Two of the 300 Spartan soldiers survived the Battle of Thermopylae. Their names were Aristodemus and Pantites, although neither remained a celebrated hero in Sparta immediately afterward.
Aristodemus and another Spartan, Eurytus, were reportedly suffering from an eye disease before the final stand. Leonidas ordered them to return home. Eurytus went back to the battlefield despite being nearly blind and died there, while Aristodemus reached Sparta alive. Pantites had been sent away on a diplomatic mission and arrived too late to join the final battle, making him the other survivor.
The famous story is often simplified by films and popular retellings into “all 300 died.” In reality, the Spartan contingent was part of a much larger Greek force, and Leonidas’s final rear guard also included about 700 Thespians and other troops. The surviving Spartans later faced disgrace for not dying with their comrades. Aristodemus redeemed himself by fighting bravely at Plataea in 479 BCE; Pantites, unable to bear the shame, reportedly took his own life.