Athens fleet, and helped the rebellion of the Ionian cities against Persian rule. In the ensuing Greco-Persian Wars Athens, together with Sparta, led the coalition of Greek states that would eventually repel the Persians, defeating them decisively at Marathon in 490 BC, and crucially at Salamis in 480 BC. However, this did not prevent Athens from being captured and sacked twice by the Persians within one year, after a heroic resistance at Thermopylae by Spartans and other Greeks led by King Leonidas, after both Boeotia and Attica fell to the Persians. The decades that followed became known as the Golden Age
Leonidas at Thermopylae needed a hero to sacrifice himself for the greater good of his country, and the story of Leonidas and the Battle of Thermopylae inspired him. This was all taking place during the French Revolution where enemy soldiers were closing in on the French borders; these events are similar to how the Spartans felt during the Battle at Thermopylae, the core theme of David’s painting. When Napoleon Bonaparte saw the exhibit of David’s latest paintings in 1799, “he criticized the lack of action and the fixed poses of the warriors in "The Sabine Women".” This critique by one of David’s heroes