Ancient Persia

At the Battle of Salamis the Persian navy, despite its vastly superior numbers, suffered heavy losses and was utterly defeated by the tactics of the Greeks in the narrow straights. King Xerxes, upon seeing his great defeat, headed back to Persia with what remained of his navy and part of his army. He left behind a huge force under the command of the Persian general Mardonius. With winter approaching, Mardonius withdrew from Athens, burned everything in his path, and settled in central Greece to spend the winter. That portion of the Greek army led by the Spartans and numbering about thirty nine thousand men, had been waiting at Corinth for the outcome of the Battle of Salamis. They joined up with the remaining Athenian army. The battlefield to drive the remaining Persian army from Greece was to be at the city of Plataea. The battle took place in the spring of 479 BC. The well trained Spartans, under the leadership of their King Pausanias, fought strongly and withstood the charge of the Persians. The bravery and discipline of the Greek army eventually defeated the Persians, killing Mardonius and most of his army.

At the same time the Helenic league sailed across the Aegean and destroyed the main Persian fleet at Mycale triggering another revolt against the Persians in the Greek city-states of Asia Minor. The victory over Persia was the greatest of all victories won by the Greeks. It meant that Greece would stay Greek and not be absorbed into the Persian Empire as had so many other cultures. It meant that Greek influence would live and grow, to be spread further by Alexander and to be preserved and extended by Rome.

Sources and Image taken from Joseph Berrigan's Ancient Mesopotamia