Lisarow High School
Ancient History
Battle of Plataea
1
Battle of Plataea
The Battle of Plataea was the final major battle of the Greco-Persian Wars in
southern Greece. It took place in 479 BC between an alliance of Greek citystates Sparta, Athens, Corinth, Megara and others against 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
assistance, though the Spartans were more interested in protecting the
Peloponnese. Mardonius then recaptured Athens, but the Athenians once more
rejected his offer of peace.
Athens, Megara and Plataea sent emissaries to Sparta demanding assistance.
The Spartans hesitated, using the celebration of the Hyacinthia religious festival
as an excuse. In the end, Chileos of Tegea convinced the Spartans of the grave
danger they would face if Athens made peace.
The Spartans sent 45,000 men under the command of Pausanias, 5,000
Spartiates (full citizen soldiers), 5,000 Perioikoi and 35,000 helots; this was the
largest single Spartan fighting force ever to appear in battle.
Lisarow High School
Ancient History
Battle of Plataea
2
When Mardonius learned of the Spartan force, he completed the destruction of
Athens, tearing down whatever was standing and covering it with soil. He then
retreated to Thebes, hoping to lure the Greek army there.
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 Spartan force to the pass over Mount Cithaeron, where they
could successfully defend themselves from Persian raids. Mardonius sent cavalry
charges led by Masistius to attack the Greeks, hoping to lure them onto the plain
or to check whether his cavalry could successfully attack a phalanx on hilly terrain.
Masistius met resistance from the Megarians and Athenians under the command
of Olympiodorus, in the centre of the Greek formation. Masistius was killed and
his cavalry retreated. The Greeks began to move away from the pass towards the
plain of Plataea where Mardonius had built a fortified camp, and where the Greek
hoplites could fight more easily. The Athenians formed the left wing of the army,
with the Spartans on the right and the Tegeans in the centre.
Modern reconstruction of a phalanx. Hoplites, with the exception of the
Spartans, were not uniformly armed because each soldier would buy his own arms
and decorate them at will.
Lisarow High School
Ancient History
Battle of Plataea
3
By this point, the Greek army had been reinforced by many other city-states,
giving them a total strength of 110,000 men, consisting of 38,700 hoplites and
71,300 light troops, according to Herodotus. The hoplites came from the
following city-states:
Cities
No. of men
Sparta
10,000
Athens
8,000
Plataea
600
Megara
3,000
Corinth
5,000
Tegea
1,500
Potidaea:
300
Arcadian
600
Orchomenus
1,000
Hermion
300
Eretria and Styra
600
Lisarow High School
Ancient History
Battle of Plataea
Chalcis
400
Ambrakia
500
Lefkas and Anactorium
800
Cephalonia
200
Aegina
500
Sicyon
3,000
Epidaurus
Troezen
4
800
1,000
Leprea
200
Mycenae and Tiryns
400
Floia
1,000
Total
38,700
Of the light troops, 35,000 were the aforementioned helots, 1,800 were
Thespians and the other 34,500 are simply said to be from the other cities, about
one per hoplite. The number of helots is disputed because it implies seven helots
for every Spartan. Some historians have accepted these numbers and used them
as a population census of Greece at the time.
Lisarow High School
Ancient History
Battle of Plataea
5
Others have claimed that the numbers are bloated. The battle near Mycale is
supposed to have taken place at the same time, accounting for at least 25,000 men
(mostly Athenians but also many Spartans) on the Asian front, which means the
Greek coalition could have numbered around 80,000 men. Other historians have
rejected the idea that there were any light troops at all, only hoplites. Considering
that Pausanias tried to bring political reform to Sparta by giving the helots some
rights, it is more likely than not that he had seen them in battle.
Furthermore, if the whole Spartan hoplite force had indeed been sent to Plataea,
it would have been risky to have left such large numbers of able-bodied helots at
home; therefore having them present at the battle as auxiliary troops would have
arguably been the more prudent choice.
