We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.
Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.Help Now >
Thermopylae
FREE Catholic Classes
A titular see and suffragan of Athens in Achaia Prima. It is the name of a defile about 4 miles long, whose principal passage was barred by a wall, which the Phocidians erected against the Thessalians in the sixth century B.C. It receives its name from two hot springs called today Loutra (the baths). There in the month of July, 480 B.C., Leonidas, King of Sparta, with 1300 Spartan soldiers and allies fell with his men while bravely opposing the enormous army of Xerxes. In 279 B.C. Brennus with 170,000 Gauls penetrated into Greece by this pass; it was there also that Antiochus III, King of Syria, was defeated by the Romans in 191 B.C., and where in A.D. 395 Alaric, King of the Goths, passed on his way to devastate Greece. In the sixth century Justinian restored the fortifications (Procopius, "De aedificiis", IV, 2). After the Latins in 1204 had overthrown the Byzantine Empire, Thermopylae was made a Latin diocese. Many letters from Innocent III, written in 1208 and 1210 to Bishop Arnulfus, are extant. The other bishops from the thirteenth to the sixteenth cenutry are mentioned by Le Quien ("Oriens christianus", III, 847-850; Gams, "Series episcoporum", 431; Eubel, "Hierarchia catholica medii aevi", I, 509; II, 275; III, 332); but many of them were only titulars. The see is referred to shortly after in "Liber censuum" of the Roman Church (ed. Fabre), II, 8; it was never a Greek diocese. Today it is known as Lycostomos on the bank of the Maliac Gulf in the district of Phoiotis. The passage is less difficult than formerly because the alluvium deposited by the Sperchios has caused the sea to recede and has facilitated a road between the waters and the mountain.
FREE Catholic Classes Pick a class, you can learn anything
To all our readers, Please don't scroll past this.
Today, we humbly ask you to defend Catholic Online's independence. 98% of our readers don't give; they simply look the other way. If you donate just $5.00, or whatever you can, Catholic Online could keep thriving for years. Most people donate because Catholic Online is useful. If Catholic Online has given you $5.00 worth of knowledge this year, take a minute to donate. Show the volunteers who bring you reliable, Catholic information that their work matters. If you are one of our rare donors, you have our gratitude and we warmly thank you. Help Now >
- Trending Saints:
- St. John Francis Regis
- St. Emily de Vialar
- St. Germana Cousin
- St. Luthgard
Copyright 2021 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2021 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.
