ity of
equipment soon gave the Greeks the advantage: Mardonius was killed while
leading the charge of the Persian guard, and, as is almost always the
case among Orientals, his death decided the issue of the battle. The
Immortals were cut to pieces round his dead body, while the rest took
flight and sought refuge in their camp.

[Illustration: 238.jpg MAP]

[Illustration: 239.jpg THE BATTLE-FIELD OF PLATAEA]

Almost simultaneously the Athenians succeeded in routing the Boeotians.
They took the entrenchments by assault, gained possession of an immense
quantity of spoil, and massacred many of the defenders, but they could
not prevent Artabazus from retiring in perfect order with 40,000 of
his best troops protected by his cavalry. He retired successively from
Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace, reached Asia after suffering severe
losses, and European Greece was freed for ever from the presence of the
barbarians. While her fate was being decided at Platsae, that of Asiatic
Greece was being fought out on the coast of Ionia. The entreaties of the
Samians had at length encouraged Leotychidas and Xanthippus to take the
initiative. The Persian generals, who were not expecting this aggressive
movement, had distributed the greater part of their vessels throughout
the Ionian ports, and had merely a small squadron left at their disposal
at Mycale. Surprised by the unexpected appearance of the enemy, they
were compelled to land, were routed, and their vessels burnt (479). This
constituted the signal for a general revolt: Samos, Chios, and Lesbos
affiliated themselves to the Hellenic confederation, and the cities of
the littoral, which Sparta would have been powerless to protect for want
of a fleet, concluded an alliance with Athens, whose naval superiority
had been demonstrated by recent events. The towns of the Hellespont
threw off the yoke as soon as the triremes of the confederates appeared
within their waters, and Sestos, the only one of them prevented by its
Persian garrison from yielding to the Athenians, succumbed, after a long
siege, during the winter of 479-478. The campaign of 478 completed the
deliverance of the Greeks. A squadron commanded by Pausanias roused the
islands of the Carian coast and Cyprus itself, without encountering
any opposition, and then steering northwards drove the Persians from
Byzantium. The following winter the conduct of operations passed out of
the hands of Sparta into those of Athens--from the great