The Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE is one of world history's unjustly neglected events. It decisively ended the threat of a Persian conquest of Greece. It involved tens of thousands of combatants, including the largest number of Greeks ever brought together in a common cause. For the Spartans, the driving force behind the Greek victory, the battle was sweet vengeance for their defeat at Thermopylae the year before.

Introduction: arms and the men -- The Oath of Plataea: texts and contexts -- The Plataea Oath as a document of ancient Greek religion -- The Persian Wars: making history on oath with Herodotus -- The face of the Battle of Plataea -- The Greeks invent the Persian Wars: the mythology and commemoration of Plataea -- Conclusion: the legacy of Plataea.