Ephialtes (2)

Ephialtes of Malis; Ephialtes was the man who showed the Persians how to circumvent the Spartan defenses at Thermopylae in 480 BCE and, by using a mountain path, attack the outnumbered Greeks from the rear.

The narrow pass at Thermopylae allowed the greatly outnumbered Greeks to hold back the Persian army because the Persians could not bring their full strength to bear on the defenses of the Spartan king, Leonidas; after several days of failed frontal assaults on the Greek defenses, Ephialtes informed the Persian king, Xerxes, that there was a way to attack the Greeks from the rear and thus avoid the narrow pass of Thermopylae.

After the defeat of the Greeks, a price was put on Ephialtes’ head and he was eventually killed by a man named Athenades for reasons other than his treason but the Spartans honored Athenades just the same.

• Herodotus, book 7, chapter 213