Plataea (redirected from Plataea, Battle of)

Plataea (plətē`ə), ancient city of Greece, in S Boeotia (now Voiotía), on the slope of Mt. Cithaeron (Kithairón). Plataea had voluntarily passed from Theban to Athenian protection before the Persian Wars and stood by Athens at Marathon (490 B.C.). In 479 B.C., Plataea was the scene of the decisive defeat of the Persians by the Greeks under Pausanias (with Aristides commanding the fleet). At the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, Thebes attacked (431) the city. It was besieged for two years (429–427), and then captured and sacked. It was subsequently rebuilt, razed (c.373) by the Thebans, and reconstructed by Alexander the Great.

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Plataea

Ancient city, Boeotia, east-central Greece, south of Thebes. Plataea was settled by Boeotians who expelled the earlier Bronze Age inhabitants. The Plataeans fought along with the Athenians against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon (490 BC). Plataea was the scene of the Greek victory over the invading Persians in the Battle of Plataea (479 BC). It was destroyed by the Spartans in 427 BC but was rebuilt under the Macedonian kings Philip II and Alexander the Great as a symbol of Greek courage in resisting Persia.

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Plataea

an ancient city in S Boeotia, traditionally an ally of Athens: scene of the defeat of a great Persian army by the Greeks in 479 bc

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Plataea 

an ancient Greek city in southern Boeotia.

Near Plataea on Sept. 26, 479 B.C., during the Greco-Persian wars, a battle took place between the Persian Army, commanded by Mardonius, and the troops of 24 Greek city-states headed by Athens and Sparta, under the command of the Spartan Pausanias. The Greeks held advantageous defensive positions, and the Persians hesitated to attack them. On the night of September 25, the Greeks began a retreat to Plataea. In the morning, believing that the enemy was in flight, the Persians attacked the rear guard, which consisted of Spartans. The Spartans repulsed the attacking forces and, with the aid of the Athenians and the other allies who joined them, overwhelmed the poorly organized Persians. After Mardonius was mortally wounded, the Persians fled in disorder to the Hellespont, pursued by the Greeks. At Plataea, the Greek phalanx again asserted its superiority over the more numerous but irregular Persian infantry and cavalry. The victory at Plataea and the simultaneous rout of the Persian fleet at Mycale led to the liberation of Greece and the Greek cities of Asia Minor from the Persians.