to forsake his Spartan lords.