Discover the best top things to do in Phthiotis Region, Greece including Neromylos Dikastrou, Mykinaiko Nekrotafio Elatias, Iera Moni Agathonos, Moni Antinitsis, Gorgopotamos Bridge, Lianokladi Train Station, Leonidas Monument, Battlefield of Thermopylae, Ieros Naos Agias Varvaras, Statue of Aris Velouchiotis.
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This small monument commemorates the battle in 480 B.C. in which a small band of about Spartan soldiers held off a huge Persian army for three days. The delay was long enough to allow for the successful defense of Athens against the Persians.
For most tourists (certainly for bus-trippers), this monument will only be a quick stop and a group photo. For me this spot was an important tick off my bucket list ; I have been reading for years about this important period in Hellenistic and European history. It does take a little imagination to picture the battlefield as it was 2,500 years ago, because the sea has retreated a couple of kilometers ; it is easier to visualize it if you cross the busy motorway and climb up the mountain flank to where the plaque "go tell the Spartans" is. The monument is only a symbolic effort to memorize this symbol of ultimate courage, sacrifice and patriotism ; I'm sure the statue is more based on the movie "300" than on the King of the Spartans. But I find that rather irrelevant. The monument is there to make you stop and think - that works for me. PS Off to the side of the larger statue of Leonidas at Thermopylae, there is a monument to the 700 Thespians who died alongside the Spartans ; go and salute them too . . .
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The Spartans have been romanticised through the lens of history. But rather than mere hyperbole, this archeological site lays out a historic fact: the Spartan warriors were highly trained, well armed, and highly disciplined; loyal to not only their king (in this instance Leonidas I), but loyal to the ideals that distinguished them as a people - classical Greek ideals embracing philosophy, virtue, simplicity, intense training, and justice. After the Greeks were betrayed by a traitor, which was the only thing that compromised their task of holding out against the Persians until reinforcements came, Leonidas allowed other forces sent by other Greek city-states to return home and escape inevitable doom. But he said that he and his 300 men would fight to the end. This has been memorialized by a plaque on top of the burial mound where the 300 were laid to rest. Very profound to contemplate. Also allow time for the museum across the road.
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