PlatAea

PlatAea (Gr. Plataiai), a city in the western part of Bœ;otia, on the borders of Attica, and at the foot of Mount CithAeron, 6 miles from Thebes. In 479 B.C. it witnessed the glorious victory won by the Lacedaemonian Greeks, under Pausanias and Aristides, over the Persians; in 429-27 it was besieged by a Theban-LacedAemonian force, and razed to the ground.

Platte

Platte, or Nebraska, an affluent of the Missouri, formed by the junction of the North and South Forks, which rise among the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado, and flow 800 and 550 miles. It winds 450 miles eastward, in a wide shallow stream, over the treeless plains of Nebraska.

Platten-See

Platten-See. See Balaton.

Plattsburg

Plattsburg, capital of Clinton county, New York, on Lake Champlain, at the mouth of the river Saranac, 73 miles by rail S. of Montreal. It has planing-mills, machine-shops, and manufactures of iron, wagons, and sewing-machines. In Plattsburg Bay, on September 11, 1814, a British flotilla was defeated. Pop. 9010.

Plattsmouth

Plattsmouth, capital of Cass county, Nebraska, on the Missouri, below the mouth of the Platte, and 21 miles by rail S. of Omaha. It manufactures flour, engines, organs, etc. Pop. 5000.

Plauen

Plauen (Plow'en), a town of Saxony, on the Elster, 78 miles S. of Leipzig by rail. It manufactures cotton goods, muslin, cambric, jaconet, embroidered fabrics, cigars, paper, and machinery. Pop. (1875) 28,756; (1900) 73,891.

Playford

Playford, a Suffolk parish, 4 miles ENE. of Ipswich. Clarkson lived and died here.

Plessis-les-Tours

Plessis-les-Tours. See Tours.

Plevna

Plevna, a town of Bulgaria, 19 miles S. of the Danube and 85 NE. of Sophia; pop. 18,546. Here in December 1877 Osman Pasha, the Turkish general, after a three months' defence, was forced to surrender to the Russians.

Plinlimmon

Plinlimmon, a large mountain-mass (2469 feet) of Wales with three summits, on the boundary between Montgomery and Cardigan, 10 miles W. of Llanidloes. The name is said to be a corruption of a Celtic word signifying Five Rivers, the Severn, Wye, and three other rivers rising here.

Plock

Plock (Ger. Plozk), an ancient town of Russian Poland, on the Vistula, 60 miles NW. of Warsaw, with an 11th-century cathedral. Pop. 28,660.

Plojeshti

Plojeshti, or Ploesci, a town of Roumania, 37 miles by rail N. of Bucharest, with petroleum-refineries. Pop. 42,700.

Plombieres

Plombieres (Plomb-yehr'), a spa in the French dep. of Vosges, 14 miles S. of Epinal, was brought into fashion by Napoleon III., though its waters were known to the Romans. There are nearly thirty springs of from 66° to 150° F.; they are helpful against skin diseases, gout, rheumatism, dyspepsia, female complaints, etc. A handsome casino was opened in 1876. Pop. 1819.

Plumstead

Plumstead. See Erith. Plus'carden, a ruined Cistercian priory (1230), 6 miles SW. of Elgin. See Macphail's work (1881).

Plymouth

Plymouth, (1) capital of Plymouth county, Massachusetts; on Plymouth Bay, 37 miles by rail SE. of Boston, is famous as the landing-place in 1620 of the Pilgrim Fathers. Plymouth Rock is a granite boulder at the water's edge on which they landed. It is covered by a handsome granite canopy, and there is also a national monument (1858-89) to the pilgrims; the pedestal, also of granite, stands on a hill overlooking the landing-place, and is 46 feet high, surmounted by a figure of Faith, 36 feet high, with Morality, Education, Freedom, and Law grouped round the base. In Pilgrim Hall (1824-25) are many relics. Pop. 9600. - (2) A mining-town of Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna, 20 miles by rail SW. of Scranton. Pop. 13,650. - (3) The capital of Montserrat (q.v.).