Ephialtes of Trachis - Wikipedia Ephialtes of Trachis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Ephialtes (/ˌɛfiˈæltiːz/; Greek: Ἐφιάλτης, Ephialtēs; although Herodotus spelled it as Ἐπιάλτης, Epialtes) was the son of Eurydemus (Greek: Εὐρύδημος) of Malis.[1] He betrayed his homeland, in hope of receiving some kind of reward from the Persians,[2] by showing the army of Xerxes a path around the allied Greek position at the pass of Thermopylae, which helped them win the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. Contents 1 Betrayal 2 Others 3 In popular media 4 Name 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Betrayal[edit] The allied Greek land forces, which Herodotus states numbered no more than 4,200 men, had chosen Thermopylae to block the advance of the much larger Persian army. Although this gap between the Trachinian Cliffs and the Malian Gulf was only "wide enough for a single carriage",[3] it could be bypassed by a trail that led over the mountains south of Thermopylae and joined the main road behind the Greek position. Herodotus notes that this trail was well known to the locals, who had used it in the past for raiding the neighboring Phocians.[4] The Persians used the trail to outflank the defenders. The Spartan king, Leonidas, sent away most of the Greeks, but he himself remained behind with a rear guard composed of his men, the Thespian contingent and a Theban detachment. Ephialtes expected to be rewarded by the Persians, but this came to nothing when they were defeated at the Battle of Salamis. He then fled to Thessaly; the Amphictyons at Pylae had offered a reward for his death. According to Herodotus, he was killed for an apparently unrelated reason by Athenades (Greek: Ἀθηνάδης) of Trachis, around 470 BC, but the Spartans rewarded Athenades all the same.[5] Others[edit] Herodotus notes that two other men were accused of betraying this trail to the Persians: Onetas, a native of Carystus and son of Phanagoras; and Corydallus, a native of Anticyra. Nevertheless, he argues Ephialtes was the one who revealed this trail because "the deputies of the Greeks, the Pylagorae, who must have had the best means for ascertaining the truth, did not offer the reward on the heads of Onetas and Corydallus, but for that of Ephialtes."[6] In popular media[edit] In the 1962 film The 300 Spartans, Ephialtes was portrayed by Kieron Moore and is depicted as a loner who worked on a goat farm near Thermopylae. He betrays the Spartans to the Persians out of greed for riches, and, it is implied, unrequited love for a Spartan girl named Ellas. Frank Miller's 1998 comic book miniseries 300, the 2006 film adaptation of the same name, and the 2014 sequel, portray Ephialtes (played by Andrew Tiernan) as a severely deformed Spartan exile whose parents fled Sparta to protect him from the infanticide he would have surely suffered as a disfigured infant. Although he is brave and his spear thrust more than adequate, he can not raise his arm so he can be part of the phalanx (a vital part of the Spartan battle formation). Leonidas asks him to support his brethren by bringing the wounded water and clearing the dead from the battleground. In anger, Ephialtes swears to prove his parents and him wrong and betrays them to Xerxes by revealing the hidden path in return. When only a handful of Spartans are left when the Persians descend, Ephialtes (in Persian uniform) is with them. Leonidas wishes him to live forever, which is an insult to a Spartan since he will not have died with honor in battle. Name[edit] After the betrayal of Ephialtes, the name "Ephialtes" received a lasting stigma; it came to mean "nightmare" in the Greek language and to symbolize the archetypal traitor in Greek culture.[7] See also[edit] Ancient Greece portal Biography portal Battle of Traigh Ghruinneart, where a dwarf switches sides and kills the leader of the forces he originally was to fight for. References[edit] ^ Macaulay, G. C. "The History of Herodotus". The University of Adelaide. paragraph 213. Archived from the original on August 29, 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-28. ^ Herodotus, Histories, 7.213 ^ Herodotus, Histories, 7.200 ^ Herodotus, Histories, 7.215 ^ Herodotus, Histories, 7.213 ^ Herodotus, Histories, 7.214 ^ Tegopoulos, entry for Εφιάλτης External links[edit] Herodotus 7.213 from Perseus Project. Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ephialtes_of_Trachis&oldid=998278858" Categories: 5th-century BC Greek people Battle of Thermopylae Greek people of the Greco-Persian Wars Medism People from Phthiotis 470s BC deaths Goatherds Greek defectors Traitors in history Hidden categories: Articles containing Greek-language text Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text Year of birth unknown Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Български Bosanski Català Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Français Galego 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Magyar Nederlands Norsk bokmål Polski Português Română Русский Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 4 January 2021, at 17:08 (UTC). 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