is known to the whole world for its tough and fearless warriors, the Spartans...! Laconia also has two main mountain ranges, Taygetos which is the highest mountain in the Peloponnese and Parnonas.
According to Greek mythology, Taygetos was named after Taygeti who was one of the seven Atlantis or Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleionis. On the other hand, Parnonas was said to be the Sacred mountain of Kronos. Apart from this, Laconia prefecture is an agriculture area which produces: olives, olive oil, wine and oranges. Laconia is also known as Lacedaemon. Lacedaemon was the name of the founder of the city, and was the son of Zeus and nymph Taygeti and was married to Sparta who was the daughter of Eurotas one of the mythical kings of Laconia. Lacedaemon gave the main city of Laconia the name of his wife Sparta. The name of the city is also known to the world from the heroic history of the warrior king of Sparta Leonidas and his 300 soldiers who bravely fought against the Persian army at the battle of Thermopylae.
Leonidas comes from the dynasty of Agiads who were said to be descendants of Hercules and was one of the four sons of Anaxandridas. Leonidas was believe to be born at around 540 BC and became king of Sparta at around 488 BC till his heroic death at the Battle of Thermopylae at 480 BC. Leonidas was married to Gorgo and had a son named Pleistarchus. Leonidas decided that every Hoplite who was going to fight at the Thermopylae battle, should have at least one son, in order to preserve the generations to come. Before the march to Thermopylae, Leonidas had received a request from the other Greek forces, to help defend against the Persian invasion.
Leonidas and all his soldiers (Hoplites), had been mentally and physically trained since childhood and so they weren't afraid of dying at all. Actually they would always enjoy a good fight. Leonidas and his 300 brave Spartans, went out to meet Xerxes and his immense army, at the narrow passage of Thermopylae...
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