A report on Battle of Plataea, Greco-Persian Wars and Achaemenid Empire

Persians and Spartans fighting at Plataea. 19th century illustration.

Persian soldier (left) and Greek hoplite (right) depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC

A map showing the Greek world at the time of the battle

Herodotus, the main historical source for this conflict

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent under the rule of Darius I (522 BC–486 BC)

The Achaemenid Empire and its allied Greek states (Macedonia, Thessaly, Malis, Locris, Phocis and Boeotia) at the time of the Battle of Plataea.

Thucydides continued Herodotus's narrative

Movements of the Persian and Greek armies in 480–479 BC

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent under Darius the Great

Answer of Aristides to the ambassadors of Mardonius: "As long as the sun holds to its present course, we shall never come to terms with Xerxes".

Persian and Median Immortals in ceremonial dress, bas-relief in Persepolis

Map of the expansion process of Achaemenid territories

The initial movements at the Battle of Plataea. The Greek line moves forward to the Asopus ridge.

According to Herodotus, the Athenians, hoping for protection against Sparta, made the gift of "Earth and Water" to the Persians in 507 BC.

Cyrus the Great is said, in the Bible, to have liberated the Hebrew captives in Babylon to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

Coinage of Athens at the time of Cleisthenes. Effigy of Athena, with owl and ΑΘΕ, initials of "Athens". Circa 510-500/490 BC.

The tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire. At Pasargadae, Iran.

The Spartan general Pausanias commanded the Allied Greek troops.

The burning of Sardis by the Greeks and the Ionians during the Ionian Revolt in 498 BC.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC

Disposition of Achaemenid troops beyond the Asopos river at the beginning of the Battle of Plataea. From left to right: Greek allies, Sacae, Indians, Bactrians, Medes and Persians.

Map showing main events of the Ionian Revolt.

The Persian queen Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, sister-wife of Cambyses II, Darius the Great's wife, and mother of Xerxes the Great

Aristides, commander of the Athenians, informed by Alexander I of Macedon (a nominal ally of the Achaemenids) that delaying the encounter with the Persians would help further diminish their already low supplies. Battle of Plataea, 479 BC.

Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars

The battlefield of Plataea from the Achaemenid (northern) side.

Greek hoplite and Persian warrior depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC

Pausanias offering sacrifice to the Gods before the battle

Achaemenid king fighting hoplites, seal and seal holder, Cimmerian Bosporus.

Scene of the Battle of Plataea. 19th century illustration.

The soldiers of Xerxes I, of all ethnicities, on the tomb of Xerxes I, at Naqsh-e Rostam.

Achaemenid gold ornaments, Brooklyn Museum

The main phase of the battle at Plataea. The Greek retreat becomes disorganised, and the Persians cross the Asopus to attack.

Probable Spartan hoplite (Vix crater, c. 500 BC).

Persian Empire timeline including important events and territorial evolution – 550–323 BC

Scene of the Battle of Plataea on the south frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike, Athens. The scene on the right may show the fight over the body of Masistius. British Museum.

Major events in the second invasion of Greece

Relief showing Darius I offering lettuces to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra Kamutef, Temple of Hibis

The 24 countries subject to the Achaemenid Empire at the time of Darius, on the Egyptian statue of Darius I.

Coin of Alexander I of Macedon in the decade following the Battle of Plataea and the departure of Achaemenid forces (struck in 480/79-470 BC).

Schematic diagram illustrating events during the Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Issus, between Alexander the Great on horseback to the left, and Darius III in the chariot to the right, represented in a Pompeii mosaic dated 1st century BC – Naples National Archaeological Museum

Spartans fighting against Persian forces at the Battle of Plataea. 19th century illustration.

Alexander's first victory over Darius, the Persian king depicted in medieval European style in the 15th century romance The History of Alexander's Battles

Athens and her "empire" in 431 BC. The empire was the direct descendant of the Delian League

Frataraka dynasty ruler Vadfradad I (Autophradates I). 3rd century BC. Istakhr (Persepolis) mint.

Map showing the locations of battles fought by the Delian League, 477–449 BC

Dārēv I (Darios I) used for the first time the title of mlk (King). 2nd century BC.

Dynast of Lycia, Kherei, with Athena on the obverse, and himself wearing the Persian cap on the reverse. Circa 440/30–410 BC.

