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Boeotia

Greek region north of Attica, ground of the Plataea campaign, 479 BCE

In the game: Mycale

Boeotia was the region of central Greece north of Mount Cithaeron, with Thebes as its leading city. In Herodotus's account most of its cities sided with Xerxes in 480, and in 479 Mardonius fell back into it. The battle of Plataea, which ended the Persian invasion of mainland Greece, was fought on Boeotian ground.

In the game: The game names Boeotia in Chronicle entries and in event articles for Plataea, as the region where Mardonius fell back and the final battle was fought. It has no mechanic of its own.

Thebes and the Boeotian cities

Ancient account

Herodotus treats Boeotia as a region of separate cities, with Thebes the strongest. Plataea, on the slopes of Cithaeron, was the notable exception, being allied to Athens. Herodotus is hostile to the Thebans for going over to the Persians, and modern readers allow that Athenian feeling may have coloured his portrait.

Herodotus 6.108; Herodotus 9.15

Medising in 480

Ancient account

Herodotus says that when Xerxes' army advanced, most of the Boeotians submitted, while Thespiae and Plataea refused. The Thebans who stood at Thermopylae were held there reluctantly, he says, and surrendered to Xerxes, claiming they had been compelled. He adds that the Persians then burned Thespiae and Plataea.

Herodotus 7.132; Herodotus 7.222; Herodotus 7.233; Herodotus 8.50

Mardonius falls back into Boeotia

Ancient account

Herodotus says that in 479 Mardonius withdrew from Attica after the second capture of Athens, into Boeotia, which suited his cavalry better than the rough ground of Attica. He gives the Thebans' advice and friendship as part of the setting. Herodotus reports that he built a fortified camp beside the Asopus, near Thebes.

Herodotus 9.13; Herodotus 9.15

The ground of Plataea

Ancient account

The Greek army crossed Cithaeron and took position on the foothills near Plataea, facing the Persians across the Asopus. Herodotus describes days of skirmishing, in which Persian cavalry harassed the Greek supply routes and fouled the spring of Gargaphia. He says the Greeks shifted their position, and that the Persian camp fell to them in the decisive fighting.

Herodotus 9.19; Herodotus 9.49; Herodotus 9.70

Exact battlefield sites

Disputed

Modern historians disagree about where on the ground the fighting took place, since Herodotus's topography is hard to match to the landscape. The location of the Island, where the Greeks moved, and the course of the streams are argued. His account of the Greek manoeuvres is also debated.

Herodotus 9.51