(in ancient Greece) a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea linking Locris and Thessaly: a defensible position on a traditional invasion route from N Greece; scene of a famous battle (480 bc) in which a greatly outnumbered Greek army under Leonidas fought to the death to delay the advance of the Persians during their attempted conquest of Greece
Thermopylae in American English
(θərˈmɑpəˌli)
in ancient Greece, a mountain pass in Locris, near an inlet of the Aegean Sea: scene of a battle (480 b.c.) in which the Persians under Xerxes destroyed a Spartan army under Leonidas