The Path
There was a way around. There almost always is.
A mountain track called the Anopaia ran up from the Persian side, along the ridge behind Mount Kallidromos, and back down to the coast road east of the Greek position. Leonidas knew about it — this was not a secret, and he had posted the thousand Phocians on the heights to guard it. It was steep, it was narrow, and a determined force could hold it. But it existed.
On the evening of the second day, a local man named Ephialtes, son of Eurydemus, came to the Persian camp and offered to guide them over it, expecting a reward. His name has meant nightmare in Greek ever since.
Hydarnes took the Immortals up the track at nightfall and marched them through the dark. At first light they came through an oak wood near the summit and heard the rustling of leaves underfoot — the Phocians, scrambling for their weapons. Both sides were surprised. The Phocians pulled back uphill to a defensible knoll and braced to be attacked. The Persians did not attack. They had somewhere to be. They went past and kept descending.
That decision is the battle. The Phocians did not break and did not flee, but they read their situation wrong: they assumed they were the target when they were only an obstacle. By the time anyone understood, the Persians were on the road behind the pass and the position was gone.
Deserters reached Leonidas during the night. At dawn the seer Megistias read the sacrifices and told the Greeks they would die that morning. Scouts running down from the heights confirmed it.
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