Thermopylae is a mountain pass in the ancient Greek region of Malis, known for its hot springs (its name means "hot gates" in Greek) and for its notability in Greek mythology as the cavernous entrance to Hades. In 480 BC, it was the site of the Battle of Thermopylae between the Greek army under the Spartan king Leonidas I and the massive Persian army under Xerxes I, and the battle resulted in a pyrrhic Persian victory over the defiant Greeks. The pass continued to hold strategic importance for centuries, and it was a battleground during the Third Sacred War in 352 BC, the 279 BC Gallic invasion of the Balkans, the Roman invasion in 191 BC, the Heruli invasion in 267 AD, the Bulgarian invasion in 997 AD, the Greek War of Independence in 1821, and World War II in 1941.