In the spring of 479, the navy of 110 ships is at Egina. The Ionian Greeks are asking the Spartans and the navy to help them, but the Greeks are worried about sailing east of Delos, so they can't help the Ionian Greeks who have revolted. Next Mardonius consults the Greek oracles on his fortunes. Next he sends the Macedonian king Alexander to Athens to offer terms. From a military standpoint, they are quite fair, but the Athenians make it clear that they will never surrender to the Persians, which relieves the Spartan ambassadors. King Alexander leaves and the Spartans go home to begin to prepare for war. In Thessaly Mardonius isn't too impressed. He mobilizes and marches his army towards Athens. The Athenians evacuate, mostly to Salamis. The Persians enter a deserted Athens about July 5, 479. With all of Attica under his control, he again sends the same terms to Salamis, hoping now the Athenians would simply give up. Of course the Athenians aren't happy that Sparta hasn't come yet to their aid. In fact the Spartans were celebrating the festival of Hyacinthia that takes place in early July. They were also placing the battlements on their new wall across the Isthmus. On Salamis one of the Athenian statesmen, Lycidas, suggests that the matter go to the assembly of the people. The Greeks aren't too impressed and stone him and his family to death. They go off to Sparta to get a decision from the Ephors. The Ephors delay their answer for 10 days, obviously to allow more time for the walls completion. But eventually they realize that no wall will hold if the Persians get their hands on the Athenian navy. So they send land troops out, 5,000 Spartans and 35,000 Helots. They march out with the ambassadors of Athens, Megara ,and Plataea. The Spartan army is under the command of Pausanias. In Athens, Mardonius is informed of this and decides to leave Attica because his cavalry will be at a disadvantage. He decides to burn Athens to the ground. Then he takes his army back to the Boeotian plains, specifically Thebes where his cavalry have the advantage. Another reason is that if he lost in Attica, he would be cornered and easily crushed. He learns that a thousand Spartans are racing ahead to the city of Megara, the principle city on the east side of the Corinthian Isthmus. The Persians divert their march and ravage the area. Then they head due north towards Thebes via Plataea. They camp at the Asopus, just north of Plataea at the foot of Mount Cithaeron. The Spartans meanwhile have marched up towards Eleusis where the meet the Athenians. Then the whole army of 110,000 march to Erythrae in Boeotia. There they learn of the Persian position and march along the Cithaeron mountain range towards Plataea 9 miles away where there is better water supplies at Mt Cithaeron. It is now at least about August 15, 479 BC, and it is a hot time of year. The fighting to decide the future of Greece is about to begin.

Well now the fate of Greece lies in a truly national Greek army. It is the only time in history where so many different Greeks fought side by side. The army of 110,000 greeks was well armed. 108,200 have weapons since 1,800 Thespians are unarmed. To explain the way the Greek army was made up more thoroughly, I'll quote directly from Herodotus.

