Uploaded June 2022 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
The Command of Mardonius and its Achaemenid Political Context
John Hyland (Christopher Newport University)
Mardonius, the Persian commander at Plataea, serves as the principal villain in Herodotus’ narrative of Xerxes’ Greek expedition. This paper seeks to contextualize his place in the Histories by examining Mardonius’ family and career within the early Achaemenid context. It argues that his alleged responsibility for the origin of the Greek campaign is exaggerated due to the influence of a Persian tradition that sought to exculpate the king for military setbacks by blaming the general assigned to command in his place. This negative tradition about Mardonius arose in part because of the general’s death at Plataea, the historicity of which should be accepted despite a recent argument to the contrary involving ambiguous Babylonian evidence.
The Command of Mardonius and its Achaemenid Political Context
John Hyland (Christopher Newport University)
Mardonius, the Persian commander at Plataea, serves as the principal villain in Herodotus’ narrative of Xerxes’ Greek expedition. This paper seeks to contextualize his place in the Histories by examining Mardonius’ family and career within the early Achaemenid context. It argues that his alleged responsibility for the origin of the Greek campaign is exaggerated due to the influence of a Persian tradition that sought to exculpate the king for military setbacks by blaming the general assigned to command in his place. This negative tradition about Mardonius arose in part because of the general’s death at Plataea, the historicity of which should be accepted despite a recent argument to the contrary involving ambiguous Babylonian evidence.
