Plataea

Plataea
/pleuh tee"euh/, n.
an ancient city in Greece, in Boeotia: Greeks defeated Persians here 479 B.C.

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Ancient city, Boeotia, east-central Greece, south of Thebes.

Plataea was settled by Boeotians who expelled the earlier Bronze Age inhabitants. The Plataeans fought along with the Athenians against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon (490 BC). Plataea was the scene of the Greek victory over the invading Persians in the Battle of Plataea (479 BC). It was destroyed by the Spartans in 427 BC but was rebuilt under the Macedonian kings Philip II and Alexander the Great as a symbol of Greek courage in resisting Persia.

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▪ ancient city, Greece
      ancient city of Boeotia, Greece. It was situated on a triangular ledge 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, on the northern side of Mount Cithaeron below the modern village of Plataiaí. It was well positioned in time of war to threaten the main road from Thebes to the Isthmus of Corinth, which passed east of Plataea over Mount Cithaeron. Plataea was settled by Boeotians who expelled the earlier Bronze Age inhabitants. When Thebes pressed Plataea to join a league of Boeotian cities formed in the 6th century BC, the Plataeans refused and engaged Athens (519) to protect them. Then, when the Persians landed in Attica in 490, the full Plataean levy, numbering about 1,000 men, came to the aid of Athens and fought at Marathon. In 479, Greek forces under Pausanias defeated the invading Persian army of Mardonius on the slopes of Cithaeron below Plataea, decisively crushing Persian ambitions on the Greek mainland. Thereafter the Plataeans offered sacrifice annually to Zeus the Liberator in honour of the Greek dead, and Plataea was declared inviolable by Pausanias. Nonetheless, the city was attacked by Thebans (431), then by Spartans (429), who finally razed it in 427. Thebes occupied the site until 387, then destroyed it again in 373. Athens harboured the survivors until the Macedonian kings Philip II and Alexander III the Great rebuilt Plataea after 338 as a symbol of Greek courage in resisting Persia.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Plataea — (ital.: Platea) ist ein Titularbistum der römisch katholischen Kirche. Es geht zurück auf ein früheres Bistum der antiken griechischen Stadt Plataiai im Süden Böotiens, das der Kirchenprovinz Theben zugeordnet war. Titularbischöfe von Plataea Nr …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Plataea — PLATAEA, æ, Gr. Πλάταια, ας, (⇒ Tab. XXIV.) des Asopus Tochter, von welcher die Stadt Platäa den Namen bekommen. Pausan. Bœot. c. 1. p. 543. Sie muß ein schönes und mit vielen vortrefflichen Eigenschaften begabtes Frauenzimmer gewesen seyn, weil… …   Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon

  • Plataea — [plə tē′ēplə tē′ə] ancient city in Boeotia, EC Greece: site of a battle (479 B.C. ) in which the Greeks defeated the Persians: also Plataeae [plə tē′ē] …   English World dictionary

  • Plataea — For the geometer moth genus, see Plataea (moth).Plataea or Plataeae was an ancient city, located in Greece in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes.Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. “Plataea.” Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary . 9th ed …   Wikipedia

  • PLATAEA — I. PLATAEA Insul. Africae, a Cyrenaeis possessa et condita, ad quam ab Hesperidibus, Oricentem versus, agrum Cyrencensium ςιλφιοφόρον, i. e. laserpiciferum, Theophrastus: ab ore Syrtis maioris porrigi, tradit Herodot. l. 4. Παρήκει δὲ ἀπὸ Πλατέης …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Plataea — noun 1. a former town in Boeotia; site of a battle between the Greeks and Persians in 479 BC • Instance Hypernyms: ↑town • Part Holonyms: ↑Boeotia 2. a defeat of the Persian army by the Greeks at Plataea in 479 BC • Syn: ↑battle of Plataea …   Useful english dictionary

  • Plataea, Battle of — (479 BC) Battle between Greek and Persian forces near Plataea (modern Plataiaí) in Boeotia on the slopes of Mount Cithaeron. A largely Spartan force, including helots, defeated the Persian army of Xerxes I, led by Mardonius; the victory marked… …   Universalium

  • Plataea — or Plataeae geographical name ancient city Greece in SE Boeotia S of Thebes • Plataean adjective or noun …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Plataea — Pla•tae•a [[t]pləˈti ə[/t]] n. anh geg an ancient city in Greece, in Boeotia: Greeks defeated Persians here 479 b.c. Pla•tae′an, adj. n …   From formal English to slang

  • Plataea — /plæˈtiə/ (say pla teeuh) noun an ancient Boeotian city north west of Athens; Greeks defeated Persians here, 479 BC …  

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