Mardonius attacks Athens once more and the Athenians are forced to retreat, whereupon he razes the city. The
Spartans march north to support Athens against the Persians.
The
Battle of Plataea in
Boeotia ends the Persian invasions of
Greece as the Persian general Mardonius is routed by the Greeks under
Pausanias, nephew of the former Spartan King,
Leonidas I.[1] The Athenian contingent is led by the repatriated
Aristides. Mardonius is killed in the battle and the Greeks capture enormous amounts of loot.
Thebes is captured shortly thereafter and the Theban collaborators executed by Pausanias.
With the help of the Athenian statesman and general,
Cimon,
Aristides commands an Athenian fleet of 30 ships that the Spartan commander
Pausanias leads to capture the Greek cities on
Cyprus and
Byzantium, taking them from the Persians and their
Phoenician allies.[3]
While Pausanias is occupying Byzantium, his arrogance and his adoption of Persian clothing and manners offends the allies and raises suspicions of disloyalty. Pausanias is recalled to
Sparta, where he is tried and acquitted of the charge of treason, but he is not restored to his command.
The
Spartan co-ruler
Leotychides and the Athenian leader
Themistocles lead a fleet and army to reoccupy northern
Greece and to punish the aristocratic family of the Aleuads for having aided the
Persians. Leotychides is caught accepting a bribe during the operations in
Thessaly.
Greek maritime cities around the
Aegean Sea no longer wish to be under Spartan control and at
Delos offer their allegiance, through
Aristides, to
Athens. They form the
Delian League (also known as the Confederacy of Delos) with
Cimon as their principal commander.
Convicted in
Sparta on the charge of accepting a bribe from the Aleudae family whilst leading an expedition to Thessaly against the family for their collaboration with the Persians, the Spartan King
Leotychidas flees to the temple of
Athena Alea in
Tegea,
Arcadia. A sentence of exile is passed upon him; his house is razed, and his grandson,
Archidamus II, ascends the Spartan throne in his place.
Cimon of
Athens increases his power at the expense of
Themistocles. He ousts
Pausanias and the Spartans from the area around the
Bosporus. The Spartans, hearing that Pausanias is intriguing with the
Persians, recall him and he is "disciplined".
Under the leadership of Kimon, the
Delian League continues to fight Persia and to remove the
Ionian cities from Persian administration. The conquest of
Eion on the
Strymon from Persia is led by Cimon.
By topic
Literature
The Greek poet
Pindar visits
Sicily and is made welcome at the courts of
Theron of Acragas and
Hieron I of
Syracuse. They commission some of his greatest poetry. It is through these connections that Pindar's reputation spreads all over the Greek world.
Hiero I, tyrant of
Syracuse, allied with naval forces from the maritime Greek cities of southern Italy defeats the
Etruscan navy in the
Battle of Cumae as the Etruscans try to capture the Greek city of Cumae. This victory marks the end of the Etruscan aggression against the Greeks in southern
Italy and saves the Greeks of
Campania from Etruscan domination.
The Greek poet
Pindar moves to
Thebes after two years at the Sicilian Court of Hiero I of Syracuse. While at Thebes, he composes lyric odes to celebrate triumphs in the
Olympic Games and other athletic events.
AthenianpoliticianThemistocles loses the confidence of the Athenian people, partly due to his arrogance and partly due to his alleged readiness to take bribes. As a result, he is
ostracized and retires to Argos.
Suspected of plotting to seize power in
Sparta by instigating a
helot uprising,
Pausanias takes refuge in the Temple of Athena of the Brazen House to escape arrest. The
sanctuary is respected, but the Spartans wall in the sanctuary and starve Pausanias to death.
Pan Painter makes a "bell krater" (an earthenware piece that is used to mix water and wine) which has a red-figure decoration of Artemis slaying
Actaeon. It is now preserved at the
Museum of Fine Arts in
Boston (approximate date).