Battle of Marathon
In 490 BCE Darius I launched a punitive expedition against Athens and Eretria for aiding the Ionian Revolt. After sacking Eretria, the Persian fleet landed some 25,000 troops on the coastal plain of Marathon, northeast of Athens. The Athenians sent the runner Pheidippides to Sparta for help, but Spartans said they could not march until the full moon had passed. The Athenian army of around 10,000 hoplites, joined by 1,000 Plataeans, marched to Marathon. For several days the two sides observed each other without engaging. The Athenian generals were divided on whether to fight or wait for Spartan reinforcements. Miltiades argued for immediate battle and held the deciding vote as polemarch. Miltiades deployed his phalanx with a deliberately weakened center and strengthened wings. The Greeks advanced at a run — unusual and tactically brilliant, minimizing exposure to Persian arrows. The Persian center broke through the weak Athenian middle, but both Greek wings enveloped and routed the Persian flanks, then turned inward to encircle the victorious Persian center. The Persians fled to their ships in chaos. The Athenians lost 192 men; Persian dead numbered some 6,400. According to tradition, a runner carried news of the victory to Athens — the origin of the modern marathon race. The Athenians then force-marched back to Athens to forestall a Persian attempt to sail around and take the city, arriving before the Persian fleet. Marathon entered Athenian mythology almost immediately. The fallen were buried in a great mound (the Soros) on the battlefield. The victory demonstrated that heavily armored Greek hoplites could defeat the famed Persian infantry, profoundly boosting Greek confidence and Athenian prestige.
- Year: 490 BCE
- Category: Military
