Fought in 479 between the Greeks and Persians, Plataea was the final land battle in the Persian War led by Xerxes (the first Persian War had been led by Xerxes' father Darius I). The Persians had been driven from mainland Greece after their defeat at Salamis. The Spartan general Pausanias commanded the Allied Greek troops. In this illustration dating to the late 1800s, Pausanias is sacrificing to the gods before the battle of Plataea.

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Size: 4740px × 3970px
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: 470s, 5th, ancient, battle, bc, century, combat, darius, general, gods, greece, greek, greeks, hand--hand, history, pausanias, persian, persians, plataea, plataia, religion, sacrificing, salamis, soldiers, sparta, spartan, warfare, wars, xerxes