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| image = Leónidas en las Termópilas, por Jacques-Louis David.jpg
| image_size = 300
| caption = ''[[Leonidas at Thermopylae]]'' (1814)<br />by [[Jacques-Louis David]]
| date = 21–23 July,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://sci-cult.com/wp-content/uploads/7.2/7_2_6_Gongaki_et_al.pdf |title=Gongaki (2021) |access-date=22 July 2021 |archive-date=30 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730205559/https://sci-cult.com/wp-content/uploads/7.2/7_2_6_Gongaki_et_al.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> 20 August,<ref>Bradford (1980), p.162</ref> or 8–10 September<ref>Greswell (1827), p. 374</ref> 480 BC
| place = [[Thermopylae]],
| map_type = Greece#Europe
| map_relief = yes
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| map_size = 300
| map_marksize = 7
| map_caption = Location
| map_label = Thermopylae
| territory = Persia gains control of [[Phocis]], [[Boeotia]], and [[Attica]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=S6BevAUWSGAC&q=persians+Attica%2F&pg=PA278 The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources of the Achaemenid Period] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510094919/https://books.google.com/books?id=S6BevAUWSGAC&q=persians+Attica/&pg=PA278 |date=10 May 2023 }} : page 278</ref>
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}}
The '''Battle of Thermopylae''' ({{IPAc-en|θ|ər|ˈ|m|ɒ|p|ᵻ|l|iː}} {{respell|thər|MOP|i-lee}}; {{lang-grc|Μάχη τῶν Θερμοπυλῶν|label=[[Ancient Greek|Greek]]}}
Themistocles was
==Sources==
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[[File:Spartians throw Persian envoys into a well.jpg|thumb|left|The Spartans throw Persian envoys into a well]]
Darius sent emissaries to all the Greek city-states in 491 BC asking for a gift of "[[earth and water]]" as tokens of their submission to him.<ref name = h178>Holland, pp. 178–179</ref> Having had a demonstration of his power the previous year, the majority of Greek cities duly obliged. In Athens, however, the ambassadors were put on trial and then executed by throwing them
Darius then launched an amphibious expeditionary force under [[Datis]] and [[Artaphernes (son of Artaphernes)|Artaphernes]] in 490 BC, which [[Siege of Naxos (490 BC)|attacked Naxos]] before receiving the submission of the other [[Cyclades|Cycladic Islands]]. It then besieged and destroyed Eretria.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+6.100.1 VI, 101] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183132/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+6.100.1 |date=31 August 2021 }}</ref> Finally, it moved to attack Athens, landing at the bay of [[Marathon, Greece|Marathon]], where it was met by a heavily outnumbered Athenian army. At the ensuing [[Battle of Marathon]], the Athenians won a remarkable victory, which resulted in the withdrawal of the Persian army to Asia.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+6.113 VI, 113] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183105/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+6.113 |date=31 August 2021 }}</ref>
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The Persian army seems to have made slow progress through Thrace and Macedon. News of the imminent Persian approach eventually reached Greece in August thanks to a Greek spy.<ref>Holland, pp. 255–256</ref> At this time of the year, the Spartans, ''de facto'' military leaders of the alliance, were celebrating the festival of [[Carneia]]. During the Carneia, military activity was forbidden by Spartan law; the Spartans had arrived too late at [[Battle of Marathon|the Battle of Marathon]] because of this requirement.<ref name=VII206>[[Herodotus]] [https://archive.today/20130813084302/http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.205 VII, 206]</ref> It was also the time of the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic Games]], and therefore the Olympic truce, and thus it would have been doubly sacrilegious for the whole Spartan army to march to war.<ref name=VII206/><ref name = h258>Holland, pp. 258–259.</ref> On this occasion, the [[ephor]]s decided the urgency was sufficiently great to justify an advance expedition to block the pass, under one of its kings, [[Leonidas I]]. Leonidas took with him the 300 men of the royal bodyguard, the ''Hippeis''.<ref name=VII205/> This expedition was to try to gather as many other Greek soldiers along the way as possible and to await the arrival of the main Spartan army.<ref name = h258/>
The renowned account of the Battle of Thermopylae, as documented by Herodotus, includes a significant consultation with the [[Oracle at Delphi]]. It is said that the Oracle delivered a prophetic message to the Spartans, foretelling the impending conflict:
{{blockquote|O ye men who dwell in the streets of broad Lacedaemon!<br>Either your glorious town shall be sacked by the children of [[Perseus]],<br>Or, in exchange, must all through the whole [[Laconia]]n country<br>Mourn for the loss of a king, descendant of great [[Heracles]].<ref name=VII220>Rawlinson translation of Herodotus [https://archive.org/stream/historyherodotu00rawlgoog#page/n202/mode/2up VII, 220]</ref>}}
▲''Mourn for the loss of a king, descendant of great [[Heracles]]''.<ref name=VII220>Rawlinson translation of Herodotus [https://archive.org/stream/historyherodotu00rawlgoog#page/n202/mode/2up VII, 220]</ref></blockquote>Herodotus tells us that Leonidas, in line with the prophecy, was convinced he was going to certain death since his forces were not adequate for a victory, and so he selected only Spartans with living sons.<ref name = VII205>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.205.1 VII, 205] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107022823/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.205.1 |date=7 November 2020 }}</ref>
