1st Paragraph

Translation

When Xerxes, [now being] king of the Persians (successor to his father Dareius who had invaded Greece on a previous occasion and was going to do so again when he died) was preparing his fleet, intending to subdue the whole of Greece, the leaders of the Greeks came together at Corinth and considered what should be done. For a long time they were at a loss [about what to do]; for Xerxes had a bigger army than all the Greeks and more ships. And in the end they decided to ward off the Persians at Thermopylae; for there by land mountains lie so close to the sea that [even only] a few can fight against many, while by sea there are narrow straits between Euboea and the mainland. And so the Greeks, having learnt that Xerxes was already marching towards Greece, sent Leonidas, who was king of the Lacedaemonians and had 7000 hoplites. And these, after arriving at Thermopylae, prepared themselves to defend Greece against the Persians.