The Greek formation, according to Herodotus, was arrayed in the following order
(from right to left): Spartans, Tegeans, Corinthians, Potideans, Troezenians,
Lepreats, Mycenaeans and Tirynthians, Fleiasians, Hermionians, Eretrians and
Styrians, Chalcideans, Ambracians, Lefkadians and Anactorians, Palians from
Cephalonia, Aeginians, Megarans and Athenians.
Mardonius, on the other hand, according to Herodotus, had 300,000 Persians, of
which 50,000 under Artabazus did not take part in the battle because their leader
disagreed with Mardonius' tactics. Ctesias who wrote in the 4th century BC a
history of Persia based on Persian archives, claimed 120,000 Persian and 7,000
Greek soldiers, but placed the battle before Salamis. This discrepancy is
probably due to the fact that his work did not survive and what is known of it is a
fragment in the Myriobiblos, which was compiled by the Ecumenical Patriarch
Photius in the 9th century AD.
The figure of 300,000 has been doubted by several modern historians, who have
given figures as low as 50,000, beginning with Ctesias' number.
JAR Munro and Macan note that Herodotus mentions by name six superior
military commanders and 29 μυριαρχοι (muriarchoi), that is commanders of a
baivarabam. The baivarabam was the tactical unit of the ancient Persian infantry
that numbered 10,000 men.
Lisarow High School
Ancient History
Battle of Plataea
6
While it is possible that Xerxes, on leaving Greece after the battle of Salamis
accompanied by probably 60,000 troops, did leave his formations undermanned, it
would have been unwise to leave a small force since he knew that Persian archers
could defeat hoplites only with superior numbers. Also, Mardonius did have a
force of allied Greeks - all Greek states north of Athens - especially the ever"medizing" (i.e. allied to the "Medes") Thebans and allies from Thessaly. Ancient
sources say they numbered perhaps 50,000, and while this may seem exaggerated,
the northern states were certainly able to field 30,000 hoplites. British historian
N.G.L. Hammond accepts that there were 300,000 Persians at Plataea, though
he claims that the invasion force that was gathered in Doriscus one year earlier
was smaller.
The Persian formation pitted the Persians against the Spartans and Tegeans,
Medes against Corinthians, Potideans, Orchomenians and Sicyonians,
Bactrians against Epidaurians, Troezenians, Lepreats, Tirynthians,
Mycenaeans and Floiasians, Indians against Hermionians, Eretrians, Styrians
and Chalcideans, Saces against Ambraciotians, Anactorians, Leucadians,
Palians and Aeginians, the Greek allies of the Persians against Plataeans and
Athenians. There were however other forces in the Persian camp: Frygians,
Mysians, Thracians, Paonians, Ethiopians and Egyptians armed only with knives.
Both armies camped in front of each other for 10 days, with only small raids on
each side. However, the Persians diverted the Greek water supply and captured a
convoy with 500 oxen, so the Greeks were forced to find a new camp. Finally
Mardonius, after a council where Artabazus suggested retreating to Thebes
where they had many supplies, decided to attack. During the night, Alexander of
Macedon crossed the Asopus River, and appeared before the Athenian generals
(Aristides only according to Plutarch) and said the following:
Athenians, I trust you these words as secret and I forbid you to repeat
them to anybody but Pausanias, so as not to ruin me. Of course I would not
tell you, if I was not very interested for all of Greece. For I myself am
Greek, and from an old family, and I would not like to see Greece a slave
and not free (Herodotus IX, 44)
Lisarow High School
Ancient History
Battle of Plataea
7
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. Seeing this, Mardonius switched his formation
too. Then the Greeks on the 12th night from finding the second camp decided to
move. This was done with some confusion.
On discovering the Greeks had abandoned their positions, Mardonius chased
after them. Seeing that the Greek formation was divided in three, he decided to
attack, without realizing he was sending his force into a trap. The Persian cavalry
and archers first came upon the Spartans who were still moving, and the infantry
arrived soon after. The Spartans retreated higher in the mountains where they
were protected from cavalry attacks. The cavalry and archers did little damage and
withdrew when the infantry arrived. The Spartans asked the Athenians for help,
but they were unable to send any because they were being attacked by the
Thebans.
