Thermopylae (146 BCE)

In 146 BCE, more or less at the time of the destruction of Carthage, war broke out in Greece, where people tried to save their independence. During this Achaean War, the Roman commander Quintus Caecilius Metellus fought himself a way across Thermopylae against a coalition of Achaeans, Boeotians, and Chalcidians, led by Critolaus, who poisoned himself after his defeat. This battle was described by Livy in his fifty-second book, which is lost, although an excerpt survives.^note[Livy, Periochae 52.1.]

This battle is usually called Battle of Scarpeia, and Pausanias clearly distinguishes the two places.^note[Pausanias, Guide to Greece 7.15.2.]