Battle of Plataea: Encyclopedia II - Battle of Plataea - Battle

Battle of Plataea - Battle

Mardonius fortified the Asopus river in Boeotia, hoping that the Greeks would be unable to unite against him. However, the Athenians sent 8,000 men and marched with the Spartan force of 40,000 (5,000 Spartiates and 35,000 Perioci and Helots) to the pass over Mount Cithaeron, where they could successfully defend themselves from Persian raids. Mardonius sent a cavalry charge under the commander Masistius to take the pass, but Masistius was resisted by the Megarans and Athenians under the command of Olympiodorus. Masistius was killed and his cavalry retreated. The Greeks began to move away from the pass towards the plain of Plataea where Mardonius was camped, and where the Greek hoplites could fight more easily. The Athenians formed the left wing of the army during this movement while the Spartans formed the right wing and the Tegeans formed the middle.

By this point the Greek army had been reinforced by many other city-states, giving the Greeks a total strength of 110,000 men. The city-state of Corinth sent 5,000 hoplites to support the fellow Hellenes. Mardonius, on the other hand, according to Herodotus had 250,000 men. The real number was most likely under 80,000. Both armies camped in front of each other for 10 days, with only small raids on each side. Finally Mardonius decided to attack, but the Greeks were warned of this by Alexander of Macedon. The Athenians and Spartans switched positions so that the Athenians would defend against the main Persian force while the Spartans would fight the Greek subjects within the Persian army. However, the Persians diverted the Greek water supply and cut off their supply of food, so the Greeks were forced to find a new camp.

On discovering the Greeks had abandoned their positions, Mardonius chased after them. The Persian cavalry and archers first came upon the Spartans, and the infantry arrived soon after. The cavalry and archers did little damage and moved off when the infantry arrived. The numerically superior Persian troops could not break through the Greek lines of hoplites, whose long spears gave them a tactical advantage over the Persian short spears and swords. The Persians were annihilated; Mardonius himself was killed by a Spartan named Aeimnestus. The Persian Artabazus, who had unsuccessfully tried to convince Mardonius to avoid a pitched battle, took command of the Persian force and immediately retreated, allowing the Greeks to capture their camp. According to Herodotus only 43,000 of the 250,000 Persians survived the battle, while the Greeks as a whole lost only 159 men. However historical records of the period are notoriously biased or inaccurate and the real number of casualties will never truely be known.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Battle", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki