Why did the spartans fight at Thermopylae but not at Marathon?

As other answers point out, the simple answer is that Sparta came too late to the battle. However, that glosses over a number of points that deserve highlighting. read more

And the fact that they didn’t fight at Marathon (and therefore looked like cowards to the rest of Greece)is one of the reason that lead Sparta to fight the Persians at Thermopylae. read more

King Leonidas of Sparta and the Legendary Battle of the 300 at Thermopylae Print Zack Snyder’s 2007 fantasy historical film, 300, has probably made the Battle of Thermopylae one of the most famous battles of the ancient world. read more

At Marathon, Greek hoplites pursued the defeated Persians back to their ships. The Greco-Persian Wars, fought from roughly 500 to 449 B.C., were a long-running series of conflicts between the mighty Persian Empire and the independent Greek city-states, which fought to keep their identities and avoid being subsumed by the Persians. read more