Pausaniasgeneral

Pausanias (general) (d. circa 467 B.C.), a Greek general, was the son of Cleombrotus, King of Sparta, and acted as regent during the minority of his cousin, Pleistarchus, son of Leonidas. He led the Spartan contingent sent to aid the Athenians against the Persian army under Mardonius, and commanded the allied forces which gained the brilliant victory of Plataea (479). The Persians having been driven from Greece, he sailed with a fleet to Cyprus, which he freed from the Persian yoke, and afterwards captured Byzantium (477). Elated by his constant success, he now began to offend the allies by his arrogance, and at the same time entered into a treasonable correspondence with Xerxes, the Persian king, hoping with his aid to secure the sovereignty of Greece. After being twice recalled from Byzantium by the Ephors, and acquitted through lack of evidence, he was finally betrayed by a Helot, to whom he had committed a letter for Artabazus, the Persian satrap. He fled for refuge to the temple of Athene, and the Spartans blocked up the door, leaving him to die of starvation.