On September 18, 480 BCE, after two days of fighting, the remains of a small army of 300 Spartans and 6,700 allies, including 700 Thespians and 400 Thebians, lost the battle of Thermopylae against an invading Persian army consisting of some 150,000 soldiers led by King Xerxes, son of Darius. King Leonidas I of Sparta was killed in battle. According to Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes ordered that the head of Leonidas be cut off and his body crucified.(statue of Leonidas I of Sparta)
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