Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Battle of Thermopylae (353 BC)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   delete. The title of the book cited by the "keep" !voter, Xerxes, makes clear that it is about the 480 BC battle. JohnCD (talk) 17:51, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

Battle of Thermopylae (353 BC)

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Article about a non-existent battle, no references, created by now-banned user MinisterForBadTimes (talk) 17:01, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

I have recently been writing about the ascendency of Ancient Macedon (see Rise of Macedon), and as part of that, the Third Sacred War, in which Macedon was involved. In the process of doing this, I came across this article, which purports to describe a battle that took place during the Third Sacred War, following the Battle of Crocus Field. However, none of the sources (ancient or modern) that I have seen mention this battle.

There was a scramble to occupy the pass of Thermopylae in 353 or 352 BC (the date is uncertain) after the Macedonian victory at Crocus Field, in which the Phocians and the Athenians successfully occupied the pass. This deterred Philip II of Macedon from making any attempt to use the pass, and instead he returned to Macedon. However, there was not (as far as I can see) a battle.

There are no references in the article which would allow us to try and verify the claims made by the original editor, who is now, in any case, banned. I therefore suggest that this article be deleted, as very probably non-historical and certainly non-notable, since no source bothers to mention it. MinisterForBadTimes (talk) 17:01, 18 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Further to the above, I should also point out that there is the very famous Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC), as well as numerous other Battles in the same place (see Battle of Thermopylae (disambiguation); this nomination does not refer to those battles, only the supposed one in 353 BC. MinisterForBadTimes (talk) 08:41, 19 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Delete as per my nomination. MinisterForBadTimes (talk) 17:01, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete Never heard of a Battle of Thermopylae on that date, there is indeed the notable Battle of Thermopylae, which article exist already but which happened about a century prior. -RobertMel (talk) 18:29, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Comment I would tend to agree with the nominator that something happened there in 353 BC, but it wasn't exactly a battle, particularly after looking at and  and .  This is what happens, of course, when someone writes an article and doesn't bother to tell us where they got their information, but anyone who cares to try a fix (I don't) can look at those sources (type in the words Onomarchus and Thermopylae in Google Books, add 353 if you want to).   This reminds me of "What if they gave a war and nobody came?"  If one army occupies a place and nobody contests it, it doesn't sound like a battle. Mandsford (talk) 20:41, 18 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Keep I found a chapter in a book on this in Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=ob0XAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA176&dq=%22Battle+of+Thermopylae%22&lr=&num=100&as_brr=1&cd=2#v=onepage&q=%22Battle%20of%20Thermopylae%22&f=false This could certainly add some text to the article. J appleseed2 (talk) 20:44, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I was about to suggest to keep myself when I noticed that most of the Google Book results refer to what seems to be an entirely different battle (480 B.C.). — Rankiri (talk) 21:44, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
 * See Battle of Thermopylae and Battle of Thermopylae (disambiguation). It looks like that place has seen more fights than the Colosseum. — Rankiri (talk) 21:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Comment The above keep nomination is based on a different Battle of Thermopylae (the more famous one). MinisterForBadTimes (talk) 16:40, 19 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I can't view the content, but given the way the chapters are assembled, I can assume it's about another battle which happened over a century prior, the more famous Battle of Thermopylae. -RobertMel (talk) 16:59, 19 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Greece-related deletion discussions.  -- • Gene93k (talk) 00:52, 19 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Military-related deletion discussions.  -- • Gene93k (talk) 00:52, 19 February 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.