Abstract
The view that Simonides' Plataean Elegy was performed on an occasion honouring the dead of the war against Persia is supported by the importance Achilleus is given in the proem of the elegy: just as Achilles' bravery and death were crucial for taking Troy, so the courageous death of Spartan warriors' brought victory over Mardonios and his troops. As the known parts of the elegy clearly focus on Sparta and her Peloponnesian allies, the likeliest occasion for its performance is the funeral of the Spartan warriors who fell in the battle of Plataea.
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