2,500 Years of the Battle of Thermopylae

A bronze helmet of Corinthian type with a horsehair crest. Around the inner edge of the coin, the commemorative occasion runs along the top and the issuing state's name in Greek along the bottom. The palmette of the Greek mint and the year 2020 appear to the left of the helmet.

In antiquity, the pass at Thermopylae was one of the few passable crossings between Thessaly and central Greece - a narrow coastal strip between the Kallidromos mountains and the Malian Gulf. This very narrowness made the position militarily decisive in 480 BC. When the Persian army under Xerxes I invaded Greece, a Greek contingent under the Spartan king Leonidas I confronted it here. For three days, the defenders held the pass, including the famous 300 Spartans as well as contingents from Thespiae, Thebes and other city-states. Only betrayal allowed the Persians to outflank the position and destroy the last rearguard. In Greek tradition, Leonidas and his men became a symbol of steadfastness: the poet Simonides of Ceos composed the still-famous epigram commemorating their sacrifice for their homeland.

The historical significance of Thermopylae extends far beyond the military event itself. The Greek defence against the Persian invasions - which also included the naval battle of Salamis that same year - is regarded as a turning point that made possible the further cultural and political development of the Greek world. In Greece, awareness of this legacy remains deeply rooted: a monument to Leonidas still stands at the pass today, and Thermopylae is a fixed part of the national historical narrative. On the 2,500th anniversary of the battle, Greece issued its own commemorative coin in 2020, honouring this formative chapter of early European history.