"When this matter had been arranged, the Greek army, which was in part composed of those who came at the first, in part of such as had flocked in from day to day, drew up in the following order:- Ten thousand Lacedaemonian troops held the right wing, five thousand of whom were Spartans; and these five thousand were attended by a body of thirty-five thousand Helots, who were only lightly armed - seven Helots to each Spartan. The place next to themselves the Spartans gave to the Tegeans, on account of their courage and of the esteem in which they held them. They were all fully armed, and numbered fifteen hundred men. Next in order came the Corinthians, five thousand strong; and with them Pausanias had placed, at their request, the band of three hundred which had come from Potidaea in Pallene. The Arcadians of Orchomenus, in number six hundred, came next; then the Sicyonians, three thousand; then the Epidaurians, eight hundred; then the Troezenians, one thousand; then the Lepreats, two hundred; the Mycenaeans and Tirynthians, four hundred; the Phliasians, one thousand; the Hermionians, three hundred; the Eretrians and Styreans, six hundred; the Chalcideans, four hundred; and the Ambraciots, five hundred. After these came the Leucadians and Anactorians, who numbered eight hundred; the Paleans of Cephallenia, two hundred; the Eginetans, five hundred; the Megarians, three thousand; and the Plataeans, six hundred. Last of all, but first at their extremity of the line, were the Athenians, who, to the number of eight thousand, occupied the left wing, under the command of Aristides, the son of Lysimachus.
All these, except the Helots - seven of whom, as I said, attended each Spartan - were heavy-armed troops; and they amounted to thirty-eight thousand seven hundred men. This was the number of Hoplites, or heavy-armed soldiers, which was together against the barbarian. The light-armed troops consisted of the thirty-five thousand ranged with the Spartans, seven in attendance upon each, who were all well equipped for war; and of thirty-four thousand five hundred others, belonging to the Lacedaemonians and the rest of the Greeks, at the rate (nearly) of one light to one heavy armed. Thus the entire number of the light-armed was sixty-nine thousand five hundred.
The Greek army, therefore, which mustered at Plataea, counting light-armed as well as heavy-armed, was but eighteen hundred men short of one hundred and ten thousand; and this amount was exactly made up by the Thespians who were present in the camp; for eighteen hundred Thespians, being the whole number left, were likewise with the army; but these men were without arms. Such was the array of the Greek troops when they took post on the Asopus."

For 8 days the Greek army gathers near Plataea. Like at Marathon, the two armies stare each other down. The reason is that both leaders, Mardonius for the Persians and Pausanias for the Greeks, are told by soothsayers from the same town, that the army that is defensive initially, will win! So neither side makes a major move. However Mardonius does attack the Greek supply train on Mt Cithaeron's "Three Heads" pass successfully, but the Greeks aren't drawn into battle. Then, 3 days later, out of nowhere, King Alexander of Macedonia, rides on horseback from the Persian camp to the Athenian outposts. He delivers the message:

"Men of Athens, that which I am about to say I trust to your honour; and I charge you to keep it secret from all excepting Pausanias, if you would not bring me to destruction. Had I not greatly at heart the common welfare of Greece, I should not have come to tell you; but I am myself a Greek by descent, and I would not willingly see Greece exchange freedom for slavery. Know then that Mardonius and his army cannot obtain favourable omens; had it not been for this, they would have fought with you long ago. Now, however, they have determined to let the victims pass unheeded, and, as soon as day dawns, to engage in battle. Mardonius, I imagine, is afraid that, if he delays, you will increase in number. Make ready then to receive him. Should he however still defer the combat, do you abide where you are; for his provisions will not hold out many more days. If ye prosper in this war, forget not to do something for my freedom; consider the risk I have run, out of zeal for the Greek cause, to acquaint you with what Mardonius intends, and to save you from being surprised by the barbarians. I am Alexander of Macedon."

Basically it seems that Mardonius is running out of supplies. The Greeks switch their wings so the Athenians are on the offensive wing. The Persians do the same to keep the troops matched and then send a insult to the Spartans, saying that the Athenians always save Greece. The Spartans don't react. At the end of the day, the Persian cavalry charges at the Greeks at the fountain of Gargaphia. The fountain is ruined and the Greeks have to pull back to the water sources of Mt. Cithaeron, they do this in the dark so the Persians can't attack their column. When they arrive they send half of the army to secure the supply lines which the Persians have stopped. The Greeks don't mind pulling back because the Persian cavalry is really annoying, also deadly. However one Spartan cohort commander, Amompharetus, does not want to pull back. The Spartan commanders don't want to leave a valuable cohort behind but must live up to their agreement with the Greeks. The Spartan force heads off but when they are over 1 mile away, in the dark, Amompharetus gets up and retreats.

