Why did Leonidas choose to stay and die at Thermopylae? Is his death the Spartan ideal?

Leonidas may well have wanted to die a heroic death and be remembered as a martyr, but there may well have been a practical reason.

There were said to be 7000 Greeks defending the pass and all but 1000 withdrew. Leonidas and those who stayed with him may have been covering the withdrawal of the other 6000 Greeks.

If all 7000 Greeks had tried to withdraw together, they may well have been caught out in the open and overwhelmed by the Persians.

Of course. His death embodied the Spartan ideals of bravery, honor and valour in the face of imminent death.

He chose to stay because he knew it would save the Greek cities and because he had been raised for that very moment. It was his destiny.

the greatest honor a spartan can achieve is death in battle and not giving up

Rumor has it that he considered a retirement home in Florida but there were no vacancies

All the answers are correct, 300 spartans AND 700 thespians actually kept the way to 1,000,000 persians. Efialtis betrayed the greeks by showing the persians how to go behind the spartans. As for the answer by agent, listen to this: every time a spartan warrior would go to war, his mother/wive would give him his shield and tell him ή ταν ή επί τας. either with it or on it. And yes leonidas had to die for the shake of greeks. destiny. Pyhtia (fortune teller) said that the king of sparti had to die in order to save his city. But please do not forget the thespians, the helped they were the only ones to stay at that path. But after the lost persians burnt athens who took no help from the spartans. Many athenians died because the did not listen to Themistoklis and live town.

What Leonides did inspired many generations after him and ultimately changed the course of history.