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
Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC) Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC) The Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 191 BC between a Roman army led by consul Manius Acilius Glabrio and a Seleucid force led by King Antiochus III the Great. It was the first major battle of the Roman–Seleucid War. The Romans were victorious, and as a result, Antiochus was forced to flee from Greece. At the outbreak of the war in 192 BC, Antiochus crossed from Asia Minor to Greece with a small force, expecting the various states in the region to support him as a fellow Hellene in resistance to Roman hegemony. However,