On the morning of August 27, 479 BC, Mardonius learns that the Greeks have abandoned their camp. Since the Spartans were the last to leave, he follows their tracks. He thinks the whole Greek army is retreating and he's won the war. The Greek army pulled back in two paths. The Athenians are behind the foothills of Mt. Cithaeron and Mardonius can't see them. The Spartans had only just began to get out of the area while the Athenians have marched all night. Then Mardonius falls upon the Spartans. The whole Persian army charges in a disorderly manner. The cavalry is the first to reach the Spartans. When this happens, Pausanias sends this message to the Athenians:

"Men of Athens! now that the great struggle has come, which is to decide the freedom or the slavery of Greece, we twain, Lacedaemonians and Athenians, are deserted by all the other allies, who have fled away from us during the past night. Nevertheless, we are resolved what to do - we must endeavour, as best we may, to defend ourselves and to succour one another. Now, had the horse fallen upon you first, we ourselves with the Tegeans (who remain faithful to the Greek cause) would have been bound to render you assistance against them. As, however, the entire body has advanced upon us, 'tis your place to come to our aid, sore pressed as we are by the enemy. Should you yourselves be so straitened that you cannot come, at least send us your archers, and be sure you will earn our gratitude. We acknowledge that throughout this whole war there has been no zeal to be compared to yours - we therefore doubt not that you will do us this service."

This is the Spartan way of begging for help! They know that this is it. However the Athenians can't help much at the moment because they are at the opposite end of the Greek army. So the 50,000 Spartans have to stand alone with 3000 Tegeans against the whole Persian force. The Spartans make unsatisfactory sacrifices and the delay causes many Spartan casualties. The Persians raise their shields and fire "clouds of arrows" and Spartans fall continuously. Then when sacrifice is satisfactory, the Tegeans charge at the enemy, followed immediatley by the Spartans. The battle is fought beside the Temple of Ceres. The fighting is hand to hand. Classic in every sense. But the Persians have a serious problem, many don't have reliable body armor, the Spartans do. The fighting continues until Mardonius is killed. He himself fights riding his white horse. His killer is Aeimnestus, a famous Spartan war veteran. The Persians broke and fled for their lives. The Persain commander Artabazus, with 40,000 men, leads his men away when he sees the Persians fleeing. The fleeing Persian army heads back to there camp across the Asopus. It is a heavily defended wooden camp. The Spartans aren't skilled at sieges and cannot take the camp until the Athenians arrive. The combined Greek army smashed against the wall. They got to the top of the wall and broke a gap and the Greeks poured in. Obviously the Persians are scared to death. The Greeks take only 3000 prisoners, the rest are slaughtered. How many died is of somewhat doubt. Herodotus says 300,000 but I doubt it was more than 70,000. 91 Spartans die, one less than Athenians at Marathon, who lost 52 here at the camp. Some Greek states; the Mantineans, and the Eleans arrive too late for battle. It is suggested that the body of Mardonius be beheaded and crucified like King Leonidas was at Thermopylae. The Spartans don't do this because they don't want to sink to the Persian's level. Then the booty was collected and divided among the gods, temples and the soldiers. Much treasure was buried. They day after the Greeks bury their dead. The Persians are buried in a mass grave. So ended the battle of Plataea. The Greeks then march off to Thebes to capture the pro-persian leaders who are there. They lay siege to the city for 21 days. The men are surrendered but one escapes. They are taken to Corinth and executed. Meanwhile the Persian Artabazus, is marching through Thrace and is not doing well. The Thracians are killing his starving men. Eventually he makes it to Byzantium and sails to Asia.

This was a great victory for Greece. The battle is considered indecisive by many and I don't agree. I think this was a greatly important battle. Greece was now safe. The dating of the battle is a tough one. It was too early for the harvests so it was obviously before September. Why else would the Persians have no food? The Encyclopedia Britannica dates this battle on August 27. Interestingly enough I've found in Plutarch that the battle occured on the third of the Athenian month of Boedromion. This month began about the New moon of August (August 24).

