Battle of Marathon

Battle of Marathon, battle that took place between the Greeks and the Persians at Marathon, a plain on Athenian territory 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Athens, in 490 bc. It was fought by the Athenians and their allies the Plataeans against the forces of the Persian king Darius I. Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon was of crucial importance in saving Greece from Persian domination.

For an explanation of the motives behind the Persian campaign in Greece and of the circumstances under which the Battle of Marathon took place, modern knowledge relies almost entirely on the Greek popular traditions recorded by Herodotus about 50 or 60 years later. Herodotus presents the campaign as having been initiated against the Greek cities of Athens and Eretria by Darius I in revenge for their support of a revolt within the Persian empire of the Ionian (Greek) cities of Asia Minor in 499-494 BC. At the same time, he portrays the Persian motive as the conquest of the whole of Greece. In advance of his invasion, Darius demanded the submission of all Greek states. The king may also have been influenced by the exiled tyrant of Athens, Hippias, who accompanied the campaign.

In 492 bc, a force led by Mardonius, the nephew and son-in-law of Darius, took a route into northern Greece along the shore of Thrace and Macedonia. After some successes (in particular, the submission of Macedonia), Mardonius’s fleet was destroyed by storms off Mount Athos. In 490 BC, the Persian commanders Datis and Artaphernes made their way across the Aegean Sea, securing the surrender of the Cycladic islands as they went. Arriving on the island of Euboea (Évvoia), they subdued the Euboean cities of Carystus and Eretria, the former by force and the latter through the treachery of a number of Eretrians. At this point, the Athenians dispatched the runner Phidippides to summon help from Sparta.

From Euboea, the Persians made the short crossing to the plain of Marathon. The choice of this landing place was made for a combination of reasons: it was the most convenient point at which to cross from Euboea; Hippias may have hoped for political support from the outlying eastern regions of Attica; and, as Herodotus also records, the Persians thought the plain suitable for their cavalry. There was a delay of some days before the battle began. Herodotus describes a debate among the ten Athenian generals as to whether battle should be joined at all. Eventually the arguments of Miltiades finally tilted the balance in favor of battle: Failure to fight would encourage divisions and treachery within Athens, while victory, on the other hand, would secure Athenian dominance in Greece.

Of the battle’s events, little is known for certain. To avoid being outflanked by the Persians, the Athenians concentrated their strength at both ends of their line of defense. They then began the battle by making a charge against the Persian lines. On the wings the Athenians and Plataeans were victorious. They then turned on those Persian forces that had broken through the center of the Greek alignment. Some of the fiercest fighting occurred as the Persians tried to make their way back to their ships. Mystery surrounds the role played by the Persian cavalry. Herodotus records the Persians’ amazement that the Athenians had no cavalry; this suggests that their own cavalry were present at the battle, although he makes no mention of it. Figures given for the strength of the Greek and Persian armies vary: that for the Greeks (around 10,000) is believable. The number of Persians (90,000), given by a contemporary poet, Simonides, is less believable; one modern estimate is 25,000. It is, however, likely that the Persians far outnumbered the Greeks. According to Herodotus, the dead numbered 192 Athenians and (again, probably an exaggeration) 6,400 Persians.

After the battle, the Persians sailed around Cape Sounion with the intention of attacking the city of Athens. The Athenian army, however, reached Athens in time to stave off this second threat and the Persian fleet withdrew. Persian plans for the conquest of Greece were renewed in 480-479, in a campaign that involved the battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea.