Sword of Leonidas - Λ Symbol - Spartan King - Leader of 300 - Battle of Thermopylae - 480 BC - pure Bronze Sculpture
Condition: New, Made in Greece.
Material: Pure Bronze
Height: 48 cm - 18,9 inches
Width: 4 cm - 1,6 inches
Length: 1,5 cm - 0,6 inches
Weight: 1100 g
Leonidas (c. 530-480 B.C.) was a king of the city-state of Sparta from about 490 B.C. until his death at the Battle of Thermopylae against the Persian army in 480 B.C. Although Leonidas lost the battle, his death at Thermopylae was seen as a heroic sacrifice because he sent most of his army away when he realized that the Persians had outmaneuvered him. Three hundred of his fellow Spartans stayed with him to fight and die.
When his soldiers complained that the barbarians were firing so many arrows at them that the sun was blocked out, Leonidas replied:
"Won't it be nice, then, if we shall have shade in which to fight them?"
When Xerxes wrote again, demanding Leonidas hand over their arms, he wrote in reply:
"Come and take them."
ΓΙΩ ΞΙΦΟΣ ΛΕΩΝΙΔΑ Νο13 - 65
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