"Go, tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
that here obedient to their laws we lie."
Those words are packed with emotion for all who know or care what happened at Thermopylae, arguably the most famous battle in history.
Thermopylae sits 11 kilometers south of Lamia, Greece, which lies some 200 kilometers north of Athens. That means the 300 marched about 400 kilometers from Sparta before they arrived at the Hot Gates.
Thermopylae means hot gates in Greek and refers to the three hot springs at the battle site. They are called gates because the pass narrows near them, so they are ideal for a military defense.