page_title: Mardonius (general)
section_title: Plataea and death of Mardonius
hierarchical_section_title: Mardonius (general) / Persian Wars with the Greeks / Second Persian invasion of Greece / Plataea and death of Mardonius
caption_attribution_description: English: Disposition of Achaemenid troops at the Battle of Plataea 479 BCE
context_page_description: Mardonius was a leading Persian military commander during the Persian Wars with Greece in the early 5th century BC who died at the Battle of Plataea.
context_section_description: Mardonius prepared to meet them at the Plataea, despite the opposition from another Persian commander, Artabazus, who, like Artabanus, did not think that the Persian army could automatically defeat the Greeks. Mardonius was killed in the ensuing battle by the Spartans (see Battle of Plataea). It is claimed by Herodotus and Plutarch a Plataean called Aeimnestus killed Mardonius. This led to his army breaking up.
  Herodotus relates of the Spartan leader Pausanias’ response when an Aeginetan suggests mounting on a pole the head of the slain Persian general Mardonius, as Xerxes had done to Leonidas after the battle of Thermopylae—a suggestion taken by Pausanias to threaten the very root of civilization: "Such doings befit barbarians rather than Greeks, and even in barbarians we detest them...Come not before me again with such a speech nor with such counsel, and thank my forbearance that you are not now punished".
caption: Camp of Mardonius and disposition of Achaemenid troops at the Battle of Plataea (479 BC), in which Mardonius was killed. From left to right: Greek allies, Sacae, Indians, Bactrians, Medes and Persians.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1242", "Image ImageLength": "598", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2018:12:08 23:47:39", "Image Software": "PaintShop Pro 20,00", "Image InterColorProfile": "[]", "Image ExifOffset": "122", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3466", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5825", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1242", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "598"}