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History -- Military
history -- List of battles
The Battle of Marathon (September 490 BCE)was the culmination of King Darius I of
Persia's first major attempt to conquer the remainder of the Greeks and add them to
the Persian Empire, thereby securing the weakest portion of his Western
border.
Background
Hippias, tyrant of Athens, had been expelled in 510 BC by his people, with the assistance of Cleomenes I, King
of Sparta. He fled to the court of Darius to seek assistance.
With the failure of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC - 494 BC), Darius was intent on subjugating the Greeks and
punishing them for their part in the revolt. In 492 BC Darius dispatched an army under
his son-in-law, Mardonius. This army reduced Thrace and compelled Alexander I of
Macedon to submit again to Persia. However, in attempting to advance into Greece
much of the fleet was wrecked in a storm and Mardonius was forced to retreat to Asia.
Darius learned through Hippias that the Alcmaeonidae, a powerful
Athenian family, were opposed to Miltiades and ready to help reinstate Hippias.
They were also ready to bow to Persian demands in exchange for being excused for their role in the Ionian Revolt. Darius wished
to take advantage of this situation to take Athens, which would isolate Sparta and hand him the remainder of the Greeks. In order
for the Athenians to revolt, two things would need to happen: the populace would need encouragement to revolt, and the Athenian
army would have to leave Athens.
In order to accomplish the first, Darius planned to take Eretria, which would
offer little resistance, and whose fall would terrify the Athenians. To accomplish the second, Darius's army, now led by Artaphernes, son of a satrap of Sardis, and
Datis, a Median admiral (Mardonius had been injured in the prior attack), was dispatched in early September 490 BC to land at the Bay of Marathon and threaten an overland attack towards Athens. This army probably numbered at most
25,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry, since it was transported entirely by sea.
The Persian transports, escorted by the fleet, sailed from Samos to Naxos and reached Carystus on the south coast of Euboea. From there they sailed up the
Euboean channel to Eretria, where their aims became clear to the Greeks.
The Eretrians sent an urgent message to Athens for help. The Athenians agreed, but realized they needed more help. They sent a
courier to the Spartans and probably a messenger to the Plataeans. The courier
arrived in Sparta on September 9, and the Spartans agreed to help, but
pointed out that they could not go to war until the Carneian festival ended on the full moon of September 19-20.
Artaphernes took part of the Persian army and laid siege to Eretria. The remainder of the army crossed with Datis and landed
in the Bay of Marathon. The
Athenian army, numbering 9,000-10,000, under Callimachus the polemarch and accompanied by his
ten tribal generals marched north from Athens. When Callimachus heard that the Persians had landed in the Bay of Marathon, he
wheeled right and reached the valley of Avlona and encamped his army at the shrine of Heracles. One thousand Plataeans joined him
there.
Since it was obvious from the Persians' disposition that they did not intend to march to Athens, the Athenians waited for the
Spartans. For eight days the armies peacefully confronted each other.
The Battle
On the ninth day it became known to the Athenians that Eretria had fallen by treachery. This meant that Artaphernes was now
free to move, and might attack Athens. On September 21, the Athenian army
went out to face the Persians. This was probably a combined decision by the generals, although Herodotus reports that they were
rotating days of command and that Miltiades was in charge at this point, since he had a large part in persuading the others to do
so. According to Herodotus, five Strategoi voted for the move and five voted
against it, with Callimachus, the Polemarch, casting the deciding vote in favor of attack.
Since the bulk of Persian infantry were archers, the Greek plan was to advance in
formation until they reached the limit of the archer's effectiveness, the "beaten zone," or roughly 200 yards, then advance in
double time to close ranks quickly and bring their heavy infantry into play. This meant that they would almost certainly end up
fighting in disordered ranks, but this was preferable to giving the Persian archers more time. The Greek center was reduced to
possibly four ranks, from the normal eight, in order to extend the line and prevent the Persian line from overlapping the Greeks.
The wings maintained their eight ranks.
The Greek heavy infantryman, or hoplite, was much more heavily armored than the
Persian troops and the pike the Greeks carried gave them greater range than the short spears and swords of the Persian foot
soldier. The Persian advantage came from the bow that most of them
carried (which was somewhat nullified from the heavy Greek armor) and from their far vaster numbers.
As the Greeks advanced, their wings drew ahead of the center, which was under heavy fire from the archers. As they closed some
Persians broke through the resulting gaps and drove the center back in rout. The Greek retreat in the center, besides pulling the
Persians in, also brought the Greek wings inwards, shortening the Greek line. The inadvertant result was a double envelopment, and the battle ended when the whole Persian army, crowded
into confusion, broke back in panic towards their ships and were pursued by the
Greeks.
Herodotus records that 6,400 Persians died for the loss of approximately 192 Athenians.
Aftermath
As soon as Datis had put to sea, the Athenians marched to Athens. They arrived in time to prevent Artaphernes from securing a
landing. Seeing his opportunity lost, Artaphernes set about and returned to Asia. The Spartans arrived afterwards, toured the
battlefield at Marathon, and agreed that the Athenians had won a great victory.
The Greek upset of the Persians, who had not been defeated on land for many decades, caused great problems for the Persians.
Seeing that the Persians were not invincible, many peoples subject to their rule rose up following the defeat of their overlords
at Marathon and order was not restored for several years.
The common enemy of Persia helped provide some solidarity to the disunited Greek city-states. The victory helped solidify the
view that Greeks were "civilized" and Asians were merely "Barbarians."
Conclusion
Marathon was in no sense a decisive victory over the Persians. However, it was the first time the Greeks had bested the
Persians on land, and "their victory endowed the Greeks with a faith in their destiny which was to endure for three centuries,
during which western culture was born." (J.F.C. Fuller, A Military History of the Western World.)
Legend states that when the citizens of Athens became aware of the invasion by Persia, they dispatched a soldier named
Phidippides who, according to
Herodotus (see book IV, 105) ran from the town of Marathon to Sparta for aid.
Another legend says that he ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory, and then collapsed and died. This legend was the
basis for the modern-day marathon race. The distance for a
modern marathon, however, is based on the distance from Marathon to Athens, as modified
slightly to suit the geography of modern-day London.
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