While the Greeks are mustering at Plataea, the now downsized Greek navy is stationed at Delos. It is under the command of Leotychides of Sparta. Then three men from Samos arrive and promise that the Ionian Greeks will revolt if the other Greeks invade Asia. The Greeks get good omens and sail for Samos. The Persians hear of their approach and evacuate Samos and build a fort out of their ships and fruit trees on the Mycale peninsula. They drag the remaining ships onto the beach. The Greeks aren't happy that the Persians chickened out. Instead of returning to Delos or attacking the Hellespont, they pursue the enemy expecting a sea battle. When they approach the Persian camp the ships are beached and the Persian army in combat formation on the beach. Then Leotychides sails his ship within voice range of the beach. He yells to the Ionians in the persian camp:

"Men of Ionia - ye who can hear me speak - do ye take heed to what I say; for the Persians will not understand a word that I utter. When we join battle with them, before aught else, remember Freedom - and next, recollect our watchword, which is Hebe. If there be any who hear me not, let those who hear report my words to the others."

The Persians aren't stupid. They disarm the Samians and send the Milesians to guard the hill passes to keep the threat of treachery away. Then the Greeks land their army on the coast of Asia. Then they get a wonderful divine message. The rumor flies through the army that the land army has smashed the Persians at Plataea. A messenger or herald's wand is found on the shore. It convinces Herodotus that gods play a part in real life. What is more likely is that a messenger was sent from Greece to Delos with message that the Greek army was ready for battle at Plataea. That was about ten days before. The message just changed shape among the then frightened, now delighted troops, but it makes a good story to tell children who question the role of the Gods.

The exalted troops march forward. The Athenians march on the right wing on the flat beach while the Spartans are on the left on rougher ground inland. The Athenian wing has with it, Corinthians, Sicyonians, and Troezenians. They are the first to reach the Persians. These troops smash into the Persians and pound them into the sand. The camp is captured and many flee. Many high ranking Persian commanders fall in the fight, among them the commander of the land force, Tigranes. The navy commanders escape. The Persians fight to the last man, until the Spartans arrive. Then they're all killed. The Samians help the Greeks as well. The fleeing Persians are diverted down the wrong roads by the Milesians. Most of them are killed by the Milesians. Only a few soldiers make it back to Sardis. The Greeks at the beach meanwhile have captured the Persian gold and then burn the navy into ashes.

The date of this battle is certain if Plataea's date is August 27. Herodotus makes it clear that an inquiry established that the battles were on the same day of the same month. The battle was fought towards the evening. Greece was safe at last!

The victorious Greeks sail back to Samos and debate whether to evacuate Ionia all together. They decide not to since the Athenians don't want to lose their colonies. They sail off to the Hellespont to destroy the bridges they think are still there. But of course they are destroyed again. Then the Peloponnesians sail back home and the Athernians under Xanthippus decide to attack the fortress of Sestos on the Chersonese at the entrance to the Hellespont. Until late autumn or around October, the siege continued. When the fortress inhabitants ran out of mattresses to boil for food, the Persians escaped over the wall one night. The next day at dawn fire signals from the walls alerted the Greeks of this and the fort's gates where opened. Some Greeks stayed but most headed off in pursuit of the Persians. Some were captured and sacrificed in Thrace. Artayctes, and his troops , who had been the last to leave the fort, were overtaken by the Greeks, not far from Aegospotami, fought bravely, but were at last either killed or taken prisoner. Artayctes and his son are marched in chains to where Xerxes bridges were anchored, the symbol of Persian invasion. Artayctes is crucified and his son is stoned to death in front of him. The Greeks sail home with much treasure but most of all, the ropes/cables used to anchor the bridges of Xerxes. They are to hang in the Greek temples. The war was over!

