@@smeeselfThey sacrificed themselves to buy time for a larger land force to assemble. A total of 7,000 soldiers agai st at least 150,000 was a suicide mission and they knew it. The entire Peraian land army faced the combined Spartan and Athenian land forces at Platea the following spring and rhe Persians were routed head to head. This was the last time the Persians fought in Greece.