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History -- Military
history -- List of battles
The Battle of Plataea took place in 479 BC between an alliance of
Greek city-states and the Persians.
Background
After the Battle of Salamis, Xerxes I returned to Persia, leaving Mardonius in charge of the
conquered Greek territories. Mardonius, through Alexander I
of Macedon, asked for a truce with Athens, offering autonomous government and
Persian aid in rebuilding their city. Athens rejected this and asked for Spartan help,
though the Spartans were more interested in protecting the Peloponnese.
Mardonius then recaptured Athens, but Athens once more rejected his offer of peace. The Spartans hesitated as they were
celebrating a religious festival, but eventually sent 40 thousand men under the command of Pausanias to aid the Athenians. When Mardonius learned of the
Spartan force he sacked Athens for a third time, then retreated to Thebes to await the Greek force.
The Battle
Mardonius fortified the Asopus river in Boeotia, hoping that the Greeks would be unable to unite against him. However, the Athenians sent 8,000 men and
marched with the 40,000 Spartans to the pass over Mount Cithaeron, where they could successfully defend themselves from Persian raids. Mardonius sent a
cavalry charge under the commander Masistius to take the pass, but Masistius was resisted by the Megarans and Athenians under the command of Olympiodorus. Masistius was killed and his cavalry retreated. The Greeks
began to move away from the pass towards the plain of Plataea where Mardonius was camped, and where the Greek hoplites could fight more easily. The Athenians formed the left wing of the army during this
movement while the Spartans formed the right wing and the Tegeans formed the middle.
By this point the Greek army had been reinforced by many other city-states, giving the Greeks a total strength of 110,000 men.
Mardonius, on the other hand, according to Herodotus had 300,000 men. Both armies
camped in front of each other for 10 days, with only small raids on each side. Finally Mardonius decided to attack, but the
Greeks were warned of this by Alexander of Macedon. The Athenians and Spartans switched positions so that the Athenians would
defend against the main Persian force while the Spartans would fight the Greek subjects within the Persian army. However, the
Persians diverted the Greek water supply and cut off their supply of food, so the Greeks were forced to find a new camp.
On discovering the Greeks had abandoned their positions, Mardonius chased after them. The Persian cavalry and archers first came upon the Spartans, and the infantry arrived soon after. The cavalry and
archers did little damage and moved off when the infantry arrived. The numerically superior Persian troops could not break
through the Greek lines of hoplites, whose long spears gave them a tactical advantage
over the Persian short spears and swords. The Persians were decimated; Mardonius himself was killed by a Spartan named
Aeimnestus. The Persian Artabazus, who had unsuccessfully tried to convince Mardonius to avoid a pitched battle, took command of
the Persian force and immediately retreated, allowing the Greeks to capture their camp. According to Herodotus only 43,000 of the
300,000 Persians survived the battle, while the Greeks as a whole lost only 159 men.
Aftermath
According to tradition, the Battle of Mycale occurred on the
same day, with the Greek fleet destroying the Persians in the Aegean Sea off
the coast of Ionia. The Persian army, now under the command of Artabazus, retreated all the way back to Asia Minor after
Plataea. This ended the Persian War, although the Persians continued to
interfere in Greek politics until they were conquered in the 4th century
BC by Alexander the Great.
A bronze column in the shape of intertwined snakes was created from the treasure acquired in the plunder of the Persian camp,
which commemorated all the Greek city-states who participated in the battle. Part of it still survives in the Hippodrome in modern Istanbul.
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