Plataea is an ancient city, located in Greece in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes. It was the location of the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, in which an alliance of Greek city-states defeated the Persians and ended the Persian Wars. Plataea was destroyed in the Peloponnesian War by Thebes and Sparta in 427 BC and rebuilt in 386 BC. Boeotia or Beotia (//, (Greek Βοιωτια; see also list of traditional Greek place names) was the central area of ancient Greece. ... For the ancient capital of Upper Egypt, see Thebes, Egypt. ... Combatants Greek city-states Persia Commanders Pausanias Mardonius† Strength 100,000 (Pompelus) 110,000 (Herodotus) 120,000 (Ctesias) 300,000 (Herodotus). ... 479 pr. ... A city-state is a region controlled exclusively by a city. ... The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau. ... The Greco-Persian Wars or Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Greek world and the Persian Empire that started about 500 BC and lasted until 448 BC. The term can also refer to the continual warfare of the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire against the Parthians and... Combatants Delian League led by Athens Peloponnesian League led by Sparta Commanders Pericles Cleon Nicias Alcibiades Archidamus II Brasidas Lysander Map of the Greek world at the start of the Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War began in 431 BC between the Athenian Empire (or The Delian League) and the Peloponnesian... Thebes (in modern Greek: Θήβα — Thíva, in ancient Greek and Katharevousa: — Thēbai or Thívai) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. ... Sparta (Doric: Σπάρτα, Attic (and Koine): Σπάρτη) was a state in ancient Greece, whose territory included, in Classical times, all Laconia and Messenia, and which was the most powerful state of the Peloponnesus. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC - 420s BC - 410s BC 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC Years: 432 BC 431 BC 430 BC 429 BC 428 BC - 427 BC - 426 BC 425 BC... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC 390s BC - 380s BC - 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 391 BC 390 BC 389 BC 388 BC 387 BC - 386 BC - 385 BC 384 BC 383...

Peloponnesian War and Plataea

Thucydides tells that in April 431 BC, a fifth column of 300 Thebans infiltrated Plataea with the aid of local traitors: pro-Spartan aristocrats and wealthy oligarchs. They attempted to persuade the citizens of Plataea to join with Thebes' allies, the Spartans, to allow Thebes to move on its enemy, Athens, unhindered. The plot was uncovered and the Plataeans captured the infiltrators before the main body of the Theban force could arrive. Seeing that the plan was foiled, the Theban army formed a plan to capture any Plataen citizen they could find outside the city gates in order to have leverage for an exchange of prisoners. The Plataeans, however, being wise to the Theban plan sent a herald to Thebes denouncing them for their unprovoked attack and threatening to kill the prisoners unless they withdrew their troops. Thebes complied, yet the Plataeans "hastily got in whatever they had in the country and immediately put the men to death". The number of the slain was 180, and Thucydides tells us that Eurymachus the traitor was among them. The Plataeans immediately sent to Athens for assistance in the siege that was certain to come, and Athens brought them provisions and soldiers, even though they disagreed with the Plataean's decision to execute the Theban prisoners. Thucydides tells us that "the treaty had now been broken by an overt act after the affair at Plataea" and that "Athens and Lacedaemon now resolved to send embassies to the King and to such other of the barbarian powers as either party could look to for assistance." Up to this point hopes could still be entertained of salvaging the peace, but now "so genearal was the indignation felt against Athens" that war was inevitable. Combatants Delian League led by Athens Peloponnesian League led by Sparta Commanders Pericles Cleon Nicias Alcibiades Archidamus II Brasidas Lysander Map of the Greek world at the start of the Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War began in 431 BC between the Athenian Empire (or The Delian League) and the Peloponnesian... Bust of Thucydides residing in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Thucydides (between 460 and 455 BC–circa 400 BC, Greek Θουκυδίδης, Thoukudídês) was an ancient Greek historian, and the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC - 430s BC - 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC Years: 436 BC 435 BC 434 BC 433 BC 432 BC - 431 BC - 430 BC 429 BC... A fifth column is a group of people which clandestinely undermines a larger group to which it is expected to be loyal, such as a nation. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína (IPA: )) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world, named after goddess Athena. ... Eurymachus was an Ithacan nobleman, one of the leading suitors of Penelope in The Odyssey. ... Bust of Thucydides residing in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Thucydides (between 460 and 455 BC–circa 400 BC, Greek Θουκυδίδης, Thoukudídês) was an ancient Greek historian, and the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína (IPA: )) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world, named after goddess Athena. ... Lacedaemon, or Lakedaimon, Grk. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína (IPA: )) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world, named after goddess Athena. ...

During the summer two years after these events occurred Archidamus II finaly led the Peloponnesian force against Plataea and began to raze their crops. The Plataeans, in response, dispatched a herald reminding the Spartans of the glorious deeds the Plataeans performed during the Greco-Persian War and of the oath the Spartans swore to protect them and keep them independent - in 479 BC Pausanias, the Spartan general had decreed that Plataea was on holy ground, and it should never be attacked. The Spartans responded by demanding Plataean nuetrality in return for their protection. After consulting Athens, Plataea rejected the Spartan proposals and begain in earnest to prepare a defence. The Spartans then quickly invested the city, and employed several innovative, yet unsuccessful tactics to bypass the Plataean defenses. Failing in these undertakings the Spartans built a wall of circumvallation, left enough troops to guard the walls, then retired. Archidamus II was a king of Sparta who reigned from approximately 469 BC to 427 BC. He was of the Eurypontid house. ... Combatants Greek city states, particularly Athens and Sparta Persian Empire Commanders Miltiades Themistocles Leonidas I Pausanias Kimon Pericles Mardonius Datis Artaphernes Xerxes I Megabyzus The Greco-Persian Wars or Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Greek world and the Persian Empire that started about 500 BC and... circumvallation in Alesia Circumvallation is a standard military tactic of siege used in ancient and modern warfare. ...

The winter of the next year found the Plataeans in a desperate situation. They were besieged by the Spartans and Boeotians with Athenian help doubtfull in arriving. Their stores were running dangerously low, and only a brilliant stroke of luck could salvage their position. The Plataeans therefore devised a plan to break past the Spartan defenses and escape; originally all the men were to join the attempt, but the danger being great, only 220 ultimatly agreed to go. They accordingly waited for a dark, stormy night, and implemented the plan. Catching the guards by surprise, 212 men managed to evade capture, yet Thucydides writes, "it was mainly the violence of the storm that enabled them to effect their escape at all." Boeotia (Greek Βοιωτια) was a central area of ancient Greece. ...

The remaining Plataeans finally surrendered to the Spartans the summer of the next year, as all suplies they had were exhausted, and no hope of help remained. They had trusted the Spartans to a fair trial, as the Lacedaemonians (Spartans) had promised to "judge them all fairly", and that "only the guilty should be punished." if they yielded. Yet, when the Plataean prisoners were brought before the judges, no trial was held; no chance for apology was offered. The Spartans simply asked each of the prisoners if they had done the Lacedaemonians and allies any service in the war, to which the prisoners, after a heated debate, ultimatly had to answer "no.". Thus the Spartans killed over 200 of the Plataean defenders "among which were 25 Athenians" according to Thucydides. The Thebans ultimatly razed the entire town, and "built on to the precinct of Hera an inn two hundred feet square, with rooms all round above and below, making use for this purpose of the roofs and doors of the Plataeans: of the rest of the materials in the wall, the brass and the iron, they made couches which they dedicated to Hera, for whom they also built a stone chapel of a hundred feet square."