If you take the numbers in Herodotus for the size of the Persian army, and divide by 10, you should get a reasonable estimate of the real numbers (roughly 180,000 I think). These guards were unprepared when the Persians showed up and simply ran away.
Also, there were thousands of other Greek troops, most notably a detachment that Leonidas set to guard the shepherds trail that the Persians used to outflank the pass. The core was the 300 Spartans, but there were a thousand or so Helots and perioecoi with them (the Helots were light infantry, the perioecoi were hoplites).
There were several thousand Greeks of various kinds at Thermopylae. Only afterward did it come to have greater meaning, especially with the idea that Spartans were unbeatable. Thermopylae was important at the time only in that delayed the Persians by a few days and showed how unreliable the Spartans were at sending reinforcements, even for their own army. Still, a battle map would be very boring indeed, as the pass was reported to be a mere 15 metres across at the narrowest part. However, contrary to popular belief, at least up to this point there was no codex in Spartan history which forbade capitulation under such extreme circumstances. Given the number of 300 Spartans would either mean that their actual number was around 1500 or that Sparta would have sent a contigent of 60 Hoplites only, which seems very few to accompany one of their kings.Ĭertainly the battle was turned into a propagandistic showcase to fire the Greek will of resistance. Example: Every Spartan Hoplite was usually accompanied into battle by four to five Helots. The usual numbers given for the Greek defenders are sketchy at best, too. However, his performance certainly was a shining example in comparison to that of the Persians. The "fleeing" of the other greek contingents is now widely interpreted as a belated retreat in which Leonidas’ Spartans as the rearguard were pulled out too late and got trapped, while the traitor may be an invention to cover up Leonidas’ blunders. For one, he did not pay enough attention to guarding the other ways across the mountains. Leonidas’ performance as overall Greek commander at Thermopylai has been strongly criticized in recent years.
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