Leonidas Holding Shield, Ready to Fight

King Leonidas of Sparta led three hundred Spartans against a Persian army of perhaps two hundred thousand at the pass of Thermopylae in 480 BC. Their three-day stand — shield to shield, against an empire — became the defining myth of the West's defence of freedom. This figure shows him with his great hoplon shield locked, ready to receive the charge that would seal his place in history as the warrior-king who chose duty over survival.