Battle of Plataea The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece . It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia , and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city - states , including Sparta , Athens , Corinth and Megara , and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I . The previous year the Persian invasion force , led by the Persian king in person , had scored victories at the battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium and conquered Thessaly , Boeotia , Euboea and Attica . However , at the ensuing Battle of Salamis , the Allied Greek navy had won an unlikely but decisive victory , preventing the conquest of the Peloponnesus . Xerxes then retreated with much of his army , leaving his general Mardonius to finish off the Greeks the following year . In the summer of 479 BC the Greeks assembled a huge ( by contemporary standards ) army and marched out of the Peloponnesus . The Persians retreated to Boeotia and built a fortified camp near Plataea . The Greeks , however , refused to be drawn into the prime cavalry terrain around the Persian camp , resulting in a stalemate that lasted 11 days . While attempting a retreat after their supply lines were disrupted , the Greek battle line fragmented . Thinking the Greeks in full retreat , Mardonius ordered his forces to pursue them , but the Greeks ( particularly the Spartans , Tegeans and Athenians ) halted and gave battle , routing the lightly armed Persian infantry and killing Mardonius . A large portion of the Persian army was trapped in its camp and slaughtered . The destruction of this army , and the remnants of the Persian navy allegedly on the same day at the Battle of Mycale , decisively ended the invasion . After Plataea and Mycale the Greek allies would take the offensive against the Persians , marking a new phase of the Greco - Persian Wars . Although Plataea was in every sense a resounding victory , it does not seem to have been attributed the same significance ( even at the time ) as , for example , the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon or even the Allied defeat at Thermopylae . Background . The Greek city - states of Athens and Eretria had supported the unsuccessful Ionian Revolt against the Persian Empire of Darius I in 499 – 494 BC . The Persian Empire was still relatively young and prone to revolts by its subject peoples . Moreover , Darius was a usurper and had spent considerable time extinguishing revolts against his rule . The Ionian Revolt threatened the integrity of his empire , and he thus vowed to punish those involved ( especially those not already part of the empire ) . Darius also saw the opportunity to expand his empire into the fractious world of Ancient Greece . A preliminary expedition under Mardonius , in 492 BC , to secure the land approaches to Greece ended with the re - conquest of Thrace and forced Macedon to become a client kingdom of Persia . An amphibious task force was then sent out under Datis and Artaphernes in 490 BC , successfully sacking Naxos and Eretria , before moving to attack Athens . However , at the ensuing Battle of Marathon , the Athenians won a remarkable victory , resulting in the withdrawal of the Persian army to Asia . Darius therefore began raising a huge new army with which he meant to completely subjugate Greece . However , he died before the invasion could begin . The throne of Persia passed to his son Xerxes I , who quickly restarted the preparations for the invasion of Greece , including building two pontoon bridges across the Hellespont . In 481 BC Xerxes sent ambassadors around Greece asking for earth and water as a gesture of their submission , but making the very deliberate omission of Athens and Sparta ( both of whom were at open war with Persia ) . Support thus began to coalesce around these two leading states . A congress of city states met at Corinth in late autumn of 481 BC , and a confederate alliance of Greek city - states was formed ( hereafter referred to as " the Allies " ) . This was remarkable for the disjointed Greek world , especially since many of the city - states in attendance were still technically at war with each other . The Allies initially adopted a strategy of blocking land and sea approaches to southern Greece . Thus , in August 480 BC , after hearing of Xerxes ' approach , a small Allied army led by Spartan King Leonidas I blocked the Pass of Thermopylae , while an Athenian - dominated navy sailed to the Straits of Artemisium . Famously , the massively outnumbered Greek army held Thermopylae against the Persian army for three days before being outflanked by the Persians , who used a little - known mountain path . Although much of the Greek army retreated , the rearguard , formed of the Spartan and Thespian contingents , was surrounded and annihilated . The simultaneous Battle of Artemisium , consisting of a series of naval encounters , was up to that point a stalemate ; however , when news of Thermopylae reached them , they also retreated , since holding the straits of Artemisium was now a moot point . Following Thermopylae the Persian army proceeded to burn and sack the Boeotian cities that had not surrendered , Plataea and Thespiae , before taking possession of the now - evacuated city of Athens . The Allied army , meanwhile , prepared to defend the Isthmus of Corinth . Xerxes wished for a final crushing defeat of the Allies to finish the conquest of Greece in that campaigning season ; conversely , the allies sought a decisive victory over the Persian navy that would guarantee the security of the Peloponnese . The ensuing naval Battle of Salamis ended in a decisive victory for the Allies , marking a turning point in the conflict . Following the defeat of his navy at Salamis , Xerxes retreated to Asia with the bulk of his army . According to Herodotus , this was because he feared the Greeks would sail to the Hellespont and destroy the pontoon bridges , thereby trapping his army in Europe . He thus left Mardonius , with handpicked troops , to complete the conquest of Greece the following year . Mardonius evacuated Attica and wintered in Thessaly ; the Athenians then reoccupied their destroyed city . Over the winter there seems to have been some tension among the Allies . The Athenians in particular , who were not protected by the Isthmus but whose fleet was the key to the security of the Peloponnese , felt hard done by and demanded that an allied army march north the following year . When the Allies failed to commit to this , the Athenian fleet refused to join the Allied navy in the spring . The navy , now under the command of the Spartan king Leotychides , thus skulked off Delos , while the remnants of the Persian fleet skulked off Samos , both sides unwilling to risk battle . Similarly , Mardonius remained in Thessaly , knowing an attack on the Isthmus was pointless , while the Allies refused to send an army outside the Peloponnese . Mardonius moved to break the stalemate by trying to win over the Athenians and their fleet through the mediation of Alexander I of Macedon , offering peace , self - government and territorial expansion . The Athenians made sure that a Spartan delegation was also on hand to hear the offer , and rejected it : " The degree to which we are put in the shadow by the Medes ' strength is hardly something you need to bring to our attention . We are already well aware of it . But even so , such is our love of liberty , that we will never surrender . " Upon this refusal , the Persians marched south again . Athens was again evacuated and left to the enemy . Mardonius now repeated his offer of peace to the Athenian refugees on Salamis . Athens , along with Megara and Plataea , sent emissaries to Sparta demanding assistance and threatening to accept the Persian terms if it was not given . According to Herodotus , the Spartans , who were at that time celebrating the festival of Hyacinthus , delayed making a decision until they were persuaded by a guest , Chileos of Tegea , who pointed out the danger to all of Greece if the Athenians surrendered . When the Athenian emissaries delivered an ultimatum to the Spartans the next day , they were amazed to hear that a task force was in fact already " en route " ; the Spartan army was marching to meet the Persians . Prelude . When Mardonius learned of the Spartan force , he completed the destruction of Athens , tearing down whatever was left standing . He then retreated towards Thebes , hoping to lure the Greek army into territory that would be suitable for the Persian cavalry . Mardonius created a fortified encampment on the north bank of the Asopus river in Boeotia , and waited for the Greeks . The Athenians sent 8 , 000 hoplite s , led by Aristides , along with 600 Plataean exiles to join the Allied army . The army then marched in Boeotia across the passes of Mount Cithaeron , arriving near Plataea , and above the Persian position on the Asopus . Under the guidance of the commanding general , Pausanias , the Greeks took up position opposite the Persian lines but remained on high ground . Knowing that he had little hope of successfully attacking the Greek positions , Mardonius sought to either sow dissension among the Allies or lure them down into the plain . Plutarch reports that a conspiracy was discovered among some prominent Athenians , who were planning to betray the Allied cause ; although this account is not universally accepted , it may indicate Mardonius ' attempts of intrigue within the Greek ranks . Mardonius also initiated hit - and - run cavalry attacks against the Greek lines , possibly trying to lure the Greeks down to the plain in pursuit . Although having some initial success , this strategy backfired when the Persian cavalry commander Masistius was killed ; with his death , the cavalry retreated . Their morale boosted by this small victory , the Greeks moved forward , still remaining on higher ground , to a new position nearer Mardonius ' camp . The Spartans and Tegeans were on a ridge to the right of the line , the Athenians on a hillock on the left and the other contingents on the slightly lower ground between . In response , Mardonius brought his men up to the Asopus and arrayed them for battle . However , neither the Persians nor the Greeks would attack ; Herodotus claims this is because both sides received bad omens during sacrificial rituals . The armies thus stayed camped in their locations for eight days , during which new Greek troops arrived . Mardonius then sought to break the stalemate by sending his cavalry to attack the passes of Mount Cithaeron ; this