Expansion of Macedonia under Philip II a significant problem, blocking the main route into Greece. However, a second route into central Greece was available. In 480 BC, during the Battle of Thermopylae, the Persian king Xerxes had sent his army via a mountain track (the "Anopea") to outflank the pass. From this track, on the western side of Mount Kallidromon, another road led off and descended in Phocis. In 480 BC, a thousand Phocian troops were stationed above Thermopylae to guard the road and prevent a Persian assault on Phocis (though they notably failed to prevent the Persians using "Anopea"). However, in 339 BC, the Greeks
Pleistarchus his tutor. It is unknown whether Pleistarchus was married. Pleistarchus' father King Leonidas perished in 480 BC at the Battle of Thermopylae. For the early part of Pleistarchus's reign, his uncle Cleombrotus acted as regent; after Cleombrotus's death in 479 BC, Pleistarchus's cousin Pausanias was regent. The successor of Pleistarchus was Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias. Pleistarchus Pleistarchus or Plistarch ( "Pleistarkhos"; died 458 BC) was the Agiad King of Sparta from 480 to 458 BC. He was born in 486 B.c. In Sparta, Greece. His family was Leonidas and Gorgo, who are uncles and nieces. He became king of Sparta