Battle of Thermopylae in popular culture Battle of Thermopylae in popular culture The Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BCE has long been the topic of cultural motivation, as it is perhaps the most famous military last stand of all time. This "against all odds" story is passed to us from the writings of the Greek Herodotus, who was not present at the battle himself. He relates the story of 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians defending the Pass of Thermopylae against almost "2 million" Persians on the third day of the battle. (For the first two days, the Greek force had numbered somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000.)
Battle of Hysiae (417 BC) destroyed the town and fortress of Hysiae and had its male population executed. The campaign is described by the historians Thucydides (5.83.2), who actually fought in the war, and Diodorus Siculus (12.81.1), who wrote in the 1st century BC, over two hundred years later. Thucydides says that the Spartans marched against Argos in the winter of 418–417 BC with all their allies, but failed to take the city of Argos. The Spartans did, however, capture and destroy the Argive town of Hysiae, taking all the male citizens as hostages. The hostages were subsequently killed. With Hysiae destroyed, the Spartans left