Now in the dating of all these battles, I've used modern interpretation. The ancients had their own idea. Remember that the Greek calendar never really agreed with the Roman one, especially the Julian. But Plutarch gives a list of dates for the famous battles of the Persian wars and Alexander's victory at Arbela. That battle and Marathon can be calculated, with an eclipse and full moon respectively, with Julian dates. In Plutarch's life of Camillus, he gives the list of dates of battles in the old Greek calendar:

"On the fifth of their month Hippodromius, which corresponds to the Athenian Hecatombaeon, the Boeotians gained two signal victories, the one at Leuctra, the other at Ceressus, about three hundred years before, when they overcame Lattamyas and the Thessalians, both which asserted the liberty of Greece. Again, on the sixth of Boedromion, the Persians were worsted by the Greeks at Marathon; on the third, at Plataea, as also at Mycale; on the twenty-fifth, at Arbela. The Athenians, about the full moon in Boedromion, gained their sea-victory at Naxos under the conduct of Chabrias; on the twentieth, at Salamis, as we have shown in our treatise on Days."

Well, after every great war that saves a country, there is one that nearly destroys it. It is one of history's unending facts. This has occurred in every nation, except Canada. Like the American Civil war, the Peloponnesian war of Greece was the most bloody war in those times. Greece, like the USA, had to fight for freedom from the most powerful nation on earth. And against all odds, they managed to fight them off. Now a rich and powerful nation to be reckoned with, short-sightedness and objectively-viewed minor squabbling led to unimaginable carnage. In other words, one side wanted what the other had to offer. In Greece, one wanted money, one needed land. When neither side can get it themselves, they kill each other for it. Now the events of the Peloponnesian War will be related.

One of the great things about this war was that it had a contemporary account written that survived time to reach us now. Thucydides lived during these times and wrote his great history. What is even better was that he fought on the losing side and was most likely a victim of the war's conclusion. Thucydides was also a military man. What better point to look from?

After the destruction of the Persian navy at Mycale, it was now necessary to defend the Aegean sea. The Persians could always build another navy. So a league was formed to defend it. The idea was simple. The Ionians, islanders, and small states on the coast would pay Athens tribute for naval protection. After all, the large Athenian navy was expensive to maintain. Also, since Athens had so many people and little land of it's own, grain had to be imported from Thrace and the Black Sea area. As said above, around November 1, 479, the Athenians had captured Sestos on the Hellespont. This was the first independent act of Athens from Sparta. Sparta had insisted that they be in command during the Persian wars. Now it seems that Athens was set to be strong on its own. Athens began to rebuild herself. The Persians had burned almost all the houses and the old walls to the ground. The Athenians first began by building new walls. This was concerning to Sparta because walls could protect Persian collaborating cities from attack until the Persians could show up. So Athens building a big wall was bad news. There is no modern evidence that the old walls of Athens really existed. The were probably a combo of wood and stone. These older materials were most likely used by Athenians to partially rebuild their homes. The new walls were in fact built more like a modern flood levy. There was no real planning, just hand passing and laying stones down. They weren't even fitted properly. So the walls of the upper city were finished rather fast. Themistocles, who had arranged all this, also got the walls to Athens harbor town of Piraeus started again. This wall was built of the finest and strongest material of that time. Basically Themistocles understood that the city of Athens was unimportant in strategic matters. If a small garrison could defend the population at Piraeus, the other men could be serving in the fleet. Another land attack by Persia was considered impossible now.