raid resulted in the capture of a convoy of provisions intended for the Greeks . Two more days passed , during which time the supply lines of the Greeks continued to be menaced . Mardonius also began to cut the supply of troops going to the Greeks . Mardonius then launched another cavalry raid on the Greek lines , which succeeded in blocking the Gargaphian Spring , which had been the only source of water for the Greek army ( they could not use the Asopus due to the threat posed by Persian archers ) . Coupled with the lack of food , the restriction of the water supply made the Greek position untenable , so they decided to retreat to a position in front of Plataea , from where they could guard the passes and have access to fresh water . To prevent the Persian cavalry from attacking during the retreat , it was to be performed that night . However , the retreat went awry . The Allied contingents in the centre missed their appointed position and ended up scattered in front of Plataea itself . The Athenians , Tegeans and Spartans , who had been guarding the rear of the retreat , had not even begun to retreat by daybreak . A single Spartan division was thus left on the ridge to guard the rear , while the Spartans and Tegeans retreated uphill ; Pausanias also instructed the Athenians to begin the retreat and if possible join up with the Spartans . However , the Athenians at first retreated directly towards Plataea , and thus the Allied battle line remained fragmented as the Persian camp began to stir . The opposing forces . The Greeks . According to Herodotus , the Spartans sent 45 , 000 men — 5 , 000 Spartiate s ( full citizen soldiers ) , 5 , 000 other Lacodaemonian hoplites ( perioeci ) and 35 , 000 helots ( seven per Spartiate ) . This was probably the largest Spartan force ever assembled . The Greek army had been reinforced by contingents of hoplites from the other Allied city - states , as shown in the table . Diodorus Siculus claims in his Bibliotheca historica that the number of the Greek troops approached one hundred thousand . According to Herodotus , there were a total of 69 , 500 lightly armed troops — 35 , 000 helots and 34 , 500 troops from the rest of Greece ; roughly one per hoplite . The number of 34 , 500 has been suggested to represent one light skirmisher supporting each non - Spartan hoplite ( 33 , 700 ) , together with 800 Athenian archers , whose presence in the battle Herodotus later notes . Herodotus tells us that there were also 1 , 800 Thespians ( but does not say how they were equipped ) , giving a total strength of 110 , 000 men . The number of hoplites is accepted as reasonable ( and possible ) ; the Athenians alone had fielded 10 , 000 hoplites at the Battle of Marathon . Some historians have accepted the number of light troops and used them as a population census of Greece at the time . Certainly these numbers are theoretically possible . Athens , for instance , allegedly fielded a fleet of 180 triremes at Salamis , manned by approximately 36 , 000 rowers . Thus 69 , 500 light troops could easily have been sent to Plataea . Nevertheless , the number of light troops is often rejected as exaggerated , especially in view of the ratio of seven helots to one Spartiate . For instance , Lazenby accepts that hoplites from other Greek cities might have been accompanied by one lightly armoured retainer each , but rejects the number of seven helots per Spartiate . He further speculates that each Spartiate was accompanied by one armed helot , and that the remaining helots were employed in the logistical effort , transporting food for the army . Both Lazenby and Holland deem the lightly armed troops , whatever their number , as essentially irrelevant to the outcome of battle . A further complication is that a certain proportion of the Allied manpower was needed to man the fleet , which amounted to at least 110 triremes , and thus approximately 22 , 000 men . Since the Battle of Mycale was fought at least near - simultaneously with the Battle of Plataea , then this was a pool of manpower which could not have contributed to Plataea , and further reduces the likelihood that 110 , 000 Greeks assembled before Plataea . The Greek forces were , as agreed by the Allied congress , under the overall command of Spartan royalty in the person of Pausanias , who was the regent for Leonidas ' young son , Pleistarchus , his cousin . Diodorus tells us that the Athenian contingent was under the command of Aristides ; it is probable that the other contingents also had their leaders . Herodotus tells us in several places that the Greeks held council during the prelude to the battle , implying that decisions were consensual and that Pausanias did not have the authority to issue direct orders to the other contingents . This style of leadership contributed to the way events unfolded during the battle itself . For instance , in the period immediately before the battle , Pausanias was unable to order the Athenians to join up with his forces , and thus the Greeks fought the battle completely separated from each other . The Persians . According to Herodotus , the Persians numbered 300 , 000 and were accompanied by troops from Greek city states that supported the Persian cause ( including Thebes ) . Herodotus admits that no one counted the latter , but he guesses that there were about 50 , 000 of them . Ctesias , who wrote a history of Persia based on Persian archives , claimed there were 120 , 000 Persian and 7 , 000 Greek soldiers , but his account is generally garbled ( for instance , placing this battle before Salamis , he also says there were only 300 Spartans , 1000 perioeci and 6000 from the other cities at Plataea , perhaps confusing it with Thermopylae ) . Diodorus Siculus claims in his Bibliotheca historica that the number of the Persian troops was some five hundred thousand . The figure of 300 , 000 has been doubted , along with many of Herodotus ' numbers , by many historians ; modern consensus estimates the total number of troops for the Persian invasion at around 250 , 000 . According to this consensus , Herodotus ' 300 , 000 Persians at Plataea would self - evidently be impossible . One approach to estimating the size of the Persian army has been to estimate how many men might feasibly have been accommodated within the Persian camp ; this approach gives figures of between 70 , 000 and 120 , 000 men . Lazenby , for instance , by comparison with later Roman military camps , calculates the number of troops at 70 , 000 , including 10 , 000 cavalry . Meanwhile , Connolly derives a number of 120 , 000 from the same - sized camp . Indeed , most estimates for the total Persian force are generally in this range . For instance , Delbrück , based on the distance the Persians marched in a day when Athens was attacked , concluded that 75 , 000 was the upper limit for the size of the Persian army , including the supply personnel and other non - combatants . Strategic and tactical considerations . In some ways the run - up to Plataea resembled that at the Battle of Marathon ; there was a prolonged stalemate in which neither side risked attacking the other . The reasons for this stalemate were primarily tactical , and similar to the situation at Marathon ; the Greek hoplites did not want to risk being outflanked by the Persian cavalry and the lightly armed Persian infantry could not hope to assault well - defended positions . According to Herodotus , both sides wished for a decisive battle that would tip the war in their favor . However , Lazenby believed that Mardonius ' actions during the Plataea campaign were not consistent with an aggressive policy . He interprets the Persian operations during the prelude not as attempts to force the Allies into battle but as attempts to force the Allies into retreat ( which indeed became the case ) . Mardonius may have felt he had little to gain in battle and that he could simply wait for the Greek alliance to fall apart ( as it had nearly done over the winter ) . There can be little doubt from Herodotus ' account that Mardonius was prepared to accept battle on his own terms , however . Regardless of the exact motives , the initial strategic situation allowed both sides to procrastinate , since food supplies were ample for both armies . Under these conditions , the tactical considerations outweighed the strategic need for action . When Mardonius ' raids disrupted the Allied supply chain , it forced a strategic rethink on the part of the Allies . Rather than now moving to attack , however , they instead looked to retreat and secure their lines of communication . Despite this defensive move by the Greeks , it was in fact the chaos resulting from this retreat that finally ended the stalemate . Mardonius perceived this as a full - on retreat , in effect thinking that the battle was already over , and sought to pursue the Greeks . Since he did not expect the Greeks to fight , the tactical problems were no longer an issue and he tried to take advantage of the altered strategic situation he thought he had produced . Conversely , the Greeks had , inadvertently , lured Mardonius into attacking them on the higher ground and , despite being outnumbered , were thus at a tactical advantage . The battle . Once the Persians discovered that the Greeks had abandoned their positions and appeared to be in retreat , Mardonius decided to set off in immediate pursuit with the elite Persian infantry . As he did so , the rest of the Persian army , unbidden , began to move forward . The Spartans and Tegeans had by now reached the Temple of Demeter . The rearguard under Amompharetus began to withdraw from the ridge , under pressure from Persian cavalry , to join them . Pausanias sent a messenger to the Athenians , asking them to join up with the Spartans . However , the Athenians had been engaged by the Theban phalanx and were unable to assist Pausanias . The Spartans and Tegeans were first assaulted by the Persian cavalry , while the Persian infantry made their way forward . They then planted their shields and began shooting arrows at the Greeks , while the cavalry withdrew . According to Herodotus , Pausanias refused to advance because good omens were not divined in the goat sacrifices that were performed . At this point , as Greek soldiers began to fall under the barrage of arrows , the Tegeans started to run at the Persian lines . Offering one last sacrifice and a prayer to the heavens in front of the Temple of Hera , Pausanias finally received favourable omens and gave the command for the Spartans to advance , whereupon they also charged the Persian lines . The