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Thermopylae (; Ancient and Katharevousa Greek: (:tʰermopýlai), Demotic: Θερμοπύλες (:θermoˈpiles): "hot gates") is a place in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur springs.〔"Thermopylae" in: S. Hornblower & A. Spawforth (eds.) ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1996).〕 The Hot Gates is "the place of hot springs" and in Greek mythology it is the cavernous entrances to Hades".〔L.H. Jeffery (1976) ''Archaic Greece: The City States c. 700–500 BC''. Ernest Benn Ltd., London & Tonbridge p. 73. ISBN 0-510-03271-0〕 Thermopylae is world famous for the battle that took place there between the Greek forces including the Spartans and the Persian forces, giving birth to the world famous epitaph declaring "Go Tell the Spartans Passerby, That Here Obedient To Their Laws We Lie''.''" Thermopylae is the only land route large enough to bear any significant traffic between Lokris and Thessaly. This passage from north to south along the east coast of the Balkan peninsula requires use of the pass and for this reason Thermopylae has been the site of several battles. In ancient times it was called Malis which was named after the Malians (), a Greek tribe that lived near present-day Lamia at the delta of the river, Spercheios in Greece. The Malian Gulf is also named after them. In the western valley of the Spercheios their land was adjacent to the Aenianes. Their main town was named Trachis. In the town of Anthela, the Malians had an important temple of Demeter, an early center of the Anthelan Amphictiony. The land is dominated by the coastal floodplain of the Spercheios River and is surrounded by sloping forested limestone mountains. There is continuous deposition of sediment from the river and travertine deposits from the hot springs which has substantially altered the landscape during the past few thousand years. The land surface on which the famous Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 BC is now buried under of soil. The shoreline has also advanced over the centuries because of the sedimentary deposition. The level of the Malian Gulf was also significantly higher during prehistoric times and the Spercheios River was significantly shorter. Its shoreline advanced by up to 2 kilometers between 2500 BC and 480 BC but still has left several extremely narrow passages between the sea and the mountains. The narrowest point on the plain, where the Battle of Thermopylae was probably fought, would have been less than wide. Between 480 BC and the 21st century, the shoreline advanced by as much as in places, eliminating the narrowest points of the pass and considerably increasing the size of the plain around the outlet of the Spercheios.〔Rapp, George Robert; Hill, Christopher L. ''Geoarchaeology: The Earth-science Approach to Archaeological Interpretation'', p. 96. Yale University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-300-10966-0〕 A main highway now splits the pass, with a modern-day monument to King Leonidas I of Sparta on the east side of the highway. It is directly across the road from the hill where Simonides of Ceos's epitaph is engraved in stone at the top. Thermopylae is part of the infamous "horseshoe of Maliakos" also known as the "horseshoe of death": it is the narrowest part of the highway connecting the north and the south of Greece. It has many turns and has been the site of many vehicular accidents. The hot springs from which the pass derives its name still exist close to the foot of the hill. ==Origin== Thermopylae translated to English means "hot gates" and the name is related with its hot sulphur springs.〔 This is also, in Greek mythology, the place of the cavernous entrance to Hades. The first mentioned Amphictyony was centered on the cult of Demeter which was located at the city of ''Anthela'' near Thermopylae. The delegates to the Amphictiony were dubbed the ''Pylagorai'' (or gate-assemblers in Greek), since Demeter was a local goddess in many of her older local cults,〔L. H. Jeffery (1976) ''Archaic Greece: The City States c. 700–500 BC''. Ernest Benn Ltd., London & Tonbridge pp. 72-73 ISBN 0-510-03271-0〕 and perhaps a reference to the gates of Hades A Greek myth mentioned that Heracles had jumped into the river in an attempt to wash off the Hydra poison infused in the cloak which he could not take off. The river has become hot and stayed that way ever since. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thermopylae」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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