The Spartan force was reinforced ''en route'' to Thermopylae by contingents from various cities and numbered more than 7,000 by the time it arrived at the pass.<ref name = VII202/> Leonidas chose to camp at, and defend, the "middle gate", the narrowest part of the pass of Thermopylae, where the [[Phocis (ancient region)|Phocians]] had built a defensive wall some time before.<ref name = VII176/> News also reached Leonidas, from the nearby city of [[Trachis]], that there was a mountain track that could be used to outflank the pass of Thermopylae. Leonidas stationed 1,000 Phocians on the heights to prevent such a manoeuvre.<ref name = VII217>Herodotus [https://archive.today/20130813084253/http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.217 VII, 217]</ref>
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===First day===
[[File:Hoplite circa 500 BCE and Scythian soldier of the Achaemenid army circa 480 BCE enhanced.jpg|thumb|350px|Contemporary depictions: probable [[Spartan]] [[hoplite]] ([[Vix crater]], {{circa|500}} BC),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Charles |title=Egypt, Greece, and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199651917 |page=154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXIVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT172 |language=en |access-date=18 October 2018 |archive-date=6 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106023454/https://books.google.com/books?id=kXIVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT172#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Scythian]] warrior of the [[Achaemenid army]]<ref name="iranicaonline.org"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Naqs-e Rostam – Encyclopaedia Iranica List of nationalities of the Achaemenid military with corresponding drawings |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/uploads/files/Clothing/v5f7a014_f1_300.jpg |language=en |access-date=18 October 2018 |archive-date=17 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917035945/https://iranicaonline.org/uploads/files/Clothing/v5f7a014_f1_300.jpg |url-status=live }}</ref> (tomb of [[Xerxes I]], {{circa|480}} BC), at the time of the [[Second Persian invasion of Greece]] (480–479 BC).]]
On the fifth day after the Persian arrival at Thermopylae and the first day of the battle, Xerxes finally resolved to attack the Greeks. First, he ordered 5,000 archers to shoot a barrage of arrows, but they were ineffective; they shot from at least 100 yards away, according to modern
After that, Xerxes sent a force of 10,000 [[Medes]] and [[Cissia (area)|Cissians]] to take the defenders prisoner and bring them before him.<ref name=VII210>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.210.1 VII, 210] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123194057/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.210.1 |date=23 November 2020 }}</ref><ref name="dsIX9">Diodorus Siculus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Diod.+11.6.1 XI, 6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914184919/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Diod.+11.6.1 |date=14 September 2020 }}</ref> The Persians soon launched a [[frontal assault]], in waves of around 10,000 men, on the Greek position.<ref name=VII210/> The Greeks fought in front of the Phocian wall, at the narrowest part of the pass, which enabled them to use as few soldiers as possible.<ref name=VII208>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.208.1 VII, 208] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211174253/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.208.1 |date=11 December 2020 }}</ref><ref name = VII223/> Details of the tactics are scant; Diodorus says, "the men stood shoulder to shoulder", and the Greeks were "superior in valour and in the great size of their shields."<ref name=dsXI7>Diodorus Siculus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Diod.+11.7.1 XI, 7] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914192901/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Diod.+11.7.1 |date=14 September 2020 }}</ref> This probably describes the standard Greek phalanx, in which the men formed a wall of overlapping shields and layered spear points protruding out from the sides of the shields, which would have been highly effective as long as it spanned the width of the pass.<ref>Holland, p. 274</ref> The weaker shields, and shorter spears and swords of the Persians prevented them from effectively engaging the Greek hoplites.<ref name=dsXI7/><ref name="VII211">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.211.1 VII, 211.1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183119/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.211.1 |date=31 August 2021 }}, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D211%3Asection%3D2 211.2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918213649/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book%3D7:chapter%3D211:section%3D2 |date=18 September 2021 }}, and [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D211%3Asection%3D3 211.3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928230153/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D211%3Asection%3D3 |date=28 September 2021 }}.</ref> Herodotus says that the units for each city were kept together; units were rotated in and out of the battle to prevent fatigue, which implies the Greeks had more men than necessary to block the pass.<ref name=VII204>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.208.1 VII, 204] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211174253/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.208.1 |date=11 December 2020 }}</ref> The Greeks killed so many Medes that Xerxes is said to have stood up three times from the seat from which he was watching the battle.<ref name=VII212>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.212.1 VII, 212] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219090208/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.212.1 |date=19 December 2020 }}</ref> According to [[Ctesias]], the first wave was "cut to ribbons", with only two or three Spartans killed in return.<ref name = ctes/>
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[[File:Scene of the Battle of the Thermopylae.jpg|thumb|305px|alt=19th-century painting by John Steeple Davis, depicting combat during the battle|Scene of the Battle of the Thermopylae (19th century illustration).]]
