For other uses see Battle of Thermopylae (disambiguation)

Battle of Thermopylae (disambiguation)

The Battle of Thermopylae was an important clash fought in 480 BC during the Persian Wars.The term may also refer to:*Battle of Thermopylae , the blocking of the pass during the Third Sacred War by the Phocians against Philip II of Macedon...

The Battle of Thermopylae in 267

267

Year 267 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paternus and Arcesilaus...

 was the unsuccessful defense of the pass by local forces during the great invasion of the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 by the Heruli

Heruli

The Heruli were an East Germanic tribe who are famous for their naval exploits. Migrating from Northern Europe to the Black Sea in the third century They were part of the...

.

The Heruls

Heruli

The Heruli were an East Germanic tribe who are famous for their naval exploits. Migrating from Northern Europe to the Black Sea in the third century They were part of the...

 are first mentioned by Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 writers in the reign of Gallienus

Gallienus

Gallienus was Roman Emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and alone from 260 to 268. He took control of the Empire at a time when it was undergoing great crisis...

 (260

260

Year 260 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Saecularis and Donatus...

-268

268

Year 268 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paternus and Egnatius...

), when they accompanied the Goths

Goths

The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....

 ravaging the coasts of the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

 and the Aegean

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

. The mixed warbands managed to sack Byzantium

Byzantium

Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...

 in 267

267

Year 267 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paternus and Arcesilaus...

, but their eastern contingent was virtually annihilated in the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 at the Battle of Naissus

Battle of Naissus

The Battle of Naissus was the defeat of a Gothic coalition by the Roman Empire under Emperor Gallienus near Naissus...

 (Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

) two years later, the battle that earned Marcus Aurelius Claudius his surname "Gothicus."