An Infamous Traitor
Ephialtes of Trachis became infamous for the most notorious betrayal of ancient Greece. When the Persians invaded Greece in the fifth century BC, Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks and showed the Persians a path that allowed them to bypass and surround a Spartan force that had halted the invaders at Thermopylae. As seen above, the Persians had invaded after Athens supported a failed rebellion by the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor against their Persian rulers. In response, the Persians launched an abortive punitive expedition against Athens. It was defeated at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.
The Persians licked their wounds, and prepared for a rematch. In 480 BC, King Xerxes gathered forces for a massive campaign to conquer and subdue Greece once and for all. Ephialtes was a Malian, from a region at the northeastern juncture of the Greek Peninsula with the rest of the Balkans. The Malians were among many Greeks in the Persian army’s path who chose discretion over valor and “Medised”. That is, they submitted to and collaborated with the Persians against other Greeks. Along the Persian army’s route through Malian lands was a narrow pass known as Thermopylae, or “hot gates”, situated between mountains to the south and the cliff-lined shore of the Malian Gulf to the north. It became the site of the most famous Spartan feat of arms.