Histories

He was not at all disturbed by this and made light of the multitude of the Medes, saying that their Trachinian foreigner brought them good news. If the Medes hid the sun, they could fight them in the shade instead of in the sun. This saying and others like it, they claim, Dieneces the Lacedaemonian left behind as a memorial.

Next after him two Lacedaemonian brothers, Alpheus and Maron, sons of Orsiphantus, are said to have been most courageous. The Thespian who gained most renown was one whose name was Dithyrambus son of Harmatides.

There is an inscription written over these men, who were buried where they fell, and over those who died before the others went away, dismissed by Leonidas. It reads as follows:

1. Here four thousand from the +Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese once fought three million.

That inscription is for them all, but the Spartans have their own:

1. Foreigner, go tell the Spartans that we lie here obedient to their commands.