It's one of those moments in history when archaeology confirmed Herodotus. Again. In 1939, Spyridon Marinatos discovered a large number of bronze Persian arrowheads on the hill of Kolonos. Years later, the archaeological spade confirmed both the event and Herodotus’ words about the Battle of Thermopylae.
After a long battle, Xerxes and the Persian generals, fearing the Greeks’ valor, decide not to attack directly but to line up thousands of archers within range and fire endlessly upon the hill. The arrows darken the sun. One by one, all the Greeks fall dead around King Leonidas. Thus the words of the Trachinian to Dienekes before the battle proved true:
"When the barbarians shoot their arrows, their countless missiles block out the sun, so great is their number."
To which he replied:
"Then we shall fight them in the shadows."
(Herodotus 7.226.1)
The Greeks died gloriously beside the body of their fallen King Leonidas, earning a place in our memory thousands of years later.
They asked Leonidas before he marched to Thermopylae: "Have you decided to do anything other than block the barbarians’ passage?"
Leonidas replied:
"In words, no. In deed, yes, to die for Greece."
-Plutarch, Spartan Sayings 225a
And he did. The flame of their sacrifice burns in eternity.
Photo: Persian arrows and spear tips from the battlefield of Thermopylae, 480 BC – National Archaeological Museum
