It is spring, 480 BC Persian King Xerxes, continuing his fathers, Darius, master plan to conquer the Hellenic city-states, arrives in Hellas. The previous Persian invasion and diplomatic attempts have already turned most northern Hellas tribes and states to the Persian side. But the people of Athens and Sparta, the largest Hellenic powers at the time, feel quite insulted by the Persian emissaries requesting their surrender to Xerxes and slay them. In Sparta, King Leonidas consults the local oracle, which gives two options: either a spartan king will have to be sacrificed or Sparta will be burned to the ground. A year earlier (481, BC) a panhellenic consortium of all southern city-states have already recognized the superiority of the spartan army (the best organized and trained army at the time) and have announced King Leonidas supreme commander of the combined Hellenic army.