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
Leonidas at Thermopylae needed a hero to sacrifice himself for the greater good of his country, and the story of Leonidas and the Battle of Thermopylae inspired him. This was all taking place during the French Revolution where enemy soldiers were closing in on the French borders; these events are similar to how the Spartans felt during the Battle at Thermopylae, the core theme of David’s painting. When Napoleon Bonaparte saw the exhibit of David’s latest paintings in 1799, “he criticized the lack of action and the fixed poses of the warriors in "The Sabine Women".” This critique by one of David’s heroes