Of the small Greek force, attacked from both sides, all were killed except for the 400 Thebans, who surrendered to Xerxes without a fight. ... Herodotus says that Xerxes' orders were to have Leonidas' head cut off and put on a stake and his body crucified.

Did Leonidas cut Xerxes?

Xerxes had Leonidas' head cut off and his body crucified in a mindless rage after the losses he suffered. After the Persians moved off, the Greeks returned to the battlefield and buried their dead. They erected a stone Lion to honor Leonidas and the Greeks who fell at Thermopylae.

Did the Spartans defeat Persia?

Although the Greeks finally beat the Persians in the Battle of Platea in 479 B.C., thus ending the Greco-Persian Wars, many scholars attribute the eventual Greek success over the Persians to the Spartans' defense at Thermopylae.