Platæa
Role: daughter of Asopus · First appears: Book 9 · Chapter 1
Platæa is named for Platæa, the daughter of the river-god Asopus. After the landing of Xerxes, the Platæans joined the Athenians at sea and drove back Mardonius on their own soil. In the Peloponnesian war, the Lacedæmonians besieged and captured Platæa; after the peace negotiated by Antalcidas, its people returned from Athens and reinhabited the town. Suspecting the Thebans, they occupied it with a strong garrison, but the Thebans captured it again in the third year after Leuctra, razed it except for its temples, and drove the Platæans back to Athenian shelter. When Philip won at Chæronea, he restored the Platæans while weakening Theban power.
In a later account, Cithæron advised Zeus to stage a marriage to Platæa using a dressed wooden statue drawn in a wagon, and to “give out that he intended to marry Platæa the daughter of Asopus.” Several Boeotian towns reconciled with the Platæans and joined their festival gathering.
Relationship record
Life events
- Platæans joined the Athenians at sea and repelled Mardonius on their own soil.(Book 9 · Chapter 1)
- Platæa was besieged and captured by the Lacedæmonians.(Book 9 · Chapter 1 · 📍 Platæa)
- “For in the Peloponnesian war the Lacedæmonians besieged and took Platæa:”
- Platæans returned from Athens and reinhabited Platæa.(Book 9 · Chapter 1 · 📍 Platæa)
- “and when, after the peace which Antalcidas the Spartan negotiated between the Greeks and the king of the Persians, it was reinhabited by the Platæans who returned from Athens”
- Platæans occupied their town with a strong garrison amid growing suspicion of the Thebans.(Book 9 · Chapter 1 · 📍 Platæa)
- “The Platæans therefore, thinking the conduct of the Thebans rather suspicious, occupied their town with a strong garrison”
- Thebans captured Platæa for the second time.(Book 9 · Chapter 1 · 📍 Platæa)
- “This second capture of Platæa was the third year after Leuctra, when Asteus was Archon at Athens.”
- Thebans razed Platæa except its temples, and Athenians sheltered the Platæans again.(Book 9 · Chapter 1 · 📍 Platæa)
- “And the town was rased to the ground by the Thebans entirely except the temples, but there was no sack, and the Athenians took in the Platæans a second time.”
- Philip restored the Platæans after introducing a garrison into Thebes.(Book 9 · Chapter 1 · 📍 Thebes)
- “but when Philip was victorious at Chæronea, he introduced a garrison into Thebes, and among other things to destroy the Theban power, restored the Platæans.”
- Cithæron advises Zeus to stage a wooden bride and claim marriage to Platæa.(Book 9 · Chapter 3 · 📍 Platæa)
- Several Boeotian towns reconcile with the Platæans and join their festival gathering.(Book 9 · Chapter 3)
- “for they thought fit to be reconciled with the Platæans, and to join their gathering, and to send their sacrifice to the festival”
Book 9 · Chapter 1
- parent: Asopus “They got their name from Platæa the daughter of the river-god Asopus.”
Book 9 · Chapter 3
- admirer: Zeus (Zeus's intended marriage to Platæa is presented as a ruse.) “He recommended Zeus to make a wooden statue and dress it up and draw it in a waggon with a yoke of oxen, and give out that he intended to marry Platæa the daughter of Asopus.”
- parent: Asopus (Asopus is identified as Platæa's father.) “He recommended Zeus to make a wooden statue and dress it up and draw it in a waggon with a yoke of oxen, and give out that he intended to marry Platæa the daughter of Asopus.”
- courtship with Zeus (Zeus falsely announced an intention to marry Platæa as part of the trick) “give out that he intended to marry Platæa the daughter of Asopus”
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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.