Pausanias

Pausanias (pôsā'nēus) [key], d. c.470 B.C., Spartan general; nephew of King Leonidas. He was the victorious commander at Plataea (479) near Thebes in the Persian Wars and followed up the battle with expeditions to Cyprus and Byzantium. From Byzantium he was called home to face a very circumstantial charge of treasonable negotiations with Persia; he was acquitted (c.475). The accusation was repeated several years later, and he was acquitted again, only to be accused (this time probably justly) of planning a coup at Sparta, in collaboration with the exiled Themistocles. To escape arrest he took sanctuary in a temple, where he was left to starve.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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