Last name: Constant. Recorded in the spellings of Constance, Constant, and even Custance, this is a surname is of ultimately Roman origins. It derives from the ancient pre-Christian word 'constantia', meaning constant, which became the female baptismal name 'Constance', although in its original form in England it was spelt 'Custance'. It is also found as the male given name 'Constantine', and the surname can also derive from this source.
In the slaughtering pen at Thermopylae â as the narrow killing fields might be called â a king died and a legend was born. Led by Leonidas, the three hundred Spartans stood and fell and took the pride of the Persian Empire down with them.
Ah, but here's the real surprise that I wasn't aware of: the utterance of molon labe may not have even happened at all! It didn't appear in extant writings from close to the time of the Battle of Thermopylae. We know the phrase from the writings of Plutarch, some 580 years after the battle: