Ephialtes of Trachis

"King Xerxes paid him well, but treachery breeds treachery. A contract was put on his head, and he died as he lived—a coward"

―Herodotos describing Ephialtes's fate to Kassandra, 431 BCE.

Ephialtes of Trachis (died 470s BCE) was a Greek individual who betrayed his homeland during the Second Persian invasion of Greece.

Biography

Treachery and death

In 480 BCE, in hopes of being rewarded by King Xerxes I of Persia, Ephialtes revealed to the Achaemenid Empire a secret path in Malis that allowed them to go around the allied Greek forces stationed at the narrow passage of Thermopylae. His actions led to the defeat of the combined forces led by King Leonidas I of Sparta at the Battle of Thermopylae.

After the war, a contract was placed on Ephialtes' head by an amphictyony, a religious alliance of smaller Greek tribes predating the poleis. He was eventually hunted down and killed for unrelated reasons by fellow countryman Athenades of Trachis around 470 BC.

Legacy

By the 420s BCE, Ephialtes was still remembered for his treachery. Inspired by the Battle of Thermopylae, Thespis wrote a play, casting his good friend Tros in the role of Ephialtes.

Behind the scenes

The name Ephialtes (Ἐφιάλτης) appears to derive from the Greek word ἐφῐάλτης (ephiáltēs), which means “nightmare; phantom”, but its origins are suspect. The name came to mean "nightmare" only after the events at Thermopylai, while the word has no clear etymology, with Dutch linguist Robert S. P. Beekes noting that its historical connections to ἐφάλλομαι (ephállomai, "to throw oneself onto somebody") are likely folk etymology, and the Swiss Indo-Europeanist Manu Leumann suggesting that the word is instead related to ἠπίαλος (ēpíalos, "ague, fever") and so could have a Pre-Greek origin.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (first mentioned)
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)