Aristodemus of Sparta

Who is Aristodemus of Sparta?

Aristodemus was a Spartan warrior, one of the many sent to the Battle of Thermopylae. He was one of only two Spartan survivors, as he was not present at the last stand. Along with a comrade, Eurytus, Aristodemus was stricken with an ophthalmic disease, causing King Leonidas to order the two to return home before the battle, but Eurytus turned back, though blind, and met his end charging into the fray.

The Greek historian Herodotus believed that had both Aristodemus and Eurytus returned alive, or had Aristodemus alone been ill and excused from combat, the Spartans would have ascribed no blame to Aristodemus. However, because Eurytus did turn back and died in combat, Aristodemus was regarded as a coward and subjected to humiliation and disgrace at the hands of his compatriots; in the words of Herodotus, "no man would give him a light for his fire or speak to him; he was called Aristodemus the Coward."

The other survivor of the Three Hundred was a man named Pantites, who had been sent by Leonidas on an embassy to Thessaly. He failed to return to Thermopylae in time for the battle, and on finding himself in disgrace in Sparta, hanged himself.