Kraft and histeam calculated the sea level in 480 using a mathematical formulaknown as the "eustatic curve". Due to whatgeologists call "alluvial fans", a process by which rivers depositsilt (travertine and other sediments), the coastline of the Gulf ofMalea has advanced from 3-5 miles over the last 2500 years (Kraft etal., Journal of Field Archaeology 14 (1987) 181-197). More puzzling for the tourist who arrives at the site with hisHerodotus in his hand is what lies to the south of the hills, beyondthe modern roadside monument: a broad expanse of scrubby groundstretching out for about four miles to the sea. Pritchett pointsout that Herodotus seems to have done a very careful study of thesite despite the error over the directions he gives many distancesin stades and plethra, and his account also includes an unusuallyhigh number of obscure toponyms. W.Kendrick Pritchett, who is generally credited with injecting new lifeinto the study of ancient topography, has mounted a vigorous defenseof Herodotus's reliability on this and other sites. Thisdiscrepancy has led some scholars to assert that Herodotus never evensaw the site, and that if he could make so basic an error all of histopographical information about the site, which is copious anddetailed, must not be trusted others tried to save his credibilityby positing that he saw the site around noon, so that the sun wasdirectly overhead and it was impossible to orient himself. 176)īut the modern visitor to the site sees two not very imposinglooking hills they lie to the south, not to the west. Tothe west of Thermopylae rises a high mountain, inaccessible andprecipitous, a spur of Oeta to the east of the road there is nothingbut marshes and sea. It is not here, however, but elsewhere that the wayis narrowest, namely, in front of Thermopylae and behind it atAlpeni, which lies behind, it is only the breadth of a cart-way, andit is the same at the Phoenix stream, near the town of Anthele. The pass through Trachis into Hellas is 50 feet wide at itsnarrowest point. Herodotus' description of the location suggests that there arecliffs on one side and the sea on the other: It also helps toanswer the question of why Thermopylae should even be thought of as apass.
Examining the questionof exactly what route was taken on each occasion, although admittedlya matter of primarily antiquarian interest, nonetheless illustratessome important trends in modern historical research. In 480, in 279, and in 191 the invaders were able to get over themountains and take the defenders in the rear.
In 323 during the Lamian War, the last-ditch effort byAthens to break free from Macedonian control, the general Leosthenesblocked the Macedonian Antipater by stationing troops at Thermopylae.However, the pass at Thermopylae was not the only way south fromThessaly into Central Greece it was merely the best and easiestroute. The Athenianstook up a position there in 352 and discouraged Philip II frominvading. Holding the passcould block an invader and even turn him back, though on all three ofthe famous occasions the defense of the pass failed. Marinatos in 1939.Ĭlearly Thermopylae was a location of great strategic importance,because it commands the pass through which one goes after travelingsouth from Thessaly through Lokris and into Boeotia. Cato 13) and in 1941 theNew Zealanders fought a rearguard action there against the Germans,in the course of the war which interrupted the excavation begun underthe direction of Sp.
AciliusGlabrio (and teamed with Philip V) defeated Antiochus of Syria andthe Aeotolians (Livy 36. In 279 BC the Greeks faced Brennus and his Gauls there(Paus. It has alsobeen the site of several battles in antiquity besides this mostfamous one. At Thermopylae in the late summer of 480 the Spartan king Leonidasheld out for three days with a mere 300 hoplites against thousandsupon thousands of the best of the Great King's troops.