Three hundred Spartans, with their usual retinue of helots, 700 Lacedaemonians, other Peloponnesians to the number of 2800, 1000 Phocians, the same number of Locrians, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans, formed an army of 9000 men--quite as numerous a force as could be employed with any effect in the defile they were sent to guard.

The defile was a long and narrow pass shut in between a high mountain, Callidromus, and the sea, and crossed at one point by a line of wall in which was a single gateway.
Unless the command of the sea were gained, or another mode of crossing the mountains discovered, the pass could scarcely be forced.
[Illustration: PLATE LXII.] Xerxes, however, confident in his numbers--after waiting four days at Trachis, probably in the hope that his fleet would join him--proceeded on the fifth day to the assault.

First the Medes and Cissians, then the famous "Immortals" were sent into the jaws of the pass against the immovable foe; but neither detachment could make any impression.

The long spears, large shields, and heavy armor of the Greeks, their skilful tactics, and steady array, were far more than a match for the inferior equipments and discipline of the Asiatics.

Though the attack was made with great gallantry, both on this day and the next, it failed to produce the slightest effect.