IMMORTAL BATTLEFIELD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23811, 18 May 1939, Page 11

IMMORTAL BATTLEFIELD

THERMOPYLAE UNEARTHED PROFESSOR’S DISCOVERY ATHENS, May 17. (Received May 17, at 11.30 p.m.) Professor Marinates, director of archaelogical services for the Ministry of Education, anounces the discovery of the immortal battlefield of Thermopylae where the Spartan King Leonidas and 300 Spartans and Thespians held the pass, until betrayed by Ephiaites, the Melian, against the Persian hordes under Xerxes, and then died to a man. The deed was commemorated by a local inscription, “ Go, stranger, and tell at Lacedaemon that we died here in obedience to her laws.” Professor Marinates says: “We exactly determined that the battlefield occupied the site of the existing baths. We found the Phocian wall in its entirety and definitely identified the hill on which Leonidas fell as one situated near the baths en route to Atlahte. We found a number of skeletons but these are unlikely to be victims of Thermopylae because they were found in isolated tombs. We are now seeking Polyandrion, namely, the communal tomb of Leonidas’s heroes. We found a number of arrowheads which were admirably preserved.”