A Spartan orator named Dilios narrates of the young Leonidas undergoing
his childhood training, explaining the rigors of Spartan life. Leonidas is
cast out into the wild, and survives the harsh winter to return to his home,
when he is crowned King. Dilios then tells the story of the Persian
messengers arriving at Sparta and demanding Sparta’s submission to King
Xerxes. Outraged and offended at their behavior, King Leonidas kicks the
messenger into a pit; the other messengers suffer the same fate. Resolving
to face the Persians, Leonidas visits the Oracle, proposing a strategy to
repel the numerically superior enemy, and offers the priests a customary
payment in gold. The priests, called Ephors, having already been bribed by
Xerxes, interpret the Oracle’s message to mean that Sparta should not go to
war, so as to not interrupt the sacred Carneian festival