Mardonius

(redirected from Mardonios)

Mardonius

Mardonius (märdōˈnēəs), d. 479 B.C., Persian general; son-in-law of Darius I. Darius sent him (492 B.C.) to retaliate against Eretria and Athens for aiding the Ionians in the Persian Wars, but his fleet was lost in a storm off Mt. Athos, and a Thracian tribe destroyed a large part of his army. He helped Xerxes I plan his invasion of Greece. Xerxes returned (480 B.C.) to Persia after his defeat at Salamis and left Mardonius in command in Greece. Mardonius was defeated and killed at Plataea.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

Perto de Plateia, onde se deu a derradeira vitoria sobre os persas em 479, com a derrota do general Mardonios, ocorreram, promovidos pelas cidades-Estado gregas vencedoras, os Jogos da Liberdade, nos quais a hoplitodromia, cuja partida se dava no Monumento a Vitoria, se destacava entre as demais provas, seguindo inclusive regras especiais: por exemplo, o desafio aumentava para quinze estadios (c.

The trumpet and the games/A trombeta e os jogos

Baragwanath turns next to Mardonios' "mythic" self-presentation in Herodotos' text, a Mardonios trapped--albeit unknowingly--in Hellenic "mythicizing patterns" (298).

Mardonios astride his white horse was a conspicuous target for retribution.

Emily Baragwanath and Mathieu De Bakker (eds.), Myth, Truth, and Narrative in Herodotus

Here the account tells how Mardonios renewed the attack against the Greeks in the hope of sending word of victory back to Xerxes in Sardis.

Except for cavalry skirmishes, neither side wanted to engage in battle until the sacrifices were propitious, but Mardonios' patience broke first, and he fell into a trap at Plataea, where he was killed and his army routed; there were twenty thousand Persian and Boeotian casualties against ninety-one Spartans and fifty-two Athenians killed.