numerically superior Persian infantry were of the heavy ( by Persian standards ) sparabara formation , but this was still much lighter than the Greek phalanx . The Persian defensive weapon was a large wicker shield and they used short spears ; by contrast , the hoplites were armored in bronze , with a bronze shield and a long spear . As at Marathon , it was a severe mismatch . The fight was fierce and long , but the Greeks ( Spartans and Tegeans ) continued to push into the Persian lines . The Persians tried to break the Greeks ' spears by grabbing hold of them , but the Greeks responded by switching to swords . Mardonius was present at the scene , riding a white horse , and surrounded by a bodyguard of 1 , 000 men ; while he remained , the Persians stood their ground . However , the Spartans closed in on Mardonius ; a Spartan soldier named Arimnestus saw him astride his horse , picked up a large rock off the ground and threw it hard at Mardonius ; it hit him squarely in the head , killing him . With Mardonius dead , the Persians began to flee ; although his bodyguard remained , they were annihilated . Herodotus claims that the reason for their discomfort was a lack of armour . Quickly the rout became general , with many Persians fleeing in disorder to their camp . However , Artabazus ( who had earlier commanded the Sieges of Olynthus and Potidea ) , had disagreed with Mardonius about attacking the Greeks , and he had not fully engaged the forces under his command . As the rout commenced , he led these men ( 40 , 000 , according to Herodotus ) away from the battlefield , on the road to Thessaly , hoping to escape eventually to the Hellespont . On the opposite side of the battlefield the Athenians had triumphed in a tough battle against the Thebans . The other Greeks fighting for the Persians had deliberately fought badly , according to Herodotus . The Thebans retreated from the battle , but in a different direction from the Persians , allowing them to escape without further losses . The Allied Greeks , reinforced by the contingents who had not taken part in the main battle , then stormed the Persian camp . Although the Persians initially defended the wall vigorously , it was eventually breached ; the Persians , packed tightly together in the camp , were slaughtered by the Greeks . Of the Persians who had retreated to the camp , scarcely 3 , 000 were left alive . According to Herodotus , only 43 , 000 Persians survived the battle . The number who died , of course , depends on how many there were in the first place ; there would be 257 , 000 dead by Herodotus ' reckoning . Herodotus claims that the Greeks as a whole lost only 159 men . Furthermore , he claims that only Spartans , Tegeans and Athenians died , since they were the only ones who fought . Plutarch , who had access to other sources , gives 1 , 360 Greek casualties , while both Ephorus and Diodorus Siculus tally the Greek casualties to over 10 , 000 . Accounts of individuals . Herodotus recounts several anecdotes about the conduct of specific Spartans during the battle . Aftermath . According to Herodotus , the Battle of Mycale occurred on the same afternoon as Plataea . A Greek fleet under the Spartan king Leotychides had sailed to Samos to challenge the remnants of the Persian fleet . The Persians , whose ships were in a poor state of repair , had decided not to risk fighting and instead drew their ships up on the beach at the feet of Mount Mycale in Ionia . An army of 60 , 000 men had been left there by Xerxes and the fleet joined with them , building a palisade around the camp to protect the ships . However , Leotychides decided to attack the camp with the Allied fleet ' s marines . Seeing the small size of the Greek force , the Persians emerged from the camp but the Greek hoplites again proved superior and destroyed much of the Persian force . The ships were abandoned to the Greeks , who burned them , crippling Xerxes ' sea power and marking the ascendancy of the Greek fleet . With the twin victories of Plataea and Mycale , the second Persian invasion of Greece was over . Moreover , the threat of future invasion was abated ; although the Greeks remained worried that Xerxes would try again , over time it became apparent that the Persian desire to conquer Greece was much diminished . The remnants of the Persian army , under the command of Artabazus , tried to retreat back to Asia Minor . Travelling through the lands of Thessaly , Macedonia and Thrace by the shortest road , Artabazus eventually made it back to Byzantium , though losing many men to Thracian attacks , weariness and hunger . After the victory at Mycale , the Allied fleet sailed to the Hellespont to break down the pontoon bridges , but found that this had already been done . The Peloponnesians sailed home , but the Athenians remained to attack the Chersonesos , still held by the Persians . The Persians in the region , and their allies , made for Sestos , the strongest town in the region , and the Athenians laid siege to them there . After a protracted siege Sestos fell to the Athenians , marking the beginning of a new phase in the Greco - Persian Wars , the Greek counterattack . Herodotus ended his " Histories " after the Siege of Sestos . Over the next 30 years the Greeks , primarily the Athenian - dominated