Otherwise,Either your glorious town shall be sacked by the children of Perseus,Or, in exchange, must all through the whole Laconian countryMourn for the loss of a king, descendant of great Heracles.". Read more articles about Greek history and culture on our blog. In 2020, Greece celebrates the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae (Hot Gates), when a small force of Greeks stood their ground in one of history’s most famous and important last stands, to delay the advance of the Persian army. The Athenians were also successful in their battle and the now united army stormed the Persian camp and breached its defenses, killing most of the men inside. The Spartans consulted the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi who, according to Herodotus, gave the following prophecy: "O ye men who dwell in the streets of broad Lacedaemon!Honor the festival of the Carneia!! The small Greek forces led by the 300 of King Leonidas successfully defended the pass for two whole days. [5] Most of it still survives in the Hippodrome of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), where it was carried by Constantine the Great during the founding of his city on the Greek colony of Byzantium. Battle of Plataea - Background: In 480 BC, a large Persian army led by Xerxes invaded Greece. Realizing that they were too late, they recognized the importance of the Athenian victory. According to Aeschylus, as the Persian ships set sail and approached the Greek, they heard the Greeks signing before they saw the allied fleet: “O sons of the Greeks, go,Liberate your country, liberateYour children, your women, the seats of your fathers' gods,And the tombs of your forebears: now is the struggle for all things.”. [6], From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Homosexuality in the militaries of ancient Greece, https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Plataea&oldid=6879915, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It proved to people that the Persians were not invincible and resistance, rather than subjugation, was possible! The people of Greece understood that even heavily outnumbered could put up an effective fight against the Persians and the defeat at Thermopylae turned Leonidas and the rest of his men into martyrs. Xerxes then returned home with some of his army, leaving his general Mardonius to finish off the Greeks the next year.[2]. It was a decisive victory for the Greeks as it ended that war. 10 years after the Battle of Marathon and the first, unsuccessful, attempt to subjugate Greece, the Persian Empire under King Xerxes I lunched its second attempt, amassing a massive army and navy with the aim to conquer all of Greece. This allowed the ‘Golden Age of Athens’, as it is known, to take place. The Spartans, alongside the Tegeans, were pushing hard into the Persian lines to reach Mardonius, who was surrounded by a bodyguard of 1000 men. The Battle of Marathon was the culmination of the first attempt by the vast Persian Empire, under King Darius I, to subjugate Greece. The rest of the Persian army followed the cavalry. The Spartans decided to send one of their two kings, King Leonidas, with the 300 men of the royal bodyguard. This page was last changed on 27 March 2020, at 06:49. But it was the Battle of Plataea that effectively ended the threat of the Persians and their invasion to the West. 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. There, led by Spartan King Pausinias ensued the Battle of Plataea. font-size:12px; The Battle. Quoted by most historians as one of the most significant battles in human history, some historians even argue that if the Greeks had lost the battle, the whole trajectory of human history would have changed. Often seen as the first ever-recorded naval battle and one of the most important battles of antiquity, the Battle of Salamis took place about a month after the Battle of Thermopylae. In other words, he was asking Greeks to give up their rights over their land and their free will. 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. However, some contingents of the Greek army strayed away from the formation in the dark and delayed the retreat. Xerxes waited four days before attacking the pass of Thermopylae, in case the Greek forces would surrender. The defeat at Marathon did not have much of an impact on the vast resources of the Persian Empire. The above epigram, composed by Simonides of Ceos, was placed on top of the place where the fallen Greeks in Marathon were buried. The victory at Marathon was also vital for the young Athenian Democracy, preserving the foundations of what would soon become the Golden Age of Athens. Following the fall of the pass of Thermopylae, Themistocles and the Greek navy abandoned the Straits of Artemisium and retreated to Salamis where the Athenian general convinced the allied forces to seek a decisive victory against the Persian fleet. Everyone knows the inspiring and glorious story of the Spartans’ heroic last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Related Tour. In the summer of 479 BC, the Greeks got together a huge army by the standards of the day, and marched out of the Peloponnesus. Battle at Plataea Reason for Conflict: The Persian Army invaded Athens and there was a lot of back and forth with taking the city. Mardonius’ forces managed to cut the supply line of food and water to the Greek forces, thus, the Spartan general, Pausanias, ordered a gradual retreat backward and closer to Plataea. On the occasion of the 2500th anniversary since the Battle of Thermopylae (Hot Gates) and Salamis, we remember the greatest battles of Ancient Greeks, the outcome of which had unquestionable value in the preservation of Greek culture and values. Plataea, seen from the south. [3] Effectively, the Greek force was made mainly by Spartan and Athenian armies, but there was also various armies from the Peloponnese. The Battle of Plataea. The Battle of Salamis was the turning point in the Persian Wars. The Persians retreated to Boeotia, and built a fortified camp near Plataea. Themistocles persuaded the allied forces to mount a last stand at Salamis, in an effort to destroy the Persian navy that would end their dominion in the sea. For Greeks, however, it was an enormous victory with great significance. The Battle of Marathon was important because it showed that the Persian Empire can be defeated. 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. [4] It commemorated all the Greek city-states that had participated in the battle, listing them on the column, and thus confirming some of Herodotus's claims. Athens had also sent a messenger to Sparta for support, however, the Spartans refused to go to the Athenians’ aid immediately because they were celebrating Carneia, a religious festival which forbade military action during the festivities. The retreat was to take place during the night so that it goes unnoticed by the Persian army. The Battle of Plataea. Spartans simply threw them down a well. Dominic Selwood emphasized the importance of the Battle of Salamis for the Western Culture, on the occasion of its 2500th anniversary in 2020. The naval Battle of Salamis saved Greece from immediate conquest. The significance of the Battle of Thermopylae lies not on its effect on the outcome of the Persian Wars. “This is Sparta!” It’s a battle which has inspired Western thought ever since it happened. 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. The Battle of Plataea marked the end of the Persian invasion to the West. Looking to end this campaign once and for all, he ordered an immediate pursuit with the elite Persian cavalry. Those values would later become the foundations of Western Civilization as we know it today. The Athenians had to abandon their city and take refuge at the island of Salamis. This was the Battle of Thermopylae, a moment which came to define the struggles of the Greek city-states in their wars against the vast Persian Empire. Marathon and Thermopylae Battlefields Private Tour, #CDSWIDEXCLINK a { When their supply lines were disrupted, the Greeks retreated a distance, and their battle-line fragmented. However, a local named Ephialtes, motivated by the desire for reward, informed King Xerxes of a mountain path around Thermopylae. 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. “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. Democracy, philosophy, arts and literature, theater, tragedy, sculpting and many more flourished during this era. King Leonidas with his 300 courageous Spartans and their allies held off the invading million man army of the Persian Empire for three long days causing horrific damage in both casualties and morale to King Xerxes’ men. The Greeks refused to be drawn into the open cavalry ground near the Persian camp, and this led to a stalemate which lasted eleven days. Read more articles about Greek history and culture on our blog. Much of the Persian army were caught in their camp, and slaughtered. 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. The Greeks (particularly the Spartans, Tegeans and Athenians) turned and gave battle, routing the lightly armed Persian infantry and killing Mardonius. E. emailProtector.addCloakedMailto("ep_54edf3ee", 1); © 2020 Greek TravelTellers. The movement was intended to be completed in the darkness as to prevent an attack. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. 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. We’ve seen it recreated in a graphic novel by Frank Miller, which turned into the extremely popular movie 300 by Zack Snyder.