Editing Thermopylae (section)

== Origin ==
Thermopylae means "hot gates", referring to the area’s [[Hot spring|hot sulfur springs]].<ref name= Hornblower /> The location was also associated with the cavernous entrance to [[Christian views on Hades|Hades]], the [[underworld]] in [[Greek mythology]], which was said to be at Thermopylae.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Croon |first=J. H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXwAAAAAMAAJ&q=hades+entrance+thermopylae |title=The Herdsman of the Dead: Studies on Some Cults, Myths and Legends of the Ancient Greek Colonization-area |date=1952 |publisher=H. De Vroede |language=en}}</ref> According to one version of the [[Labours of Hercules|Labours of Heracles]], it was said that the waters at Thermopylae became hot because the divine hero [[Heracles]] tried to cleanse himself of the [[Lernaean Hydra|Hydra's]] poison there.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBEPAQAAIAAJ&q=Thermopylae |title=Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology |date=1959 |publisher=Prometheus Press |language=en}}</ref>

The first known [[Amphictyony]], a group of religiously associated ancient Greek tribes, was centered on the cult of [[Demeter]] at the city of [[Anthela (Thessaly)|Anthela]], near Thermopylae. The delegates to this first Amphictyony were dubbed the ''Pylagorai'' ("gate-assemblers"); since Demeter had [[chthonic]] or underworld associations in many of her older cults, this may be a reference to the gates of Hades.<ref name="Jeffery72">L. H. Jeffery (1976) ''Archaic Greece: The City States c. 700–500 BC''. Ernest Benn Ltd., London & Tonbridge, pp.&nbsp;72–73. {{ISBN|0-510-03271-0}}.</ref>