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.)
Leonidas at Thermopylae the time. The piece shows the Spartan king Leonidas prior to the Battle of Thermopylae. David's pupil Georges Rouget collaborated on it. The crowded and theatrical scene that David depicts takes place in a time of war, seemingly in Greece from the Greek temple and temperate mountains in the background. The war we see is the Battle of Thermopylae, which took place in 480 B.C. Thermopylae, which is a Greek word that means “hot gates,” was chosen to be the perfect place for this battle because of its mountainous geography and narrow passageway. This helped the Greeks hold a better