Winged sphinx from the Palace of Darius in Susa, Louvre

Coinage of Tiribazos, Satrap of Lydia, with Faravahar on the obverse. 388–380 BC.

Volume of annual tribute per district, in the Achaemenid Empire, according to Herodotus.

Achaemenid tax collector, calculating on an Abax or Abacus, according to the Darius Vase (340–320 BC).

Letter from the Satrap of Bactria to the governor of Khulmi, concerning camel keepers, 353 BC

Relief of throne-bearing soldiers in their native clothing at the tomb of Xerxes I, demonstrating the satrapies under his rule.

Achaemenid king killing a Greek hoplite. c. 500 BC–475 BC, at the time of Xerxes I. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Persian soldiers (left) fighting against Scythians. Cylinder seal impression.

Color reconstruction of Achaemenid infantry on the Alexander Sarcophagus (end of 4th century BC).

Seal of Darius the Great hunting in a chariot, reading "I am Darius, the Great King" in Old Persian (𐎠𐎭𐎶𐏐𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁𐎴 𐏋, "adam Dārayavaʰuš xšāyaθiya"), as well as in Elamite and Babylonian. The word "great" only appears in Babylonian. British Museum.

Achaemenid calvalryman in the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Armoured cavalry: Achaemenid Dynast of Hellespontine Phrygia attacking a Greek psiloi, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Reconstitution of Persian landing ships at the Battle of Marathon.

Greek ships against Achaemenid ships at the Battle of Salamis.

Iconic relief of lion and bull fighting, Apadana of Persepolis

Achaemenid golden bowl with lioness imagery of Mazandaran

A section of the Old Persian part of the trilingual Behistun inscription. Other versions are in Babylonian and Elamite.

A copy of the Behistun inscription in Aramaic on a papyrus. Aramaic was the lingua franca of the empire.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world, was built by Greek architects for the local Persian satrap of Caria, Mausolus (Scale model)

Reconstruction of the Palace of Darius at Susa. The palace served as a model for Persepolis.

Lion on a decorative panel from Darius I the Great's palace, Louvre

Apadana Hall, Persian and Median soldiers at Persepolis

Lateral view of tomb of Cambyses II, Pasargadae, Iran

Plaque with horned lion-griffins. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered the Greek-inhabited region of Ionia in 547 BC. Struggling to control the independent-minded cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed tyrants to rule each of them.

- Greco-Persian Wars

It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states (including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Megara), and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I (allied with Greece's Boeotians, Thessalians, and Macedonians).

- Battle of Plataea

After Plataea and Mycale the Greek allies would take the offensive against the Persians, marking a new phase of the Greco-Persian Wars.

- Battle of Plataea

The following year, the confederated Greeks went on the offensive, decisively defeating the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea, and ending the invasion of Greece by the Achaemenid Empire.

- Greco-Persian Wars

The land army which he left in Greece under Mardonius retook Athens but was eventually destroyed in 479 BC at the Battle of Plataea.

- Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon.

- Achaemenid Empire

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Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques-Louis David, 1814.

Battle of Thermopylae

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A map of almost all the parts of the Greek world that partook in the Persian Wars

The Spartans throw Persian envoys into a well

The site of the battle today. Mount Kallidromon on the left, and the wide coastal plain formed by accretion of fluvial deposits over the centuries; the road to the right approximates the 480 BC shoreline.

Map showing Greek and Persian advances to Thermopylae and Artemisium

Map of Thermopylae area with a reconstructed shoreline of 480 BC.

Contemporary depictions: probable Spartan hoplite (Vix crater, c.500 BC), and Scythian warrior of the Achaemenid army (tomb of Xerxes I, c.480 BC), at the time of the Second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC).

Spartans surrounded by Persians, Battle of Thermopylae. 19th century illustration.

Crown-wearing Achaemenid king killing a Greek hoplite. Impression from a cylinder seal, sculpted circa 500 BC–475 BC, at the time of Xerxes I. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A Persian soldier at the time of the Second Achaemenid invasion of Greece.

The Capture of the Acropolis and the destruction of Athens by the Achaemenids, following the battle of Thermopylae.

Hidush (Indian soldier of the Achaemenid army), circa 480 BC. Xerxes I tomb. Herodotus explained that Indians participated on the Second Persian invasion of Greece.

The Battle of Thermopylae, 19th century engraving

Scene of the Battle of the Thermopylae (19th century illustration).

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 BC between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I.

