Who commanded the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE?

Mardonius commanded the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE.

The battle followed Xerxes I’s invasion of Greece. After the Persian king withdrew to Asia following the naval defeat at Salamis, Mardonius remained in Greece with a large force and attempted to continue the campaign.

At Plataea, the allied Greek army defeated the Persian-led forces. Mardonius was killed during the fighting, and the defeat ended the major Persian land offensive in mainland Greece.

Mardonius was a close relative of Xerxes and had already played a prominent role in Persian policy toward Greece. He is sometimes confused with Artabazus, another senior Persian commander who survived Plataea and later led forces away from the battlefield. Plataea and Salamis were separate battles, fought by land and sea respectively.