The Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE was the climactic clash that secured Greek independence from Persian domination and highlighted the renowned Spartan valor within a united Greek coalition. After earlier Persian setbacks in Greece, Mardonius led a substantial force to challenge the Greek alliance, which included Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and other poleis. The Spartans, under the strategic leadership of Pausanias, formed the backbone of the Greek hoplite phalanx, while allied contingents provided crucial support and cohesion. The battle took place on a plateau near Plataea, a terrain that favored the Greek discipline and coordinated phalanx tactics. The Spartans anchored the center with their formidable heavy infantry, offering steadiness under pressure, while the Persians faced logistical strains, a mix of troop types, and difficulties sustaining a prolonged engagement far from their core supply bases. As the fighting intensified, the Greek hoplites held their tight formation, and timely reserves and decisive counter-maneuvers exploited weaknesses in the Persian order, leading to mounting Persian casualties and a retreat that ended Persian ambitions on Greek soil. In the aftermath, Plataea secured Greek independence and preserved the momentum of the classical era’s political and cultural development, elevating Sparta to a leading military position within the coalition and underscoring the power of coordinated defense among the Greek city-states.
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So the fact that the Athenians
and the left flank of them are fighting like the Greek allies and
the Thebans, they are going up against
the proper phalanx of heavily armored Hoplites as well.
Whereas while Pausanias and the Spartans are fighting, you know,
against overwhelming numbers,
they're still fighting against relatively lighter infantry.
Even if the Athenians wanted to break off the phalanx
and basically charge and dash towards the
Spartan positions, they wouldn't be able
to do this because the Thebans have cavalry in the area as
well. The Theban cavalry of their city-states,
as opposed to the Persian cavalry formerly
commanded by Mardonius.
And then Theban cavalry would basically be able to run them down if
if they sort of broke formation and tried to dash towards the Spartans.
Now the Spartans are also pinned down because the Persians are
loosing arrow volley after arrow volley
and they're throwing javelins at them
and they find themselves in a bit of a predicament
because Pausanias is currently trying to
sacrifice various animals in order to get a good omen for the battle.
Alongside the Spartans...
You gotta love the Spartan tenacity for the sacrifice.
He's doing this all while the Tegeans, the Spartan allies
who are assigned to fight along the Spartan contingent,
are also suffering heavy casualties from Persian missile fire.
And so as Pausanias is ordering all these sacrifices,
he becomes ever more desperate and he looks atop the Temple of Hera.
And he says a quick prayer to Hera,
pleading for divine aid and a good omen.
And it's at this point that the Tegeans charge the Persian lines,
desperate to get into melee combat
because they can't take the arrow fire.
And it's at this convenient moment
that finally the Spartans get a good omen.
And so the Spartans end up joining the battle, following the Tegeans.
And Herodotus actually has a description of the battle,
which is as follows.
Now they, the Spartans, the two charged the Persians,
and the Persians met them, throwing away their bows.
First, they fought by the fence of shields, and when that was down,
there was a fierce and long fight around the temple of Demeter itself,
until they came to blows at close quarters.
For the barbarians laid hold of the spears and broke them short.
Now the Persians were neither less valorous
nor weaker, but they had no armor.
Moreover, since they were unskilled
and no match for their adversaries in craft,
they would rush out singly and in tens or in groups, great or small,
hurling themselves on the Spartans and so perishing.
So because the Persians had taken
to the field before they were able to get organized,
They just throw themselves
in their individual units against the Spartans,
whereas the Spartans, even though there was this botched retreat,
the actual Spartan contingent
remains in order and in battle formation,
and each of the units knows what the other is doing,
and so they're able to hold the line against the Persians.
Apart from one person, a fellow
by the name of Aristodemus,
who sees the oncoming Persians and throws himself upon them.
in order to uh in order to redeem himself following
his survival of the battle of Thermopylae
yeah so folks he was the guy that followed his king's orders
and returned to Sparta
and was because his fellow Spartan
who was also ordered to return decided to turn back and join
the last stand of the 300 uh he was blacklisted
and considered a disgrace to Spartan society and
He just fought here with
reckless valor and such fury that the Spartans themselves
who are a pretty hard bunch to also
please at times they just said all right you know you you did enough
to get yourself from this black
mark and in to be to have fully redeemed themselves yourself
but they don't offer him
any special honor or valor because he did ultimately fight
uh with reckless suicidal intent
because that's what he did to kind of this is all he had to do
to try to redeem his you know name whereas
for the Spartans you have to fight well and valorous
but with kind of like the intention to live
and that's why he was not you know given any you know
commemorative medals posthumously
on the other hand uh Amphiphatis is the Spartan battalion
Commander who did not initially budge from the retreat.
He did fight with immense valor and courage that,
you know, the Spartans did honor him
with tributes after the battle.
You could call it a tale of two Spartans.
Yeah, Ampharetus is a relatively young Spartan commander.
He's actually a relatively young Spartan in general.
He's one of the sort of Spartan...
He's not a youth because he's graduated the Spartan Agoge,
but he's quite young as Spartan
officers go, and he actually dies in the struggle against
the Persians during the battle. However,
he's not the only high-ranking officer to die,
because a Spartan actually picks out Mardonius,
the Persian commander-in-chief among the crowd,
because Mardonius presents himself atop a white
White stallion.
prominently seen by everyone on the battlefield
and a Spartan by the name of Iamnestus
decides to take a chance.
He picks up a stone, lobs it across the line and it strikes Mardonius
killing him and once the Persians once they see
their iconic commander go down
immediately begin to withdraw even
though they do try to stand their ground to fight over the
body of Mardonius. But morale has completely collapsed
because he was a pretty charismatic leader
The only contingent of the army that doesn't withdraw,
you know, that withdraws in good order
is the 40,000 under Atrebasos,
who was, you know, the cautious guy who said,
let's just go back to Thebes, restock in Thessaly,
and just, you know, bribe the Athenians
or some other Greeks in our favor.
His men withdraw in pretty good order
because they did not advance as fast with the main army.
They would even avoid going to the Persian camp
which you know would be suffering a pretty
ghastly fate and he first goes to Phocis
and then eventually via the Hellespont.
Yeah he doesn't even stop in sort of Thessaly or Thebes,
sort of Persian allies close to the
front line. He takes a chance
and runs all the way back to the Hellespont through Macedonian territory
which will prove unfortunate.
In hindsight now we've covered what's happening
on the Spartan side of the battle where the
Spartans are besting the Persians after killing Mardonius.
However on the Greek left where the
Athenians are occupying they are fighting
a hard battle against the Thebans and only the Thebans
whereas according to Herodotus many of the Greek subjects
of the Persian king deliberately fight
badly because they're secretly loyal
to the Greeks except for the Thebans.
who fight well
Herodotus sure had something against the Thebans
