The Battle Of Marathon

Pheidippides, dying after giving the good news

Now that the Oscars are over I can get back to my weekly history lessons, from National Geographic History. Today I discuss the Battle of Marathon, a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars, but most famously giving us the name of a race.

The battle took place in 490 B.C. The Persians, under Darius the Great, were invading Greece with an eye on Athens. Darius was incensed that Athens had come to the aid of Ionians who were rebelling against Persian rule. They were crushed, and Darius resolved to take his anger out on Athens directly. Persia was mighty, with an empire spreading from Turkey to the edge of India.

They landed on the coastal plain at Marathon with 25,000 men. Athens had about 11,000 men, and had sent word to Sparta for backup. But the time came when they couldn't wait on Sparta any more. Militiades, the Greek general that day (they had ten, and took turns, remarkably democratic) decided to stretch the Greek line thin, from eight men deep to four, and about a mile wide. This weakened the middle of the line, and the Persians rushed in. But by stretching the line, the Athenians were able to flank the Persians, wheeling in on them in a pincer movement and massacring them. Many Persians ran back to their boats, and many were cut down as they attempted to escape.

There are lots of interesting elements. One of them was by the Persian admiral Datis, who decided to take his ships and leave Marathon toward Athens, perhaps believing he would attack an empty city. By the time he got there, the Athenian troops were back, and held him off. In the end, Athens lost 200 men, Persia 6,000, despite being outnumbered two to one. The Greek strategy relied on the hoplite phalanx, which had foot soldiers holding shields that overlapped with each other. The Persians had great archers--their arrows were said to have blocked out the sun.

One of the Greek combatants was Aeschylus, the great playwright, who wrote a play about the battle called The Persians. His brother died in the battle. Aeschylus' tombstone does not list his dramatic greatness, but instead his participation at Marathon. Also, Theseus, the mythical Greek hero, was said to appear to spur the Athenians on.

But the most famous story associated with Marathon is that of Pheidippides, the messenger. There are two versions--the more improbable has him running from Athens to Sparta for reinforcements. That's a distance of about 140 miles. This was from Herodotus' Histories. The more plausible is Plutarch's version, in which Pheidippides runs from Marathon to Athens--a shade over 26 miles--to announce "We've won!" and promptly die of exhaustion. When the Olympics were revived in 1896, this distance was chosen as the long race, and came to be known as the marathon. Now the word can mean anything long and arduous.

The battle had different legacies for the participants. For Persia it was no big deal, as they had plenty of firepower. But for Greece it was a major victory, their first against Persia, which proved that Persia was not invincible. A second Persian invasion was led by Darius' son, Xerxes, who burned Athens, but the Greek victories at Salamis and Plataea would end the Persian Wars.

I think all of this would make a great movie.