Leonidas statue at the Thermopyles monument in Greece
Leonidas I (/liːˈɒnɨdəs/ lee-ON-i-dəs or /liːˈɒn.ɨ.dæs/; Doric and Modern Greek: Λεωνίδας, Leōnidas; Ionic Greek: Λεωνίδης, Leōnidēs; "son of the lion"; died 480 BC), also known as Leonidas the Brave was a Greek hero-king of Sparta, the 17th of the Agiad line, third son of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta[2], who was believed to be a descendant of Herakles, possessing much of the latter's strength and bravery. Leonidas I is notable for his leadership at the Battle of Thermopylae. According to Herodotus, Leonidas' mother was his father's 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 aside his wife and take another. Anaxandridas refused, claiming his wife was blameless, whereupon the ephors agreed to allow him to take a second wife without setting aside his first. This second wife, a descendent of Chilon the Wise, promptly bore a son, Cleomenes. However, one year after Cleomenes' birth, Anaxandridas' first wife also gave birth to a son, Dorieus. Leonidas was the second son of Anaxandridas' first wife, and either the elder brother or twin of Cleombrotus. Because Leonidas was not heir to the throne, he was not exempt from attending the agoge, the public school that the sons of all Spartans had to complete in order to qualify for citizenship. Leonidas was thus one of the few Spartan kings to have ever undergone the notoriously harsh training of Spartan youth.
Size: 2848px × 4272px
Location: Monument of the 300 Spartans, Greece
Photo credit: © PANAGIOTIS KARAPANAGIOTIS / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 300, ancient, antiquity, archaeological, archaeology, archeological, archeology, armor, armored, art, battle, bronze, chest, classic, classical, combat, fight, fighter, general, greece, greek, hellenistic, helmet, heritage, hero, heroics, historic, immortal, king, landmark, leonid, leonidas, male, man, minimalistic, monument, museum, pike, sculpture, shield, simplicity, soldier, sparta, spartans, spear, statue, thermopile, thermopylae, thermopyle, war, warrior
