Mardonius

Family: Persian · Role: military commander · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 1

Mardonius, son of Gobryas and a Persian military commander, is said to have burned a temple of Hera on the road from Phalerum to Athens. In Book 7, people fleeing Mycenæ took refuge with Alexander, who had sent Mardonius on a mission to the Athenians.

After the landing of Xerxes, the Platæans joined the Athenians at sea and repelled Mardonius on their own soil. He was Xerxes’ general; Arimnestus commanded the Platæans against him, and Mardonius and the Persian cavalry fouled the fountain Gargaphia. After the battle, Mardonius’s body was missing. Pausanias would not allow it to be outraged, despite Lampon urging him to do so.

In Book 9, Mardonius sent Mys to consult Apollo’s oracle, which answered in the Carian dialect. His son Artontes later gave gifts to Dionysophanes and several Ionians for not neglecting Mardonius’s burial. The Platæans and Greeks are also described as successfully defending their soil against Mardonius.