The numerically superior Persian infantry were of the heavy (by Persian
standards) sparabara formation that was still much lighter than the Greek phalanx.
The Persian defensive weapon was a large wicker shield, compared to the heavy
bronze shield of the phalanx. The Persians formed a shield wall and started firing
volleys of arrows against the Spartans and the Tegeans. After suffering these
volleys for some time, the Tegeans attacked, forcing the Spartans to follow suit.
The Greek long spears gave them a tactical advantage over the Persian short
spears and swords, and the battle soon turned into a slaughter. The Persians were
annihilated; Mardonius himself was killed by a Spartan named Aeimnestus. In the
meantime, while the Spartans were still suffering from the arrows, the Athenians
moved to help them, but found themselves facing the Persians' Greek allies. While
most Greeks feinted cowardice, the Thebans attacked and fought bravely, being
repelled with 300 casualties. Herodotus claims that the rest of the Greek and
Persian forces did not fight, something very dubious. Unfortunately, no other
ancient source with a full description of the battle has survived to say otherwise.
The Persian Artabazus, who had unsuccessfully tried to convince Mardonius to
avoid a pitched battle, then took command and immediately retreated, allowing the
Greeks to capture their camp. According to Herodotus, only 43,000 Persians
survived the battle, while the Greeks as a whole lost only 159 men.
Lisarow High School
Ancient History
Battle of Plataea
8
Furthermore, he claims that only Spartans, Tegeans and Athenians died, since
they were the only ones who fought. Plutarch, who had access to other sources,
gives 1,360 Greek casualties, while both Ephorus and Diodorus tally the Greek
casualties to over 10,000.
However, historical records of the period are notoriously biased or inaccurate and
the real number of casualties will never truly be known. Use of any of the ancient
casualty figures places Plataea in the list of the most lethal battles in world history,
and it may have been more lethal than any preceding battle.
Aftermath
According to tradition, the battle of Mycale occurred on the same day, with the
Greek fleet destroying the Persian in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Ionia.
The Persian army, under the command of Artabazus tried to retreat all the way
back to Asia Minor. Most of the 43,000 survivors were attacked and killed by the
forces of Alexander I of Macedon at the estuary of the Strymon river. This
ended the defensive phase of 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. However, this was the last time the Persians tried to invade
the Greek mainland with the goal of total conquest.
A bronze column in the shape of intertwined snakes (Serpent column) was
created from the melted-down Persian weapons acquired in the battle plunder of
the Persian camp and was offered at the oracle of Delphi, which commemorated all
the Greek city-states who participated in the battle. Part of it still survives in the
Hippodrome of Constantinople in present-day Istanbul, where it was carried by
Constantine the Great during the founding of his city on the Greek colony of
Byzantium. It lists all city-states that took part in the battle, confirming
Herodotus' account (but not his numbers). The Greeks also took Mardonius'
payroll money and other treasure. The Greeks are recorded to have marveled at
the splendour of the Persian camp, asking why being so wealthy, the Persians
wanted to conquer their relatively poor peninsula.
Another important and longer-lasting aftermath was that after the Persian wars
the Persian empire started recruiting and relying on Greek mercenaries.
Lisarow High School
Ancient History
Battle of Plataea
9
Eventually, especially after the March of the 10,000, their superior fighting ability
(due to their armour and the way they fought) was demonstrated, leading the way
for Alexander the Great's conquests.
In Popular Culture

In the 2007 film 300, the movie's final scene is the start of the Battle of
Plataea, with Spartan captain Dilios commanding 10,000 Spartans, in
turn commanding 30,000 other free Greeks. Dilios recounts the
courageous sacrifice of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans at the previous
Battle of Thermopylae, rousing the Greek army before the battle at
Plataea commences. The movie turns to the credits as the Greeks charge.
Dilios mentions that they (the Greeks) are outnumbered "a paltry three to
one" which he says are "good odds for any Greek."