biography
pronunciation:
[pawsaynias]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (5th-c BC)
|
| biography:
| Greek soldier, and regent of Sparta, the nephew of Leonidas. He commanded the Greek forces at Plataea (479 BC), where the Persians were routed. He then compelled the Thebans to give up the chiefs of the Persian party, and treated the Athenians and other Greeks haughtily. Capturing the Cyprian cities and Byzantium, he negotiated with Xerxes in the hope of becoming ruler under him of all Greece, and was twice recalled for treachery. He tried to stir up the helots, was betrayed, and fled to a temple of Athena on the Spartan acropolis, where he was walled up and taken out only when dying of hunger (c.470 BC). |
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