Historical reference: Do not rely on this information. It is very old. About this collection
Thermopylae, a pass of ancient Greece, between Mount OEta and a morass upon the Maliac Gulf, where in 380 B.C. Leonidas and his 900 Spartans disputed the passage of the Persian army till treachery led to their being attacked in the rear and utterly destroyed. The pass was forced in a similar manner by Brennus and his Gauls in 279 B.C.