Backstabber Report

Ephialtes of Trachis – 300 Spartans Backstabbed

Ephialtes of Trachis backstabbed 300 Spartans and the Greeks when he showed the invading Persian forces a path around the defensive Greek position at the pass of Thermopylae, which assisted greatly in the Persians winning the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.

Though depicted in the 2007 movie, 300, as a deformed individual, no evidence exists of a deformity. In the 1962 film version, The 300 Spartans, he is depicted as a goat farmer. Again, proof does not exist for this depiction, but it is far more likely than a deformed birth surviving among the Spartans who, as the 2007 movie describes, took the pride of body and spirit seriously.

The allied Greek land forces, which was reported to be no more than 4,200 men, had chosen Thermopylae to block the advance of the numerically superior Persian army. The gap between the Trachinian Cliffs and the Malian Gulf was recorded as being only “wide enough for a single carriage”, but it could be bypassed by a small path which led over the mountains south of Thermopylae and joined the main road, behind the area where the Greeks held their position.

Though this trail was well-known to the local Greeks, the invading army of Persians had no idea of it’s existence until Ephialtes, the backstabbing local, volunteered his knowledge to them.

During the course of events, before the Persians became aware of the bypass around the defenders, the majority of the Greek army and it’s allies returned to their homes to protect their families and the main city which would be the next target. The Spartans (who numbered slightly under 300) stayed as a rear guard, holding their position at the gap to protect the withdrawal of their allies. The Spartans were joined by about 700 Thespians, who fought to the death beside the Spartans.

Once outflanked by the Persians, using the bypass trail, the Spartans, along with the Thespians were overwhelmed from their rear positions and died to the last man.

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, as the Amphictyons at Pylae had offered a reward for his death.

According to Herodotus, who recorded this history, Ephialtes was killed for an apparently unrelated reason by Athenades of Trachis, around 470 BC.

The Spartans generously paid the reward to Athenades, all the same.