There was no Thermopylai war. There was a holding action at the Thermopylai Pass to force a sea battle in which the southern Greek cities hoped to destroy the Persian fleet and its threatened amphibious attack on them. Persian success at this sea battle at Artemesion enabled them to press on south after the Greeks abandoned the Pass as it no longer had any purpose.
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Their invasion was stopped by the following sea battle at Salamis and the next year the land battle at Plataia and the sea battle at Mykale.
Where was Thermopylai in this broad picture? A holding action which became irrelevant, other than its later promotion as a symbol of Greek resistance and sacrifice, when the Spartans sent their allied cities off and held the pass to the last man to let them get away safely.
