The Battle of Plataea was a military engagement of the Greco-Persian Wars. It was fought between the Greek Army, led by Pausanias, and the Persian forces, under Mardonius, in August 479 BC, near the city of Plataea, south of Thebes, Greece. At that time, Persia was ruled by King Xerxes I, who was traveling with his armies as supreme commander, while Greece consisted of independent city-States that got together into alliance whenever their existence was threatened.
It was the second time the Persians invaded the Balkan peninsula. So, the Greek cities organized a 70,000-men army, under Spartan General Pausanias, to fight against the Persian forces, composed of 130,000 troops, commanded by General Mardonius. Despite the overwhelming number of enemy soldiers, the Greeks, most of them Spartans and Athenians, thoroughly defeated the approaching Persians on the plains near the city of Plataea, Greece, in 479 BC.
About 40,000 Persians got killed and more than 50,000 wounded and taken prisoners. The reason for the Greek victory was the highly military superiority of the Spartan infantry man over the Persian soldier as he was intensely mentally and physically trained in military warfare since their childhood.
Weapons used by the Greeks:
Offensive: long spear (doru), short sword (xiphos), bow and arrow.
Defensive: shield (hoplon), breastplate (cuirass), and bronze helmet, with cheekplates.
Below, the plain of Plataea where the battle took place in the background, and the ruins of the city in the foreground.
