The Mountains of Thermopylae

Thermopylae, in northern Greece, is best known for the heroic defence made by Leonidas, King of Sparta, against the overwhelming forces of an invading Persian army in 480 BC. Most of the Greeks died. Edward Lear first visited Greece in the summer of 1848 and wrote in a letter: '29th, a run up to Patrasik, a queer mountain place. All these things we were constantly warned off, as full of rebels, brigands etc… but we found all things as quiet as Pimlico.30th, Thermopylae, how superb!'. When he made this painting a few years later he was taking lessons from William Holman Hunt and the intense colours he used shows the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites.