The Battle of Plataea believed to have been fought in August 479 BC, during the Persian Wars (499 BC-449 BC). Persians suffered a major blow to their prestige and morale and Greeks were safe from conquest. Athenians did not have the numbers to contribute both in land and sea, so they focused their efforts on the naval battle. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pericles, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes and Phidias are only a few of the great men that lived in this age and left an invaluable legacy to Western Civilization and the world in general. All Greeks knew that this was truly the last stand, their last effort to stop the invasion of the Persian Empire and free their lands. The Persian army had already entered Athens and destroyed the city, including the old Temple of Parthenon on the Acropolis. The Greek allied forces (including Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Megara), marched out of the Peloponnese and arrived at Plataea. Read more articles about Greek history and culture on our blog. “Oh stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians thatwe lie here, obedient to their laws.”, This epitaph was engraved on a commemorative stone placed on the ground where the Spartans fell at Thermopylae, usually attributed to Simonides of Ceos. However, the advance of the Persian army happened to coincide once again with the Carneia, the religious festival of the Spartans that forbade military action during the festivities, and the Olympic Games which demanded the Olympic truce. Especially the Athenians needed only victory, otherwise, they would likely not see their homes again. For Greeks, however, it was an enormous victory with great significance. The Battle of Plataea marked the end of the Persian invasion to the West. The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece.It was a decisive victory for the Greeks as it ended that war. Realizing that they were too late, they recognized the importance of the Athenian victory. Miltiades, the Athenian general, devised a battle strategy that proved to be successful and the Greeks defeated the Persian army who broke in panic towards their ships. The following year, Mardonius’ forces would meet the Greek allied army once again, at the Battle of Plataea. Although Plataea was in every sense a decisive victory, it does not seem (even at the time) to have been as famous as the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon or even the Allied defeat at Thermopylae. [3] Effectively, the Greek force was made mainly by Spartan and Athenian armies, but there was also various armies from the Peloponnese. The Persians retreated to Boeotia, and built a fortified camp near Plataea. The small Greek forces led by the 300 of King Leonidas successfully defended the pass for two whole days. The contingent of 700 Thespians refused to leave and stayed behind with the Spartans to fight and die. We’ve seen it recreated in a graphic novel by Frank Miller, which turned into the extremely popular movie 300 by Zack Snyder. Their aim was to persuade along the way as many Greeks as possible to join their forces and follow them to Thermopylae, where they would await the arrival of the main Spartan army. Suddenly, a single ship shot forward to ram the nearest Persian vessel with the whole Greek fleet then following suit and storming to the Persian lines. The defeat at Marathon did not have much of an impact on the vast resources of the Persian Empire. The Battle of Marathon was important because it showed that the Persian Empire can be defeated. The Battle of Salamis was the turning point in the Persian Wars. Its importance lies on the inspirational example it set. The destruction of this army, and the remnants of the Persian navy, allegedly on the same day at the Battle of Mycale, ended the invasion. The Battle. The self-sacrifice of the 300 Spartans and the 700 Thespians allowed more than 3000 men to retreat and fight again in the next battle. But it was the Battle of Plataea that effectively ended the threat of the Persians and their invasion to the West. Dominic Selwood emphasized the importance of the Battle of Salamis for the Western Culture, on the occasion of its 2500th anniversary in 2020. The great King of Persia had sent ambassadors to the Greek city-states, asking for “earth and water”.

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