20 Incredible Facts About The Spartan King Leonidas

The Spartan King Leonidas cemented his name in history for being one of the bravest men to ever live after the Battle of Thermopylae where a small number of Spartan warriors managed to fight off the Persian King Xerxes for multiple days.

This is an incredible feat of strength and the hit movie “300” directed by Zack Snyder is based on this battle. These are the incredible facts about King Leonidas and his Spartan warriors.

Two Rulers

The first fact that we want to share with you might be a little surprising since its less known. Even though Leonidas was the King of Sparta, he wasn’t the only one ruling the country.

There was a second ruler and his role was to make sure that the decisions taken by Leonidas are good for the people.

False Numbers

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As we previously noted, a small group of Spartan warriors managed to held off King Xerxes out of Greece. Even though the movie made about them shows only 300 warriors, the actual number was between 3,000 to 7,000.

Grim Faith

Spoiler alert! If you didn’t see the “300” movie or you didn’t get a history lesson on Spartans, King Leonidas died at the Battle of Thermopylae.

King Xerxes wanted to expose his body to make an example out of him but he couldn’t do this because the soldiers who served King Leonidas protected him even after he passed away.

True Hero

The Spartans recognized their King as a true hero and they built a shrine for him after he passed away. Not only that, but a cult that worshiped King Leonidas was formed and it lasted until the second century AD.