LEONIDAS AND GORGO Leonidas I of Sparta, the hero of Thermopylae, is probably the most famous of all Spartans. His wife, Gorgo, is the most quoted of all Spartan women. Yet very little is known about their lives. Leonidas was the third son of the Agiad king Anaxandridas II, who reigned from roughly 560-520 AD. He must have been born late in his father's life because his father, happily married to his sister's daughter, had to be reprimanded by the ephors for failing to assure the survival of his line. Prior to the battle that he led the army in, there is not much documented about Leonidas and his early life. Most historians have the belief that he was born in 540 B.C., and that he was the son of the King Anaxandrius II from Sparta, who was Hercules’ descendant. He was married to his wife Gorgo and they had a son. It is believed that Leonidas succeeded his half-brother, who held the throne around 488 B.C., and held hold of the throne until he died in 480 B.C. The meaning of his name is son of a lion, or translates to like a lion, depending on the interpretation and context. Leonidas was a 5th century B.C. Spartan military king who bravely led a small force of Greeks -- mostly Spartan (the famous 300), but also Thespians and Thebans -- against the much larger Persian army of Xerxes, at the pass of Thermopylae, in 480 B.C. during the Persian Wars.  Life [edit]. According to Herodotus, Leonidas' mother was not only his father's wife but also his niece and had been barren for so long that the ephors, the five annually elected administrators of the Spartan constitution, tried to prevail upon King Anaxandridas to set her aside and take another wife. 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. In 279 B.C., Gallic forces broke through Greek forces there by using the same alternate route that the Persians did in 480 B.C. In 191 B.C., the Roman army defeated an invasion of Greece by the Syrian king Antiochus III at Thermopylae. As king, Leonidas was a military leader as well as a political one. Leonidas was the son of the Spartan king Anaxandrides (died c. 520 B.C.). He became king when his older half-brother Cleomenes I (also a son of Anaxandrides) died under violent, and slightly mysterious, circumstances in 490 B.C. without having produced a male heir. In 279 B.C., Gallic forces broke through Greek forces there by using the same alternate route that the Persians did in 480 B.C. In 191 B.C., the Roman army defeated an invasion of Greece by the Syrian king Antiochus III at Thermopylae. As king, Leonidas was a military leader as well as a political one. 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. Almost everything that is known about Leonidas comes from the work of the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484-c. 425 B.C.). In 279 B.C., Gallic forces broke through Greek forces there by using the same alternate route that the Persians did in 480 B.C. In 191 B.C., the Roman army defeated an invasion of Greece by the Syrian king Antiochus III at Thermopylae. As king, Leonidas was a military leader as well as a political one. King Leonidas did not need to go to battle and die with the men of Sparta but he felt as a trained Spartan warrior it was his duty to fight and die with his men. The courage that King Leonidas displayed to his men made him the greatest leader of all time in my mind and that is why I have chosen him as my hero. King Leonidas is most well known for his heroics at the battle of Thermopylae. The Persian army was invading Greece with the goal of conquering the world. King Leonidas was appointed the leader of the Greek army that would battle Persia because of the Spartans' well-known prowess in battle. When the Persians finally arrived at the gates of Thermopylae, the Spartans unfortunately could not go to battle because a religious festival called the Carneia prevented them Little is known about the life of Leonidas before the Battle of Thermopylae. Historians believe that he was born around 540 BC and the he was son of King Anaxandrias II of Sparta, a descendant of Hercules, according to the myth. Leonidas was married to Gorgo and had a son. Leonidas (540-480 BC), the legendary king of Sparta, and the Battle of Thermopylae is one of the most brilliant events of the ancient Greek history, a great act of courage and self-sacrifice.
http://elysiumgates.com/%7Ehelena/Leonidas.html http://totallyhistory.com/leonidas/ http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/people/g/leonidas.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas_I http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/leonidas http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/leonidas http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/leonidas http://myhero.com/hero.asp?hero=K_Leonidas_crescent_CA_2011_ul http://www.greeka.com/greece-history/famous-people/leonidas.htm
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