This small monument built of lapis Lacedaimonius, a dark green stone with light green flecks, is said to be the site of the Spartan last stand at Thermopylae, though it seems more likely that the Thebans, who had been forced to stay behind against their will by the Spartans, perished here. On it is the epigraph written attributed to the poet Simonides of Ceos:
Traveler,
take this word to the men of Lakedaimon:
We who lie buried here did what they told us to do.