The Sources Behind Thermopylae's Famous Spartan Quotes
In Book VII of his Histories, written 40 to 50 years after the Battle of Thermopylae, Herodotus offers the earliest narrative of the event. He credits Spartan Dienekes with the remark, "We shall fight in the shade," made in response to a warning regarding Persian arrows. Although archaeology frequently corroborates Herodotus, the authenticity of this quote is questioned, with Plutarch attributing it to Leonidas instead. Plutarch also documents the phrase "Come and take them" (Molon labe) and notes Gorgo, Leonidas' wife, as the source of "return with your shield or on it." Diodorus recounts Leonidas encouraging his troops to eat quickly for their journey to Hades. Herodotus mentions an epitaph, traditionally ascribed to Simonides, with a marker established in 1955.
Key facts
- Herodotus wrote his account of Thermopylae in Book VII of the Histories, 40 to 50 years after the battle
- Dienekes is credited by Herodotus with the "fight in the shade" line, while Plutarch attributed it to Leonidas
- Plutarch called Herodotus the "Father of Lies"
- "Molon labe" appears in Plutarch's Sayings of Spartans, dated to the late 1st or early 2nd century AD, not in Herodotus
- Diodorus Siculus, in the 1st century BC, recorded a longer version of Leonidas' refusal to surrender arms
- The shield saying comes from Plutarch's Sayings of Spartan Women and is absent from Herodotus
- Frank Cole Babbitt's 1931 translation notes Aristotle, via Stobaeus, linked the shield saying to Gorgo, Leonidas' wife
- Plutarch credited the dine-in-Hades quote to Aristides of Miletus, a 2nd-century BC writer whose texts are lost
- The current epitaph monument at Thermopylae was erected in 1955; the original stone is gone
- "Fight in the Shade" is the motto of the XX Armored Division of Greece
Entities
Artists
- Herodotus
- Plutarch
- Dienekes
- Leonidas
- Xerxes
- Diodorus Siculus
- Simonides
- Aristotle
- Gorgo
- Aristides of Miletus
- Stobaeus
- Frank Cole Babbitt
- John Steeple Davis
- Jacques-Louis David
- Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier
Institutions
- XX Armored Division of Greece
- Louvre
- Wikimedia Commons
- The Collector
Locations
- Thermopylae
- Greece
- Sparta
- Malian Gulf
- Persia
- Miletus