Thermopylae, or the 'Gates of Fire,' was an ancient mountain pass held during its eponymous battle during the Persian invasions of Greece in the 5th century BCE. Fighting back the 'Immortal' soldiers of Achaemenid Emperor Xerxes, King Leonidas led his Spartan and allied Greek soldiers in a glorious warriors' suicide mission. They held off the Persian invasion for long enough, however, to stall the Persian advance until they were betrayed by a local Greek named Ephialtes. As one of the most famous last-stands in world history, the allegory between Thermopylae's heroic but doomed effort and that of the 1400s Welsh Revolt.

"The check’d waves eddying round the ghastly dead;
Saw, in that hour, her own LLANGOLLEN claim
Thermopylae’s bright wreath, and aye-enduring fame. " (Seward 58-60)