Origin: Greek prefix thermo-
Thermopylae has 2 different meanings across 2 categories:
a famous battle in 480 BC; a Greek army under Leonidas was annihilated by the Persians who were trying to conquer Greece
A narrow pass on the East-central coast of Greece adjacent to the Maliakos Gulf, northwest of Athens. Its name is derived from its hot sulphur springs. It was the site of the Battle of Thermopylae, at which the Spartan King Leonidas stood off, for a time, the Persian armies of Xerxes.