Plataiai, Greece
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on the right.

Plataiai (Plataea) was the scene of the last battle on Greek soil during the Persian wars. The battle, in which the Persian commander Mardonios was killed, finally ended the Persian threat to Greece. To commemorate the victory the allied Greek cities set up in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi the bronze column of intertwined snakes, originally bearing a tripod, which now stands in the Hippodrome in Istanbul, and established the Eleutheria (Freedom Games) which were held every four years.

The ancient city lay on the northern slopes of Mt Kithairon, at the present-day village of Kókla. Excavations by an American expedition (1890) and by the Greek archeologist Skias (1899) established the line of the walls round the oval acropolis on the level top of the hill and of other associated walls. To the south of this central area were the agora and a temple.

Plataiai sent 1,000 men to take part in the battle of Marathon. Destroyed and rebuilt on a number of occasions, the town survived into Roman and Byzantine times.

The battle of Plataiai took place to the northeast of the town in the plain of the river Asopos.