Delian League , would expel ( or help expel ) the Persians from Macedon , Thrace , the Aegean islands and Ionia . Peace with Persia came in 449 BC with the Peace of Callias , finally ending a half - century of warfare . Significance . Plataea and Mycale have great significance in ancient history as the battles that decisively ended the second Persian invasion of Greece , thereby swinging the balance of the Greco - Persian Wars in favour of the Greeks . They kept Persia from conquering all of Europe , although they paid a high price by losing most of their men . The Battle of Marathon showed that the Persians " could " be defeated , and the Battle of Salamis saved Greece from immediate conquest , but it was Plataea and Mycale that effectively ended that threat . However , neither of these battles is nearly as well known as Thermopylae , Salamis or Marathon . The reason for this discrepancy is not entirely clear ; it might , however , be a result of the circumstances in which the battle was fought . The fame of Thermopylae certainly lies in the doomed heroism of the Greeks in the face of overwhelming numbers ; and Marathon and Salamis perhaps because they were both fought against the odds , and in dire strategic situations . Conversely , the Battles of Plataea and Mycale were both fought from a relative position of Greek strength , and against lesser odds ; the Greeks , in fact , sought out battle on both occasions . Militarily , the major lesson of both Plataea and Mycale ( since both were fought on land ) was to re - emphasise the superiority of the hoplite over the more lightly armed Persian infantry , as had first been demonstrated at Marathon . Taking on this lesson , after the Greco - Persian Wars the Persian empire started recruiting and relying on Greek mercenaries . One such mercenary expedition , the " Anabasis of the 10 , 000 " as narrated by Xenophon , further proved to the Greeks that the Persians were militarily vulnerable even well within their own territory , and paved the way for the destruction of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great some decades later . Legacy . Monuments to the battle . A bronze column in the shape of intertwined snakes ( the Serpent column ) was created from melted - down Persian weapons , acquired in the plunder of the Persian camp , and was erected at Delphi . It commemorated all the Greek city - states that had participated in the battle , listing them on the column , and thus confirming some of Herodotus ' claims . 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 . Sources . The main source for the Greco - Persian Wars is the Greek historian Herodotus . Herodotus , who has been called the ' Father of History ' , was born in 484 BC in Halicarnassus , Asia Minor ( then under Persian overlordship ) . He wrote his ' Enquiries ' ( Greek — " Historia " ; English — " ( The ) Histories " ) around 440 – 430 BC , trying to trace the origins of the Greco - Persian Wars , which would still have been relatively recent history ( the wars finally ending in 450 BC ) . Herodotus ' s approach was entirely novel , and at least in Western society , he does seem to have invented ' history ' as we know it . As Holland has it : " For the first time , a chronicler set himself to trace the origins of a conflict not to a past so remote so as to be utterly fabulous , nor to the whims and wishes of some god , nor to a people ' s claim to manifest destiny , but rather explanations he could verify personally . " Some subsequent ancient historians , despite following in his footsteps , criticised Herodotus , starting with Thucydides . Nevertheless , Thucydides chose to begin his history where Herodotus left off ( at the Siege of Sestos ) , and therefore evidently felt that Herodotus ' s history was accurate enough not to need re - writing or correcting . Plutarch criticised Herodotus in his essay " On The Malignity of Herodotus " , describing Herodotus as " " Philobarbaros " " ( barbarian - lover ) , for not being pro - Greek enough , which suggests that Herodotus might actually have done a reasonable job of being even - handed . A negative view of Herodotus was passed on to Renaissance Europe , though he remained well read . However , since the 19th century his reputation has been dramatically rehabilitated by archaeological finds which have repeatedly confirmed his version of events . The prevailing modern view is that Herodotus generally did a remarkable job in his " Historia " , but that some of his specific details ( particularly troop numbers and dates ) should be viewed with skepticism . Nevertheless , there are still some historians who believe Herodotus made up much of his story . The Sicilian historian , Diodorus Siculus , writing in the 1st century BC in his " Bibliotheca Historica " , also provides an account of the Battle of Plataea . This account is fairly consistent with Herodotus ' s , but given that it was written much later , it may well have been derived from Herodotus ' s version . The Battle is also described in less detail by a number of other ancient historians including Plutarch , Ctesias of Cnidus , and is alluded by other authors , such as the playwright Aeschylus . Archaeological evidence , such as the Serpent Column also supports some of Herodotus ' s specific claims .