 It is claimed by Herodotus and Plutarch a Plataean called Aeimnestus killed Mardonius.This led to his army breaking up.Herodotus relates of the Spartan leader Pausanias’ response when an Aeginetan suggests mounting on a pole the head of the slain Persian general Mardonius, as Xerxes had done to Leonidas after the battle of Thermopylae—a suggestion taken by Pausanias to threaten the very root of civilization