King Leonidas' Body - King Leonidas was one of the few Spartan King's to have gone through Agoge, the Spartan's unique military upbringing for all boys ages 7-17. Leonidas' older brother, Doreius, was expected to rule. Boys often died during Agoge training, and therefore direct royal heirs were granted exemption. Leonidas, granted no such exemption, was a life-long soldier, obsessed with battle and leading war parties into enemy territory. Crowned in the wake of his older brother's death in battle (489 BC), Leonidas was a career campaigner who knew little of being King. A decade later at Thermopylae, at the ripe age of 58 (approx), Leonidas would have still been a fit and capable soldier, but remained an over-matched and under-qualified monarch.
Leonidas was also a religious fanatic. It was this faith, and his own obsession with glory, that lead the King to pursue a total defeat on the third day of battle at Thermopylae, rather than retreat with the rest of the Hellenic coalition. The Delphic Oracle had predicted either a Spartan King would die or all of the Peloponnese would burn. As is always the case, it was Leonidas' desire to manifest this destiny that proved the Oracle prophetic, demonstrating to the letter the formula Delphi employed to remain relevant for over 500 years. In the composition, the King's corpse has been stripped of all his armor, his helmet, and his cloak. Only his shield remains on the ground, and his bronze and leather corselet is still in view, in the grasp of the Acheamid Solider who hoists his plunder in triumph.
King Leonidas’ Shield – The last remaining piece of the King’s armor that has yet to be looted is the Spartan monarch’s bronze shield. Leonidas belonged to one of the two original ruling families of Sparta, the descendants of the first Dorian invaders. His shield would have been generations old, perhaps crafted over a hundred years previous and only modified since. Unlike the common Laconic shield, the King’s shield would have been crafted of thicker, higher quality bronze, been smaller in diameter belonging to an earlier age, and been worn dull from consistent polishing with most of the pitting removed. The crest features a profile of Hercules, the father of all Laconic people according to myth. Hercules’ stare faces the melee, as if baring witness to the valor on display. Author’s Note : I based the image of Hercules directly on coinage of the 5th and 6th centuries BC.