FACTS ABOUT THE BATTLE OF MARATHON

The battle was a result of Persian Emperor Darius I’s desire for revenge. From 499-493 B.C., the Greek colonies in Asia Minor had rebelled against Persian rule. Athens had provided military aid. After putting down the revolt, Darius was intent on punishing Athens for interfering in Persian affairs. He had a servant whose job was to whisper in his ear: “Master, remember the Athenians.”

It was the greatest amphibious invasion up until that time. Herodotus claimed that the Persian fleet consisted of 600 triremes.

The Persians landed at Marathon on the advice of an Athenian named Hippias. Hippias was the son of the last tyrant to rule Athens. After his father died, Athens decided to try democracy and Hippias was forced to leave. He ended up at the Persian court where he encouraged Darius to take over his home city and restore him to power. He suggested Marathon because it had a nice plain for battle. The flat land would be conducive to the superior Persian cavalry.

The Greek army consisted of 9,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plataeans. Sparta had been invited, but they were in the middle of a religious festival and could not leave until the full moon. The Persians were probably around 25,000 which makes more sense than the 200,000 mentioned by some ancient historians.

Although the Greeks were outnumbered at least 2 to 1, but they had much better soldiers. Greek hoplites had better armor protection and a much better shield. The battle was an interesting match between shock and missile weapons. The Greeks relied on shock – stabbing spears and swords. The Persian army was mainly archers.

The Greeks used the phalanx formation. The hoplites were tightly packed in a formation normally 8 ranks deep. Each hoplite protected himself and the man to his left with his shield. When Greeks fought other Greeks, the battle came down to shoving by both phalanxes. The Persians fought in a loose formation and depended on their archers to decimate their foe. Because the Persian soldiers were ill-protected and not good at shock combat, once the Greeks could make contact, it would be ugly. It was getting there that was the problem for the Greeks.

When the Greek army arrived at Marathon, it took position on a hill facing the plain where the Persians were encamped. The Greeks blocked the road to Athens, so the Persians were hesitant to attack. Meanwhile, the Greeks waited for the Spartan army to arrive.

It is unclear what caused the Greeks to stop waiting and offer battle on Sept. 12, 490 B.C. The best guess is the Greeks observed the Persians loading their cavalry back on their ships to possibly sail to land closer to Athens. This would have meant two things. One, the Persians needed to brought to battle now before they got away. Also, if the cavalry had been loaded, that meant they would not be available for the battle. (This would explain why Herodotus does not mention the Persian cavalry playing a role in the battle.)

When the decision was made to attack, Miltiades convinced the other Athenian generals (there were 10) to extend the formation to match the width of the larger Persian army, so they couldn’t be flanked. This meant the center of the Greek army was only 4 ranks deep instead of the normal 8 ranks. The right and left wings were kept at 8.

With Miltiades’ simple command “At them!”, the Greeks came down from the hill and marched toward the Persians, who must have thought they were insane. Herodotus claimed the Greeks ran the whole distance of about 1,500 meters. That seems unlikely considering each hoplite was encumbered by 50 pounds of gear. More likely, they ran when they reached the limit of the Persian archers. Less time in the kill zone was a good move.

When the Greeks reached the Persians, although they were better armed and armored, the Persians were so numerous that the Greek center was forced back. However, the stronger Greek wings were victorious and were able to rout the Persians. Some of the Greeks pursued, but most turned to flank the Persian center on both sides – a double envelopment. The Persian center was destroyed.

The Greeks pressed the Persians back to their ships. They attempted to stop the ships from fleeing and did capture six ships, but most of the ships were able to escape. Callimachus (the official Greek leader) was killed holding onto a ship and Aeschylus’s brother was mortally wounded when his hand was cut off as he gripped a ships prow.

The Persians were sailing toward Athens and word needed to be sent of the victory. Pheidippides (who had already run to Sparta and back and fought in the battle) ran the 26 miles (the first “marathon”) to deliver the message “nike” (victory) and then died.

The 192 dead Athenians were buried in a mound. Over 6,000 Persians were killed.

The Spartans could not get to the battle on time, but they came anyway to see the battlefield and hear what had happened. They had to admit the Athenians were better soldiers than they had given them credit for.

It could be argued that the battle was the most important in history. Although the Persians were civilized, if the Greek civilization was aborted that would have been disastrous for Western Civilization. Also, the victory cemented democracy in Athens and the fact that the middle class hoplites had saved Athens meant their class was given more political power. And the Greeks lost their fear of the Persians, which is going to give them confidence when the Persians came back ten years later.

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