Battle of Plataea
This huge, drawn-out engagement saw a Greek army finally eject the might of the Persian Empire from mainland Greece
This climactic battle during the second Perisan invasion saw a Greek coalition repel Xerxes I’s forces
The battles of Thermopylae and Salamis are the most famous engagements of the Second Persian Invasion of Greece. Nevertheless, the Battle of Plataea was also important in helping to secure the independence of the Greek city-states from Persian domination.
Thermopylae and Salamis both occurred in 480 BCE and the major Persian defeat at the latter battle left King Xerxes I disheartened. He returned back to his territories in the Achaemenid Empire but left a large army behind in Greece under the command of his brother-in-law Mardonius. This force was based in the region of Thessaly, with Mardonius receiving orders to continue campaigning the following year.
Mardonius initially offered a negotiated peace settlement with the Athenians. The terms included an autonomous Athens within the Persian Empire as well as the reconstruction of the city, which had been destroyed by Xerxes’s soldiers. Mardonius’s offer was supported by the Greek king of Macedon but the Athenians couldn’t accept Persian rule. This refusal forced Sparta to remain allied with the Athenians and Mardonius began to march south through Greece.
In the summer of 479 BCE, the Persians once again occupied Athens and the Athenians pleaded with Sparta for help. The Spartans vacillated but then sent an army commanded by Pausanias. Mardonius was alarmed and retreated from Athens to Boeotia, where the Persians positioned themselves along the River Asopos near the city of Plataea. This position was fortified for miles and included a square wooden stockade that was itself 1.5km long. It was designed to be used as a defence for the Persians if the coming battle turned against them.
Meanwhile, Pausanias’s Spartan army was swelled by Athenians and other Greek contingents. The historian Herodotus places the total Greek numbers at 108,200 troops. This was an extremely large army for the
Greeks and included 38,700 of the famous citizen-soldier hoplites. Ten-thousand of these were Spartan, 8,000 were Athenian, along with 19 other contingents from across Greece.
Herodotus also claimed that the Persian force was more than twice the size of their opponents at 300,000, with an additional 50,000 Greek allies. The troop numbers for both sides were probably exaggerated but the net result of all these soldiers was the largest land engagement of the war.
A long battle
Pausanias’s troops positioned themselves on hills near the Persian camp, although both sides hesitated to attack. Mardonius began the battle by sending the Persian cavalry to disrupt the
Greek supply routes. This tactic worked and the Greeks became disorganised, but the Persian cavalry commander was killed. This forced the Persian horsemen to return to their main position while Pausanias moved away from the hills and nearer to the Asopos. His manoeuvre caused arguments among the Greeks while Mardonius moved his troops in response.
The two armies faced each other across the Asopos in a tense stalemate for almost two weeks, with action being limited to manoeuvring and a few raids. Pausanias eventually decided to move his forces nearer to Plataea but his plan led to more arguments, particularly between the Spartans and Athenians. Mardonius believed the Greeks were retreating and gave an order to pursue them. Pausanias stood his ground, with the Spartans forming a defensive position before a general Greek assault was launched.
Both sides initially fought well but the Greeks’ heavier armour worked in their favour. Mardonius was in the thick of the fighting leading an elite unit of 1,000 men, but he was killed by a Spartan. This was a major turning point of the battle, with the Persians fleeing to their original fortified position. Pro-persian Greeks in Mardonius’s army began retreating, with the majority largely being allowed to escape.
The surrounded Persians who remained behind their wooden stockade defences were not so lucky. The Spartans led the attack but it was the Athenians who broke through the defences and a huge slaughter of the Persians ensued. Ancient sources disagree on casualty figures but the huge Persian force was effectively annihilated.
Plataea was fought on the same day as another large Persian defeat at Mycale and these two Greek victories ended the Persian threat to mainland Greece and its city-states. Campaigns were subsequently now fought in the Aegean Sea, Asia Minor and outlying regions. However, despite Platea’s importance in ejecting the Persians from Greece the battle never became as famous as the earlier Greek victories of Marathon or Salamis.