At daybreak on the third day, the Phocians guarding the path above Thermopylae became aware of the outflanking Persian column by the rustling of oak leaves. Herodotus says they jumped up and were greatly amazed.<ref name=VII218>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.218.1 VII, 218] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109100143/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.218.1 |date=9 November 2020 }}</ref> Hydarnes was perhaps just as amazed to see them hastily arming themselves as they were to see him and his forces.<ref name = h291>Holland, p. 291–293</ref> He feared they were Spartans but was informed by
Learning from a runner that the Phocians had not held the path, Leonidas called a [[council of war]] at dawn.<ref name = VII219/> According to Diodorus, a Persian called Tyrrhastiadas, a [[Cyme (Aeolis)|Cymaean]] by birth, warned the Greeks.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084%3Abook%3D11%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D5 |title=Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book XI, Chapter 8, section 5 |access-date=9 October 2013 |archive-date=25 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925100341/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084%3Abook%3D11%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D5 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of the Greeks argued for withdrawal, but Leonidas resolved to stay at the pass with the Spartans.<ref name = VII219/> Upon discovering that his army had been encircled, Leonidas told his allies that they could leave if they wanted to. While many of the Greeks took him up on his offer and fled, around two thousand soldiers stayed behind to fight and die. Knowing that the end was near, the Greeks marched into the open field and met the Persians head-on. Many of the Greek contingents then either chose to withdraw (without orders) or were ordered to leave by Leonidas (Herodotus admits that there is some doubt about which actually happened).<ref name = VII219>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.219.1 VII, 219] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183042/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.219.1 |date=31 August 2021 }}</ref><ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.220.1 VII, 220] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106154700/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.220.1 |date=6 November 2020 }}</ref> The contingent of 700 [[Thespiae|Thespians]], led by their general [[Demophilus (Thespiae)|Demophilus]], refused to leave and committed themselves to the fight.<ref name=VII222>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.222.1 VII, 222] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122050701/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+7.222.1 |date=22 November 2020 }}</ref> Also present were the 400 Thebans and probably the [[helot]]s who had accompanied the Spartans.<ref name = h291/>
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One commonly accepted theory is that Leonidas chose to form a rearguard so that the other Greek contingents could get away.<ref name = L144/><ref name = h294/> If all the troops had retreated, the open ground beyond the pass would have allowed the Persian cavalry to run the Greeks down. If they had all remained at the pass, they would have been encircled and would eventually have all been killed.<ref name = h291/> By covering the retreat and continuing to block the pass, Leonidas could save more than 3,000 men, who would be able to fight again.<ref name = h294/>
The Thebans have also been the subject of some discussion. Herodotus suggests they were brought to the battle as hostages to ensure the good behavior of Thebes.<ref name = VII205/> However, Plutarch had argued that if they were hostages, they would have been sent away with the rest of the Greeks.<ref name = L144/> The likelihood is that these were the Theban "loyalists", who unlike the majority of their fellow citizens, objected to Persian domination.<ref name = L144/> They thus probably came to Thermopylae of their own free will and stayed to the end because they could not return to Thebes if the Persians conquered Boeotia.<ref name = h291/>
The Thespians, resolved as they were not to submit to Xerxes, faced the destruction of their city if the Persians took Boeotia.<ref name = L144/> However, this alone does not explain the fact that they remained; the remainder of Thespiae was successfully evacuated before the Persians arrived there.<ref name = L144/> It seems that the Thespians volunteered to remain as a simple act of self-sacrifice, all the more amazing since their contingent represented every single hoplite the city could muster.<ref>Lazenby, pp. 259–260</ref> This seems to have been a particularly Thespian trait – on at least two other occasions in later history, a Thespian force would commit itself to a fight to the death.<ref name = L144/>
[[File:Battle of Thermopylae Spartans and Persians.jpg|thumb|left|Spartans surrounded by Persians, Battle of Thermopylae. 19th century illustration.]]
