Battle of Thermopylae
E76004
The Battle of Thermopylae was a famous 480 BC clash during the Greco-Persian Wars in which a small Greek force led by King Leonidas of Sparta made a legendary last stand against the vastly larger Persian army of Xerxes I.
All labels observed (5)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Battle of Thermopylae canonical | 35 |
| Thermopylae | 2 |
| Spartan army at Thermopylae | 1 |
| defense of Thermopylae | 1 |
| last stand at Thermopylae | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T606260 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Battle of Thermopylae Context triple: [Leonidas at Thermopylae, depicts, Battle of Thermopylae]
-
A.
Battle of Salamis
The Battle of Salamis was a decisive naval engagement in 480 BCE during the Greco-Persian Wars, where the outnumbered Greek fleet defeated the Persian navy and halted Persia’s advance into mainland Greece.
-
B.
Leonidas at Thermopylae
Leonidas at Thermopylae is a large Neoclassical history painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting the Spartan king Leonidas preparing to defend the pass at Thermopylae against the Persian army.
-
C.
Battle of Mycale
The Battle of Mycale was a decisive 479 BC engagement during the Greco-Persian Wars in which a coalition of Greek city-states defeated the Persian fleet and army on the coast of Asia Minor, helping end Persian naval dominance in the region.
-
D.
Battle of Cannae
The Battle of Cannae was a major engagement in 216 BC during the Second Punic War in which Hannibal’s Carthaginian army annihilated a much larger Roman force, becoming one of history’s most famous examples of tactical encirclement.
-
E.
Battle of Hel
The Battle of Hel was a World War II engagement in which Polish forces defended the Hel Peninsula against German attacks during the 1939 campaign in Poland.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Battle of Thermopylae Target entity description: The Battle of Thermopylae was a famous 480 BC clash during the Greco-Persian Wars in which a small Greek force led by King Leonidas of Sparta made a legendary last stand against the vastly larger Persian army of Xerxes I.
-
A.
Battle of Salamis
The Battle of Salamis was a decisive naval engagement in 480 BCE during the Greco-Persian Wars, where the outnumbered Greek fleet defeated the Persian navy and halted Persia’s advance into mainland Greece.
-
B.
Leonidas at Thermopylae
Leonidas at Thermopylae is a large Neoclassical history painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting the Spartan king Leonidas preparing to defend the pass at Thermopylae against the Persian army.
-
C.
Battle of Mycale
The Battle of Mycale was a decisive 479 BC engagement during the Greco-Persian Wars in which a coalition of Greek city-states defeated the Persian fleet and army on the coast of Asia Minor, helping end Persian naval dominance in the region.
-
D.
Battle of Cannae
The Battle of Cannae was a major engagement in 216 BC during the Second Punic War in which Hannibal’s Carthaginian army annihilated a much larger Roman force, becoming one of history’s most famous examples of tactical encirclement.
-
E.
Battle of Hel
The Battle of Hel was a World War II engagement in which Polish forces defended the Hel Peninsula against German attacks during the 1939 campaign in Poland.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
battle
ⓘ
engagement of the Greco-Persian Wars ⓘ land battle ⓘ |
| associatedEvent | Battle of Artemisium ⓘ |
| belligerent |
Achaemenid Empire
ⓘ
Greek city-states ⓘ |
| causeOfGreekDefeat |
Greek position outflanked
ⓘ
Persians ⓘ
surface form:
Persians discovered mountain path
|
| combatant |
Athens
ⓘ
Achaemenid Empire ⓘ
surface form:
Persian Empire
Sparta ⓘ Thebes ⓘ Thespiae ⓘ |
| conflict | Greco-Persian Wars ⓘ |
| culturalSignificance |
important theme in Western military history
ⓘ
symbol of courage against overwhelming odds ⓘ |
| date | 480 BC ⓘ |
| endDate | 480 BC ⓘ |
| followedBy |
Battle of Plataea
ⓘ
Battle of Salamis ⓘ |
| forceSize |
small Greek force
ⓘ
vastly larger Persian army ⓘ |
| GreekCommander | Leonidas I ⓘ |
| GreekForcesIncluded |
Spartan hoplites
ⓘ
Theban contingent ⓘ Thespian hoplites ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
Greek Antiquity
ⓘ
surface form:
ancient Greece
|
| locatedNear | Malian Gulf ⓘ |
| location |
Thermopylae
ⓘ
central Greece ⓘ |
| notableFor |
Greek last stand
ⓘ
defense of a narrow pass ⓘ disproportionate forces ⓘ heroic sacrifice of Spartans and allies ⓘ |
| opposingCommander |
Leonidas I
ⓘ
Xerxes I ⓘ |
| outcome | tactical Persian victory ⓘ |
| partOf |
Greco-Persian Wars
ⓘ
surface form:
Second Persian invasion of Greece
|
| PersianCommander | Xerxes I ⓘ |
| PersianTactics |
frontal assaults
ⓘ
use of elite Immortals unit ⓘ |
| primaryAncientSource |
works of Herodotus
ⓘ
surface form:
Herodotus' Histories
|
| result | Persian victory ⓘ |
| startDate | 480 BC ⓘ |
| strategicEffect |
boosted Greek morale and legend of resistance
ⓘ
delayed Persian advance into Greece ⓘ |
| tactics |
defense in depth in a narrow pass
ⓘ
phalanx formation ⓘ |
| terrain | narrow coastal pass ⓘ |
| turningPoint | Persian outflanking of Greek position ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Battle of Thermopylae Description of subject: The Battle of Thermopylae was a famous 480 BC clash during the Greco-Persian Wars in which a small Greek force led by King Leonidas of Sparta made a legendary last stand against the vastly larger Persian army of Xerxes I.
Referenced by (40)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Thermopylae
this entity surface form:
Thermopylae
subject surface form:
Histories
this entity surface form:
defense of Thermopylae
subject surface form:
Battle of Zadwórze
this entity surface form:
Spartan army at Thermopylae
this entity surface form:
last stand at Thermopylae