The Battle of Plataea: 479BC

Preliminaries:

• Over the winter months the Peloponnesians finally completed their fortification of the Isthmus of Corinth
• This was a series of fortifications offering protection against a land assault into the Peloponnese
• With the reassurance from this protection, the Peloponnesian armies (headed by 5,000 Spartan hoplites) marched out towards Boeotia to fight the Persians

The Serpent Column:

• The Serpent Column is a victory monument that was erected by the Greeks after Plataea
• According to Herodotus, it was made out of the melted weapons of the Persian soldiers
• It consists of a base made of bronze woven into three entwined snakes, and a golden cauldron that sat on top
• It was placed in the sanctuary at Delphi, where the oracles for the war had been uttered
• The cauldron was stolen during ancient times and the bronze base was moved to Constantinople (Istanbul) by the Emperor Constantine, where it still stands today

Belligerents:

Greek:

• 110,000 (Herodotus)
• 80,000 (Modern estimation)
• Commander: Pausanias - Spartan regent for the young king Pleistarchus, Leonidas' son

Persian:

• 300,000 (Herodotus)
• 80-120,000 (Modern estimates)
• Commander: Mardonius - same as before, now sole commander with Xerxes' retreat to Persia

The Battlefield

• A large, open plain that was ideal for massive military operations and cavalry manoeuvres
• Largely flat land, broken up by a series of small streams and rivers
• Mardonius and the Persians in the north at the river Asopus
• Greeks in the foothills near the city of Plataea to the south

Logistical Mistakes

• For days a stalemate ensued, with both sides trying to position their forces in a way that would best suit their fighting style. Neither side received favourable omens that would convince them to fight
• Mardonius was anxious at the sight of new reinforcements reaching the Greek camp every day, whilst Pausanias was anxious that his forces were too exposed in the great plain
• In the night, Alexander of Macedon secretly entered the Greek camp, wishing to speak to the commanders. There he told the Greeks of Mardonius' worries and his plan to attack to try to force the Greeks into fighting
• Pausanias became terrified at this news, and ordered the Greeks to retreat back to the foothills near Plataea in the cover of darkness
• However, the communication lines failed in the darkness, and by the morning the Greek forces were separated by divisions across the plain
• Mardonius, seeing this error, ordered a full assault and the battle begun...

The Battle: Activity

• On the left wing the Athenians, Plataeans and Megarians fought the Medized Greeks, in the centre the Peloponnesians battled with the Persian allies, whilst on the left wing the Spartans and the Tegeans fought the Persian cavalry and the elite Persian infantry

Herodotus 9.40, 61-64, 71

What reasons are given for the Greek victory

• "the Persians were neither less valorous nor weaker, but they had no armour; moreover, since they were unskilled and no match for their adversaries in craft, they would rush out singly and it tens or in groups great or small, hurling themselves on the Spartans, and so perishing"
• "When Mardonius was killed and his guards...had also fallen, then the rest too yielded"
• "What harmed them the most was the fact that they wore no armour over their clothes and fought, as it were, naked against men fully armed"
• Basically...
• Greeks were heavily armoured
• When Mardonius and the Immortals died, the Persians lost heart
• The Persians were unskilled against the Spartans
• The Persians threw away their bows to fight the Spartans head on
• The Persians rushed out singly or in small groups and so died of the Spartan phalanx

What does Herodotus imply were the outcomes of the battle?

• "the most glorious of victories of all which we know, won by Pausanias"
• Basically...
• The Spartans gained their revenge for Leonidas
• The Spartans earned all of the credit
• The Spartans were given the prize of valour because they fought the best of the Persians and killed Mardonius and the Immortals

Why was Aristodemus not considered the most valiant soldier at Plataea?

• He was the only survivor of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae - he was harshly judged because of this (due to the Spartan law of no retreat)
• Aristodemus wanted to prove his courage and so charged out of the formation and rushed the Persians
• Because the Spartans had treated him so horribly, and because they believed that he rushed out of formation with the intention of dying, they refused to honour him, due to recklessness
• Herodotus suggests that the Spartans may have been jealous