479 BC

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Events

By place

Greece

* The Persian commander Mardonius, now based in Thessaly, wins support from Argus and western Arcadia. He tries to win over Athens but fails.
* 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.
* 27 August — 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. The Athenian contingent is led by the repatriated Aristides. Mardonius is killed in the battle and the Greeks capture enormous amounts of booty. Thebes is captured shortly thereafter and the Theban collaborators executed by Pausanias.
* 27 August — Meanwhile at sea, the Persians are defeated by a Greek fleet headed by Leotychidas of Sparta and Xanthippus of Athens in the Battle of Mycale, off the coast of Lydia in Asia Minor.

Births

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Deaths

* 27 August — Mardonius, Persian general (killed in the Battle of Plataea)
* Confucius, Chinese philosopher (b. 551 BC)
* Ephialtes, betrayer of the Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylae