What is Leonidas I?
{{Infobox monarch | name = Leonidas I<br/>Λεωνίδας | title = [[List of kings of Sparta|King of Sparta]] | image = File:Helmed Hoplite Sparta.JPG | image_size = 230px | caption = Marble [[Leonidas (statue)|statue of Leonidas]], (5th century BC), Sparta, Archæological Museum of Sparta, Greece | reign = 489–480 BC | native_lang1 = Greek | native_lang1_name1 = {{lang|grc|Λεωνίδᾱς}} | birth_date = {{circa|540 BC}} | birth_place = [[Sparta]], [[Ancient Greece]] | death_date = 11 August 480 BC (aged around 60) | death_place = [[Thermopylae]] | predecessor = [[Cleomenes I]] | successor = [[Pleistarchus]] | queen = [[Gorgo, Queen of Sparta|Gorgo]] | royal house = [[Agiad]] | father = [[Anaxandridas II]] | mother = | issue = [[Pleistarchus]] | religion = [[Religion in ancient Greece|Greek Polytheism]] }} '''Leonidas I''' ({{lang-el|Λεωνίδας}}; c. 530 BC–480 BC) was a king of the Greek city-state of [[Sparta]] from about 490 [[BC]] until his death in 480. The Spartans and associates defended the pass at [[Thermopylae]] against the [[Persian Empire|Persian]] army. Although Leonidas lost the battle, his death at Thermopylae was seen as a heroic sacrifice. Leonidas sent most of his army away when he realized that the Persians had outmaneuvered him. Three hundred of his fellow Spartans stayed with him to fight to the death. Almost everything that is known about Leonidas comes from the work of the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] historian [[Herodotus]] (c. 484–c. 425 BC) == Thermopylae == === Invasion of Greece === In 480 BC, the [[Persia]]ns with their king [[Xerxes]] attacked [[Greece]]. When the Greeks asked the Spartans to join their [[army]] against the Persians, the Spartans went to the [[Delphic oracle|Oracle at Delphi]]. The Oracle gave a [[prophecy]]. It said that either Sparta would fall or the Spartans would lose a king. === Fighting