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
Marcus Fabius Vibulanus (consul 483 and 480 BC) Marcus Fabius Vibulanus (consul 483 and 480 BC) Marcus Fabius Vibulanus was consul of the Roman republic in 483 and 480 BC. For a seven year period from 485 to 478 BC, one of the two consuls was a member of the gens Fabia, a domination of the office Gary Forsythe describes as "unparalleled in the consular "fasti" of the Roman Republic." His brothers were Quintus (consul in 485 and 482 BC) and Kaeso (consul in 484, 481, and 479 BC). According to the recorded filiation of his son, Marcus' father's "praenomen" was Caeso Fabius. Livy states that during Marcus