Battle of Plataea other. The Allies initially adopted a strategy of blocking land and sea approaches to southern Greece. Thus, in August 480 BC, after hearing of Xerxes' approach, a small Allied army led by Spartan King Leonidas I blocked the Pass of Thermopylae, while an Athenian-dominated navy sailed to the Straits of Artemisium. Famously, the massively outnumbered Greek army held Thermopylae for three days before being outflanked by the Persians, who used a little-known mountain path. Although much of the Greek army retreated, the rearguard, formed of the Spartan and Thespian contingents, was surrounded and annihilated. The simultaneous Battle of Artemisium, consisting
Marcus Fabius Vibulanus (consul 483 and 480 BC) the funerals of his brother and of Manlius. Thereafter, he earned the affection of the people by distributing the wounded troops among the households of the patricians to be cared for as they healed. According to Roman historical tradition, all of the male members of the "gens Fabia" except one perished in the Battle of the Cremera in 477 BC. If this tradition is correct, then Marcus died that year in the disaster. Tradition identifies the sole survivor as his son Quintus Fabius Vibulanus, who was too young to go to war. Marcus Fabius Vibulanus (consul 483 and 480 BC)