Ancient sources give a wide range of figures. The most realistic is 90,000 plus 40,000 Greek allies.
Retreat of the Persian army.
The Battle of Plataea 479 BC marked the final battle of the Second Persian invasion of Greece . This battle would mark the last time a Persian army invaded mainland Greece .
The Persian navy was defeated at Salamis and Mycale which removed that threat. The Persian army defeat at Plataea which finally collapsed their invasion of Greece when the land threat was also removed.
The Persian navy was defeated at Salamis and Mycale which removed that threat. The Persian army defeat at Plataea which finally collapsed their invasion of Greece when the land threat was also removed.
Salamis was the crucial battle in repelling the Persian invasion, as destruction of the Persian fleet ended the threat of a Persian amphibious invasion of the Greek city-states, who kept their armies at home to protect their cities, allowing the Persian army to pick them off one at a time. When the Persian fleet was destroyed, it enabled the armies to concentrate the following year and defeat the Persian army at Plataea. Destruction of the Persian fleet also stopped it being able to protect the resupply ships which sustained the Persian army, and as a result half of the army was sent home as it could not be sustained during the coming winter, which made the Greek armies' task easier at Plataea. Plataea was a straightforward battle where Greek armoured soldiers fought the unarmoured Persian in rough country where their cavalry could not support them and was a straightforward victory. Thermopylae was a holding action to force a sea battle to destroy the Persian fleet. The sea battle failed and the Greek force was withdrawn, with a touch of heroics by the Spartan and Thespian contingents protecting the withdrawal and dying in the process. Take your pick.
The Persian expeditionary force was defeated by the army of Athens and its ally Plataea at Marathon in 490 BCE.
479 BCE.
A coalition of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army and its Greek allies outside the Greek city of Plataea in 479 BCE. The defending Greek army of armoured foot soldiers kept to the rough ground to negate the Persian cavalry, then engaged and defeated the unarmoured Persian infantry. At the same time a Greek fleet swooped on the remnants of the Persian fleet at Mycale and captured it. This combined action ended the invasion of mainland Greece by the Persian king Xerxes.
The southern Greek alliance led by Sparta defeated the Persian expeditionary army and its Greek allies.
It was the Battle of Thermopylae in the Second Persian War. The Greeks won. Shortly after Thermopylae the Athenian Navy defeated the Persian Navy at Salamis, and in the next year the Persian Army was defeated by a combined Greek Army at Plataea.
An alliance of southern Greek cities led by Sparta, which defeated the invading Persian army and its Greek allies.
After destroying Persian sea power at the battle of Salamis, they were able to defeat their army, and so end the attempt by the Persians to incorporate the cities of mainland Greece into the Persian Empire.