View source for 479 BC

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2011}}
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{{BC year in topic|479}}
[[File:Persian invasion.png|thumb|The Persian invasion of Greece in 480–479 BC]]
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Year '''479 BC''' was a year of the [[Roman calendar|pre-Julian Roman calendar]]. At the time, it was known as the '''Year of the Consulship of Vibulanus and Rutilus''' (or, less frequently, '''year 275 ''[[Ab urbe condita]]'''''). The denomination 479 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the [[Anno Domini]] [[calendar era]] became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

== Events ==
<onlyinclude>

=== By place ===

==== Greece ====
* The [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] commander [[Mardonius (general)|Mardonius]], now based in [[Thessaly]], wins support from [[Amfilochiko Argos|Argus]] and western [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]. He tries to win over [[Athens]], but fails.
* Mardonius attacks Athens once more and the Athenians are forced to retreat, whereupon he razes the city. The [[History of Sparta|Spartans]] march north to support Athens against the Persians.
* [[August 27]]
** The [[Battle of Plataea]] in [[Boeotia]] ends the Persian invasions of [[Ancient Greece|Greece]] as the Persian general Mardonius is routed by the Greeks under [[Pausanias (general)|Pausanias]], nephew of the former Spartan King, [[Leonidas I]].<ref name="IX59">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+9.59&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126 IX.59]</ref> The Athenian contingent is led by the repatriated [[Aristides]]. Mardonius is killed in the battle and the Greeks capture enormous amounts of loot. [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] is captured shortly thereafter and the Theban collaborators executed by Pausanias.
** Meanwhile at sea, the Persians are defeated by a Greek fleet headed by [[Leotychidas]] of Sparta and [[Xanthippus]] of Athens in the [[Battle of Mycale]], on the coast of [[Ionia]] in [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]].
* [[Potidaea]] is struck by a [[tsunami]].</onlyinclude>
* In 479 BC, when Persian soldiers besieged the Greek city of Potidaea, the tide retreated much further than usual, leaving a convenient invasion route, but this was not a stroke of luck. Before they had crossed halfway, the water returned in a wave higher than anyone had ever seen, drowning the attackers. The Potiidaeans believed they had been saved by the wrath of Poseidon, but what really saved them was likely the same phenomenon that has destroyed countless others: a tsunami.

==== Rome ====
* The Roman consul [[Caeso Fabius Vibulanus (consul)|Caeso Fabius]] proposed an [[agrarian law]] to distribute land won in recent wars amongst the plebs, but this was rejected by the senate.
* Ongoing [[Roman-Aequian_wars#Ongoing_hostilities_from_485_BC|hostilities]] between Rome and the [[Aequi]].  No major battle is fought.  
* Ongoing [[Roman–Etruscan_Wars#The_Fabian_war_with_Veii_in_483-476_BC|hostilities]] between Rome and [[Veii]]. The family of the [[Fabii]] requests and is granted sole responsibility for the war, and the Fabii march from Rome, establishing a fortified camp at the [[Cremera]].

== Births ==
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== Deaths ==
* [[August 27]]: [[Mardonius (general)|Mardonius]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] general (killed in the [[Battle of Plataea]])<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Aristides*.html Plutarch's Lives, Aristides 19]</ref>
* [[Confucius]], [[China|Chinese]] [[Philosophy|philosopher]] (b. [[551 BC]])

== References ==
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[[Category:479 BC| ]]