Xerxes of Persia attacked Greek city-states in 480 BC he commanded an army of 150 000 leaders of Greece realized they needed more time to build defenses and mobilize their armies consequently Leonidas of Sparta chose to sacrifice himself challenging Xerxes with only 7 000 men the two sides clashed at the pass of Thermopylae where Xerxes kept sending wave after wave of ten thousand soldiers only to be cut down by Leonidas and his men Xerxes called Retreat to Camp after failing to defeat Leonidas in open battle it was then that he was approached by ethialities of trakis
who betrayed his own people and showed the Persians a secret path behind the paths of thermopylene when Leonidas learned of this he knew his end was imminent as he allowed his forces to leave him if they wished his loyal 300 soldiers stayed behind with him and fought to death in an ultimate sacrifice