Lasting over the course of three days, it was one of the most prominent battles of both the second Persian invasion of Greece and the wider Greco-Persian Wars.

However, the following year saw a Greek army decisively defeat Mardonius and his troops at the Battle of Plataea, ending the second Persian invasion.

Battle of Marathon

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The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC during the first Persian invasion of Greece.

The plain of Marathon today, with pine forest and wetlands.

Darius I of Persia, as imagined by a Greek painter on the Darius Vase, 4th century BC

Initial disposition of forces at Marathon

Athenians on the beach of Marathon. Modern reenactment of the battle (2011)

The ethnicities of the soldiers of the army of Darius I are illustrated on the tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rostam, with a mention of each ethnicity in individual labels. Identical depictions were made on the tombs of other Achaemenid emperors, the best preserved frieze being that of Xerxes I.

Persian infantry (probably Immortals), shown in a frieze in Darius's palace, Susa in Persia (which is today Iran)

Greek troops rushing forward at the Battle of Marathon, Georges Rochegrosse, 1859.

"They crashed into the Persian army with tremendous force", illustration by Walter Crane in Mary Macgregor, The Story of Greece Told to Boys and Girls, London: T.C. & E.C. Jack.

Cynaegirus grabbing a Persian ship at the Battle of Marathon (19th century illustration).

Relief of the battle of Marathon (Temple of Augustus, Pula).

Contemporary depiction of the Battle of Marathon in the Stoa Poikile (reconstitution)

Greek Corinthian-style helmet and the skull reportedly found inside it from the Battle of Marathon, now residing in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.

Reconstitution of the Nike of Callimachus, erected in honor of the Battle of Marathon. Destroyed during the Achaemenid destruction of Athens. Acropolis Museum.

Luc-Olivier Merson's painting depicting the runner announcing the victory at the Battle of Marathon to the people of Athens.

Burton Holmes's photograph entitled "1896: Three athletes in training for the marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens".

It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes.

The Greek army inflicted a crushing defeat on the more numerous Persians, marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars.

These numbers are highly comparable to the number of troops Herodotus says that the Athenians and Plataeans sent to the Battle of Plataea 11 years later.

Battle of Salamis

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Map showing the Greek world at the time of the battle

Fleet of triremes based on the full-sized replica Olympias

The Lycian dynast Kybernis (520-480 BCE) led 50 Lycian ships in the Achaemenid fleet.

The Ionian fleet, here seen joining with Persian forces at the Bosphorus in preparation of the European Scythian campaign of Darius I in 513 BC, was part of the Achaemenid fleet at Salamis. 19th century illustration.

The battle of Salamis, 19th century illustration.

Battle of Salamis, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (detail).

Death of the Persian admiral Ariabignes (a brother of Xerxes) early in the battle; illustration from Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls c. 1910

Artemisia, Queen of Halicarnassus, and commander of the Carian contingent of the Achaemenid fleet, at the Battle of Salamis, shooting arrows at the Greeks. Wilhelm von Kaulbach (detail).

The triumph of Themistocles after Salamis. 19th century illustration.

The wrath of Xerxes looking at the Battle of Salamis from his promontory, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (detail).

Serpent Column, a monument to their alliance, dedicated by the victorious Allies in the aftermath of Plataea; now at the Hippodrome of Constantinople

The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks.

The following year the remainder of the Persian army was decisively beaten at the Battle of Plataea and the Persian navy at the Battle of Mycale.

The Battle of Salamis marked the turning point in the Greco-Persian wars.

Part of Mount Mycale, viewed from the ruins of Priene

Battle of Mycale

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Map showing position of Mount Mycale in relation to Lade, Samos and Miletus.

Greek hoplite (right) and Persian warrior (left), fighting each other. Ancient kylix, 5th century BC.

Schematic diagram of the Battle of Mycale

The Battle of Mycale (Machē tēs Mykalēs) was one of the two major battles (the other being the Battle of Plataea) that ended the second Persian invasion of Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars.

Herodotus

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A romanticized statue of Herodotus in his hometown of Halicarnassus, modern Bodrum, Turkey

Herodotus ( Hēródotos; c. 484 BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey).

He is known for having written the Histories – a detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars.

The Histories primarily cover the lives of prominent kings and famous battles such as Marathon, Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale.

Gobryas, father of Mardonius, on the tomb of Darius I.

Mardonius (nephew of Darius I)

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Mardonius led the Destruction of Athens. Part of the archaeological remains called Perserschutt, or "Persian rubble".

