Latest / Ancient Greece: Philosophy, Democracy, and Endless War — Fexingo History / The Siege of Plataea: When Athens Betrayed an Ally
Transcript
- Lucas: So today we're going to talk about a siege that Thucydides called the most brutal of the Peloponnesian War's early years. It's the siege of Plataea, and it's a story about alliance, betrayal, and the cold logic of war. Luna: Plataea—that's the city Athens helped defend against Persia, right? The one where the Greeks finally beat the Persians in 479? Lucas: Exactly. Plataea was hallowed ground for the Greek alliance. After the Persian Wars, the Greeks swore an oath to protect Plataea forever. But by 429 BCE, that oath meant nothing. The Peloponnesian War had broken out two years earlier, and Plataea was the only ally Athens had in Boeotia—the region just north of Attica. Lucas: And the Thebans, who controlled most of Boeotia, hated that. They saw Plataea as a thorn in their side, a pro-Athenian enclave in their backyard. So when Sparta's king Archidamus marched south in 429, the Thebans persuaded him to attack Plataea first. Luna: But wait—the Spartans and Thebans didn't just attack out of nowhere, did they? Lucas: No. Thucydides tells us Archidamus offered Plataea a deal: stay neutral, and we'll leave you alone. But the Plataeans refused. They'd been allied with Athens for 50 years. So Archidamus gave the order to besiege the city. Lucas: Now, Plataea was small—maybe a few thousand people. But it was well-fortified, with strong walls and a garrison of 400 Plataeans and 80 Athenians. The Spartans built a wall around the city, but they couldn't starve it out quickly because the Plataeans had stockpiled supplies. Lucas: So the siege dragged on into its second year. And then the Plataeans decided on a desperate gamble: half of them would try to escape over the Spartan wall under cover of darkness. Luna: That sounds insane. How did they even plan that? Lucas: They counted on a stormy, moonless night. They built ladders and waited for the right moment. Thucydides describes how they crossed the Spartan wall's ditch, climbed the wall in the rain, and then—disaster. One of their own men dropped a tile, alerting the Spartan guards. Lucas: But the Plataeans didn't panic. They had a second plan. They created a diversion—some of them pretended to retreat, while the main group found a gap in the wall and slipped through. Of the 220 who tried, about 212 made it to Athens. It was one of the great escapes of ancient warfare. Luna: What about the ones left behind? Lucas: The remaining 200 or so Plataeans and the 80 Athenians held out for a few more months, but eventually they ran out of food. They surrendered in 427 BCE, expecting leniency. Instead, the Spartans put them on trial—a mock trial where each Plataean was asked one question: 'Have you done anything to help Sparta or its allies during the war?' Lucas: Of course, the answer was no. They were Athenian allies. So the Spartans executed every single one—about 200 men. The women were enslaved, and the city was razed. The Thebans then annexed the land. Luna: That's just cold. Why did the Spartans go through the farce of a trial if they were going to execute everyone anyway? Lucas: Thucydides suggests it was about appearances. The Spartans wanted to seem just, to legitimize their brutality. But the real reason was political: they needed to please Thebes, their most important ally. And the Plataeans had committed a cardinal sin in Greek politics: they had switched sides. After the Persian Wars, Plataea had initially allied with Thebes, then betrayed them for Athens. The Thebans never forgave that. Lucas: But the most damning part is that Athens did nothing to save them. They sent no relief force. Thucydides doesn't say why, but we can guess: Athens was already stretched thin, fighting Sparta on multiple fronts. And maybe—just maybe—they didn't want to risk a major battle for a city that was already lost. Luna: So the Athenian alliance was hollow after all. Lucas: It's a dark moment. The siege of Plataea shows the moral breakdown that the Peloponnesian War accelerated. Thirty years later, at Melos, the Athenians would do the same thing—starve a neutral city into submission and execute the men. But Plataea was the first crack in the code of Greek warfare. Luna: What happened to the Plataeans who escaped? Lucas: Athens granted them citizenship—a rare honor—and they settled in Athens proper. But they never got their city back. After the war, the Thebans rebuilt Plataea as a Theban town. It wasn't independent again until 386 BCE, under the King's Peace. But it was never the same. Lucas: And here's a detail that always gets me: before the siege, the Plataeans sent their women, children, and elderly to Athens for safety. So when the city fell, there weren't families inside—just soldiers. That made the execution even more calculated: these were the people who had chosen to fight. Luna: Still, killing prisoners after surrender—that was unusual, right? Lucas: Very. Normally, Greeks ransomed prisoners or sold them as slaves. But the Spartans made an exception here. Thucydides records that the Plataeans begged for mercy, reminding the Spartans of their joint victory over Persia. The Spartans' response? 'We remember. But now you're with Athens.' Lucas: That line sums up the tragedy. The war forced cities to choose sides, and there was no middle ground. Plataea tried to be loyal to its ally, and that loyalty destroyed it. It's a lesson about the costs of alliance in a world where no one can be neutral. Luna: I guess that's why Thucydides spends so much time on it. It's not just a siege—it's a moral turning point. Lucas: Exactly. For Thucydides, Plataea is the beginning of the end of civilized warfare. From here on, the war gets worse: Corcyra, Melos, the Sicilian disaster. Plataea is the first step into the abyss. Luna: So what happened to the site of Plataea today? Lucas: Modern Plataies is a small village near Thebes. There are ruins of the city wall and a few temples, but nothing grand. The most famous monument is the 'Tomb of the Plataeans'—a mass grave for the soldiers who fell in the Persian War. But the city itself was never truly rebuilt. It's a quiet reminder of how fragile cities can be. Lucas: And that's the story of Plataea—a small city that paid the ultimate price for choosing the wrong ally in a war that consumed Greece. Luna: Thanks for bringing it to light. I never knew about this siege. Lucas: Glad to share it. There's so much more to the Peloponnesian War than the big names. The small cities have stories that are just as harrowing.