'The Spartans at Plataea', 1890. The Battle of Plataea 479 BC, was the final land battle of the second Persian invasion of Greece, an alliance of Greek city-states defeated the Persian Empire of Xerxes I. From "Cassell's Illustrated Universal History, Vol. I - Early and Greek History", by Edmund Ollier. [Cassell and Company, Limited, London, Paris and Melbourne, 1890]