However Sparta had problems of her own. Mantinea and Elis had not got their part of the army to Plataea on time. Were they just too slow, or did they expect or want Sparta to lose. But a more important problem was the regent Pausanias. He still wanted to further Greek military glory, specifically Spartan. In 478, 20 Peloponnesian ships and 30 Athenian vessels were led by Pausanias to conquer Cyprus. She was a client state of Persia at this time. They expedition did capture most of the island but then the army went off and conquered Byzantium, also a Persian possession. He took the city but was recalled to Sparta when other Greek cities, specifically Ionian cities were worried about this. They were most likely worried about the Persians returning to the Ionian coast as retaliation for capturing Cyprus and Byzantium. They asked Athens to lead them. This was a very important moment in time. It gave Athens and it's ambitious leaders the opportunity to form it's own alliance with the Aegean states. This upset the balance of power in Greece totally. It meant that Athenian naval power was to stand against the enemy, foreign or domestic. Spartan response was quick. Pausanias was recalled and charged with "Medism". It seems that he was getting a little crazy. He was found not guilty. But now it seems that the Greeks, mostly Peloponnesians, were sick of the war. The Spartan leaders obviously understood that an overaggressive commander was scaring many small states into Athens protection. This Alliance for protection was quite diverse. Some states provided soldiers, others ships, and others money. It was to be centered on the island of Delos. From now on the Alliance will be called the Delian league (a modern invention). Each year the member states would have one vote (even Athens) and have equal say. Before the Peloponnesian War it met to revise tribute amounts, decide action against Persia and rebellious states. Quite democratic. Anyway, you have to secure shorelines in a maritime alliance. The first casualty was the city of Eion on the Strymon river. In 476 BC the city was still controlled by Persia and was very important in ways of strategic and economical matters. The alliance attacked the small persian force that remained and shut then up in the city. The allied commander was Cimon, son of the great Athenian Miltiades. Also in 476 BC was the Olympic games. Themistocles was there and there was great appreciation shown for Athens. After all, they had done the most and suffered the most.

By the spring of 475 BC, the siege of Eion was coming to an end. With no food, the Persian commander Boges, decided to put the city to the torch instead of surrendering. Although apparently he could leave the city due to an agreement., he destroyed most of his treasure, killed himself and family. He was to be regarded as a great hero by the Persians. The greeks meanwhile seem to have made slaves of the local Thracian inhabitants, since they seemed to have supplied the Persian garrison after the war ended 3 years before. The land was given to Athenian settlers. Anyway the Athenian led league began to seize other areas.

In 474, Cimon led the Greeks to the island of Scyros, largest of the Northern Sporades Islands, in the Aegean Sea, northeast of Euboea. The local Dolopian population was branded as pirates and was enslaved. This seems to have not been justifiable, but what ever is? Plutarch says that the Dolopians were poor farmers and took to raiding. They seem to have made the mistake of robbing some Thessalian merchants who eventually asked Cimon to capture the island. While their he had a great idea. To escape the controversy that Pausanias had, he would find the bones of Theseus, the great Athenian king. He was exiled to the island and murdered hundreds of years earlier. An oracle foretold of the return of the bones. Cimon finally found the bones and brought them back to Athens in his own trireme. In Athens that year they were buried in a temple in great ceremony. The people now adoured Cimon as a great hero.

Also this year, the Greeks from Syracuse defeated the Etruscans in a great sea battle of Cumae off the bay of Naples in Italy.

Following all this, probably in 472, the greeks forced Carystus, a city on Euboea, to join the Delian League.

During the winter season or a little later in 471, Themistocles was ostracized. Basically his views were too shaky for the post war Greek world. The ostracism was a 10 year exile. Feeling betrayed, which he was, he went to live in Argos. The Spartans tried to arrest him, but he escaped to Asia. Eventually he died, 5 or 6 years later, in the Ionian city of Magnesia at the age of 65. The Persians considered him a great man betrayed by his ungrateful people. The main result of all this was that Cimon was now the man of the hour in Athens.

Also at this time, probably in 470 or 469, Pausanias, the former Spartan general of Plataea, was killed in Sparta after being recalled from Asia on charges of collaborating with Persia. Even the historians of this time didn't agree if he did or not. But it seems that the Spartan ephors wanted him gone anyway. Perhaps they saw his very existence a barrier to Sparta regaining any real leadership in Greece. He was an embarrassment. He took refuge in the Temple of Athena of the Brazen House to escape arrest. The Spartans walled in the sanctuary and starved him to death. The oracle of Delphi ordered that he be buried there. The old guard in Greece was vanishing.

In one of these 2 years, perhaps on June 5, Socrates was born in Athens. He was the first of the great philosophers.

Send mail to Kevin