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Following Thermopylae, the Persian army proceeded to sack and burn [[Plataea]] and [[Thespiae]], the Boeotian cities that had not submitted, before it marched on the now evacuated city of Athens and accomplished the [[Achaemenid destruction of Athens]].<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+8.49.1 VIII, 50] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183121/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+8.49.1 |date=31 August 2021 }}</ref> Meanwhile, the Greeks (for the most part Peloponnesians) preparing to defend the Isthmus of [[Corinth]], demolished the single road that led through it and built a wall across it.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+8.72.1 VIII, 71] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183007/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+8.72.1 |date=31 August 2021 }}</ref> As at Thermopylae, making this an effective strategy required the Greek navy to stage a simultaneous blockade, barring the passage of the Persian navy across the [[Saronic Gulf]], so that troops could not be landed directly on the Peloponnese.<ref name = h299>Holland, pp. 299–303</ref> However, instead of a mere blockade, Themistocles persuaded the Greeks to seek a decisive victory against the Persian fleet. Luring the Persian navy into the Straits of Salamis, the Greek fleet was able to destroy much of the Persian fleet in the [[Battle of Salamis]], which essentially ended the threat to the Peloponnese.<ref name = h327>Holland, pp. 327–334</ref>
Fearing the Greeks might attack the bridges across the Hellespont and trap his army in Europe as well as due to heavy losses Xerxes now retreated with much of the Persian army back to Asia,<ref name = VIII97>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+8.97.1 VIII, 97] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183023/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+8.97.1 |date=31 August 2021 }}</ref> though nearly all of them died of starvation and disease on the return voyage. This retreat of the majority of Persian forces ensured eventually that Greece would not come under Persian dominion. Soon afterwards the last remaining Persian forces in Greece were defeated.<ref name = VIII115>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+8.115.1 VIII, 115] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815204451/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+8.115.1 |date=15 August 2022 }}</ref> Xerxes left a hand-picked force, under [[Mardonius (general)|Mardonius]], to complete the conquest the following year.<ref>Holland, p. 327–329</ref> However, under pressure from the Athenians, the Peloponnesians eventually agreed to try to force Mardonius to battle, and they marched on Attica.<ref name = h338/> Mardonius retreated to Boeotia to lure the Greeks into open terrain, and the two sides eventually met near the city of Plataea.<ref name = h338>Holland, pp. 338–341</ref> At the [[Battle of Plataea]], the Greek army won a decisive victory, destroying much of the Persian army and ending the invasion of Greece.<ref name = h338/> Meanwhile, at the near-simultaneous naval [[Battle of Mycale]], they also destroyed much of the remaining Persian fleet, thereby reducing the threat of further invasions.<ref>Holland, p. 357–359</ref>
[[File:Xerxes detail Hidush enhanced.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Hindush|Hidush]]'' ([[Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley|Indian soldier of the Achaemenid army]]), circa 480 BC. [[Xerxes I]] tomb. Herodotus explained that Indians participated on the Second Persian invasion of Greece.<ref>Herodotus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/7B* .html VII 64-66]</ref>]]
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:O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that
:we lie here, obedient to their words.<ref name="Ziogas">{{cite journal |last=Ziogas |first=Ioannis |title=Sparse Spartan Verse: Filling Gaps in the Thermopylae Epigram |journal=Ramus |publisher=Aureal Publications |date=9 November 2014 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=115–133 |doi=10.1017/rmu.2014.10 |hdl=1885/13680 |s2cid=109914629 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3387164 |access-date=10 October 2014 |hdl-access=free |archive-date=25 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725154859/https://www.academia.edu/3387164 |url-status=live |issn = 0048-671X}}</ref>
The alternative ancient reading {{lang|grc|πειθόμενοι νομίμοις}} (''peithomenoi nomίmois'') for {{lang|grc|ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι}} (''rhēmasi peithomenoi'') substitutes "laws" ([[:wikt:νόμος#Ancient Greek|νόμοι]]) for "words".<ref>"this sublime distich (ἡ θρυλουμένη ἐπιγραφή) is quoted with variations by Strabo 429 (and others): (1) ὦ ξέν᾽, ἀπάγγειλον and (2) τοῖς κείνων πειθόμενοι νομίμοις. ''Longe praestat Herodotea lectio'' (Valck.). [[Cicero]], [[Tusculanae Disputationes|Tusc.]] 1. 42. 101, translates (from the inferior version) ''dic hospes Spartae, nos te hic vidisse iacentes, dum sanctis patriae legibus obsequimur.''" (Macan, note to Herodotus VII, 228)</ref>
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