Darius appointed Mardonius as one of his generals and, after the
Hellespont
.
Mardonius first attacked
Macedonia, which was soon added to the Persian Empire as a fully subordinate client kingdom, becoming also part of its administrative system.[5][6]
However, after these victories, Mardonius’ fleet was destroyed in a storm off the coast near
Artaphernes junior to lead the invasion of Greece in 490 BC, and though they were subsequently successful in capturing Naxos and destroying Eretria, they were later defeated at the Battle of Marathon
.
Second Persian invasion of Greece
Main article:
Destruction of Athens. Part of the archaeological remains called Perserschutt
, or "Persian rubble".
Mardonius came back into favour under Darius' successor Xerxes I, Mardonius' cousin and brother-in-law. Xerxes was at first not interested in renewing the war with Greece, but Mardonius, who had the most influence on Xerxes in all of Persia,[9] repeatedly tried to convince him that he must avenge Darius' defeat. This view was opposed by another of Xerxes’ advisors, Artabanus, who urged more caution in the matter. Herodotus, who portrays Mardonius as a somewhat evil adviser (as opposed to a number of other good advisers whose arguments are never followed), says that Mardonius simply wanted to become satrap (governor) of Greece and had a love for 'mischief and adventure'.[10]
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 campaign. This time Mardonius could not persuade Xerxes, but when Xerxes left he did become governor of those parts of Greece that had been conquered by the Persians. He subdued Macedon, ruled at that time by King Alexander I, but Alexander himself gave valuable information about Mardonius' plans to the Athenians, saying that, as a Greek, he could not bear to see Greece defeated.
After the first part of the campaign directly under the orders Xerxes I, Mardonius remained in Greece with 300,000 elite troops, who fought in the last stages of the war, destroying
, 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 the Persian army could automatically defeat the Greeks. Mardonius was killed in the ensuing battle by the Spartans (see Battle of Plataea). It is claimed by Herodotus[14] and Plutarch[15] a Plataean called Aeimnestus killed Mardonius. This led to his army breaking up.
—a suggestion taken by Pausanias to threaten the very root of civilization: "Such doings befit barbarians rather than Greeks, and even in barbarians we detest them...Come not before me again with such a speech nor with such counsel, and thank my forbearance that you are not now punished".
In popular culture
His name is given to the
millipedes
.
In the movie The 300 Spartans (1962), Mardonius is portrayed by actor Kostas Baladimas uncredited[16]
In the novel Creation by Gore Vidal, Mardonius is portrayed as a lifelong friend of Xerxes and Cyrus Spitama the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster.
In the video game 300: March to Glory, Mardonius is the top boss that you must fight 4 times: In the end of "The Third Day", and 3 times in "Battle of Plataea": once on his rhino, once with his armour and once where you kill him as Dillios.
