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pl:Mardoniusz
'''Mardonius''' was a
Persian commander during the
Persian Wars with
Greece in the
5th century BC.
He was the son of Gobryas and the son-in-law of
Darius I of Persia, whose daughter Artozostra he had married. After the
Ionian Revolt, Mardonius was sent in
492 BC to punish
Athens for assisting the
Ionians. He first stopped in the Ionian cities to depose the Persian
tyrants and set up
democratic governments, probably so the Ionians would not revolt a second time after the Persian army had passed through. His fleet and army then passed across the
Hellespont, but the fleet was destroyed in a storm off of
Mount Athos; according to
Herodotus the Persians lost 300 ships and 20 000 men. Mardonius himself was commanding the army at the time, which was fighting a battle in
Thrace. Mardonius was wounded, but was victorious; nevertheless, the loss of the fleet caused him to retreat back into
Asia Minor. He was relieved of command by Darius, who led the invasion of Greece himself in
490 BC, and was defeated at the
Battle of Marathon.
Mardonius came back into favour under Darius' successor
Xerxes I. Xerxes was at first not interested in renewing the war with Greece, but Mardonius repeatedly tried to convince him that he must avenge Darius' defeat, in opposition to another advisor, Artabanus, who urged more caution in the matter. Herodotus, who portrays Mardonius as somewhat of an evil advisor (as opposed to a number of other good advisors whose arguments are never followed), says that Mardonius simply wanted to become governor of Greece. He was present at the
Battle of Thermopylae, and after the Persian defeat at the
Battle of Salamis, he attempted to convince Xerxes to stay and fight yet another battle. This time Mardonius could not persuade Xerxes, but when Xerxes left he did become governor of the parts of Greece that had been conquered. He allied with
Alexander I of Macedon and recaptured Athens, which had been deserted before the Battle of Salamis. He offered to return Athens and help rebuild the city if the Athenians would accept a truce, but the Athenians rejected the truce and prepared for another battle.
Mardonius prepared to meet them at
Plataea, despite the opposition from another Persian commander,
Artabazus, who, like Artabanus, did not think that a much larger Persian army could automatically defeat the Greeks. Mardonius was killed in the ensuing battle (see
Battle of Plataea). His head was cut off and placed on a stake, just as he had done to
Leonidas at Thermopylae, and his body was never recovered by the remnant of the Persian army.