Answer of the Athenian Aristides to the ambassadors of Mardonius: "As long as the sun holds to its present course, we shall never come to terms with Xerxes".

Camp of Mardonius and disposition of Achaemenid troops at the Battle of Plataea (479 BC), in which Mardonius was killed. From left to right: Greek allies, Sacae, Indians, Bactrians, Medes and Persians.

Mardonius ( Mr̥duniyaʰ; Mardónios; died 479 BC) was a leading Persian military commander during the Persian Wars with Greece in the early 5th century BC who died at the Battle of Plataea.

Delian League

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Athenian Empire in 445 BC, according to the Tribute Lists. The islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos (shaded on the map) did not pay tribute.

Fragment of the Athenian Tribute List, 425–424 BC.

The Athenian Empire at its height, c. 450 BC.

Greece at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War

The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, with the number of members numbering between 150 and 330 under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Second Persian invasion of Greece.

This action marks the end of the Persian invasion, and the beginning of the next phase in the Greco-Persian wars, the Greek counterattack.

Fragment from Histories, Book VIII on 2nd-century Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2099

Histories (Herodotus)

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Considered the founding work of history in Western literature.

[[Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed|Candaules, King of Lydia, shews his wife by stealth to Gyges...]], by William Etty (1830)

Edwin Long's 1875 interpretation of The Babylonian Marriage Market as described by Herodotus in Book 1 of the Histories

Nile crocodile allowing the trochilus to eat leeches in its mouth. Drawing by Henry Scherren, 1906

Scythian warriors, drawn after figures on an electrum cup from the Kul'Oba kurgan burial near Kerch (Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg)

Statue of Athena, the patron goddess of Athens

The Battle of Salamis, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1868)

The Serpent Column dedicated by the victorious Greeks in Delphi, later transferred to Constantinople

Dedication in the Histories, translated into Latin by Lorenzo Valla, Venice 1494

Reconstruction of the Oikoumene (inhabited world), ancient map based on Herodotus,

The Indian Gold Hunters, after Herodotus: gold ants pursuing gold hunters.

Croesus Receiving Tribute from a Lydian Peasant, by Claude Vignon

The Histories also stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the Persian Empire, as well as the events and causes of the Greco-Persian Wars between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus portrays the conflict as one between the forces of slavery (the Persians) on the one hand, and freedom (the Athenians and the confederacy of Greek city-states which united against the invaders) on the other.

The Persian retreat to Thebes where they are afterwards slaughtered (Battle of Plataea)

Hoplite

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Hoplites ( : hoplítēs) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields.

Hoplites shown in two attack positions, with both an underhand thrust and an overhand prepared to be thrown

Phalanx fighting on a black-figure amphora, c. 560 BC. The hoplite phalanx is a frequent subject in ancient Greek art

Hoplite armour exhibit from the Archaeological Museum of Corfu. Note the gold inserts around the chest area of the iron breastplate at the centre of the exhibit. The helmet on the upper left is a restored version of the oxidised helmet on the right.

Stele of Aristion, heavy-infantryman or hoplite. 510 BC. Top of helmet and pointed beard missing.

Athenian cavalryman Dexileos fighting a naked Peloponnesian hoplite in the Corinthian War. Dexileos was killed in action near Corinth in the summer of 394 BC, probably in the Battle of Nemea, or in a proximate engagement. Grave Stele of Dexileos, 394-393 BC.

Chigi Vase with Hoplites holding javelins and spears

Hoplites on an aryballos from Corinth, c. 580–560 BC (Louvre)

Crouching warrior, tondo of an Attic black-figure kylix, c. 560 BC (Staatliche Antikensammlungen)

Achaemenid king killing a Greek hoplite. Circa 500 BC–475 BC, at the time of Xerxes I. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Spartan hoplite. (Image from Vinkhuijzen Collection of Military Costume Illustration, before 1910)

Paintings of Ancient Macedonian soldiers, arms, and armaments, from the tomb of Agios Athanasios, Thessaloniki in Greece, 4th century BC

Etruscan warrior, found near Viterbo, Italy, dated circa 500 BC.

The formation proved successful in defeating the Persians when employed by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE during the First Greco-Persian War.

The phalanx was also employed by the Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE and at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE during the Second Greco-Persian War.

During the Greco-Persian Wars (499–448 BC), alliances between groups of cities (whose composition varied over time) fought against the Persians.