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The Malians

Greek people of the Malian Gulf, on the road to Thermopylae, 480-479 BCE

In the game: Level 11: The Finale

The Malians lived round the Spercheios valley and the Malian Gulf in central Greece. Their country held the pass of Thermopylae. Herodotus lists them among the peoples who gave Xerxes earth and water in 480, and he places them in Mardonius's line at Plataea in 479.

In the game: The game names the Malians only in Chronicle entries, decrees and field briefings for Plataea, where they appear among the Greeks on the King's side. They have no unit or mechanic of their own beyond what those texts show.

Where the Malians lived

Ancient account

Herodotus describes Malis as a coastal plain on the Malian Gulf, narrow in places between the mountains and the sea. He places Thermopylae and the town of Anthela on this ground. An army marching from Thessaly to central Greece had to pass through Malian country.

Herodotus 7.198-200

Earth and water for Xerxes

Ancient account

Herodotus lists the Malians among the peoples of northern and central Greece who gave the King's heralds earth and water in 480. He also names Greeks who did not. The Malians are not reported to have resisted, and the pass lay in their land.

Herodotus 7.132

Ephialtes and the mountain path

Disputed

Herodotus says a Malian, Ephialtes son of Eurydemus, showed the Persians the path over the mountain, which led to the defenders being outflanked at Thermopylae. He also records that some named other men, Onetas and Corydallus, and he rejects this. The story rests on Greek tradition, and no Persian source mentions it.

Herodotus 7.213-214

The Malians at Plataea

Ancient account

Herodotus says Mardonius drew up the Greeks on the King's side opposite the Athenians, Plataeans and Megarians. They were Boeotians, Locrians, Malians, Thessalians and a thousand Phocians. Herodotus gives no separate Malian numbers.

Herodotus 9.31

Willing allies or compelled

Disputed

Herodotus gives no reason for the Malian submission. For other peoples he does give reasons: he says the Phocians were driven to the Persian side by Thessalian hostility. Modern historians generally explain such submissions by a mix of fear, local rivalries and the nearness of the Persian army.

P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 2002