we lie here obedient to their word." Then ends with "...But it was more than a victory for Greece, it was a stirring example to free people throughout the world of what a few brave men can accomplish once they refuse to submit to tyranny!" Main cast Richard Egan as King Leonidas of Sparta Ralph Richardson as Themistocles of Athens Diane Baker as Ellas, daughter of Pentheus Barry Coe as Phyllon, Spartan in love with Ellas David Farrar as King Xerxes of Persia Donald Houston as Hydarnes, leader of the Persian Immortals Anna Synodinou as Queen Gorgo of Sparta Kieron Moore as Ephialtes of Trachis, farm worker & Greek traitor John Crawford as Agathon, Spartan spy and soldier Robert Brown as Pentheus, Leonidas' second-in-command Laurence Naismith a Greek delegate Anne Wakefield as Artemisia, Queen of Halicarnassus Ivan Triesault as Demaratus, exiled former King of Sparta Charles Fernley Fawcett as Megistias, Spartan priest Michalis Nikolinakos as Myron, a Spartan Sandro Giglio as Xenathon, a Spartan Ephor Dimos Starenios as Samos, a goatherd Anna Raftopoulou as Toris, Samos' wife Yorgos Moutsios as Demophilus, leader of the Thespians Nikos Papakonstantinou as Grellas, a Spartan in Xerxes' camp John G. Contes as Artovadus, Persian general Marietta Flemotomos as a Greek woman Kostas Baladimas as Mardonius, Persian general Zannino as Athenian citizen, Persian general Production The battle scenes were shot around Vouliagmenis Lagoon (north of Loutraki and the Corinth Canal and west of the village of Perachora; northwest of Athens)--not to be confused with the much smaller Lake Vouliagmeni, due south of Athens. The northern Corinthian site doubled as Thermopylae and the surrounding areas as it had become impossible to shoot at the actual location in Thermopylae. The passage of 2,500 years of the receding coastline turned the strait where the actual battle was fought in 480 BCE into a broad coastal plain facing the Malian Gulf adding about 3.5 kilometers of dry land to the coastline by mid-20th century. The Greek Defense Ministry agreed to make available to the producers up to 5,000 members of the Hellenic Army for a pre-negotiated fee. However, the film's budgetary constraints reduced the numbers drawn to only two battalions (approximately 1,100 men). The largest establishing scenes, of the Persian Army entering Greece, utilized many of these soldiers, together with a combined total of several hundred civilian extras, horses, cattle, ox carts, and chariots. For the wider establishing scenes