The battle of Marathon

The Greeks were always weakened by the fact that the city states hated one another. King Darius of Persia thought he could take advantage of this. If he was right, he could first destroy Athens and then advance on to Sparta.

In 490 BC he began his campaign. His army landed at the Bay of Marathon about 40km north east of Athens. What he wanted to do was to persuade the Athenian army, who were behind their defensive walls, to flee the city.

The Athenians did not think they could defeat Darius and so they sent an urgent message for help. They sent the courier Pheidippides to the Spartans. That was 300km away!

When Pheidippides arrived in Sparta the Spartans explained that they could not go to war until their religious festival had ended about ten days later. How could the Athenians hold out so long?
When the Athenian army learned that the Persians had landed at Marathon, they went to meet them. The Athenians simply stood their ground while they waited for the Spartans. As a result, for eight days the armies peacefully confronted each other.

But then the Persians decided to attack. Most of the Persian army were archers who fought at a distance whereas the Greeks had spears and so they needed to get up close.

The Greeks tried to surround the Persians even though they had fewer troops. So the wings went ahead faster than the middle. The Greek centre then gave way, and the Persians rushed forwards, allowing the Greeks to encircle them. Now the Greek spears and heavy armour made it possible for them to beat the Persians. The Persians panicked and fled.

The Spartans arrived afterwards, toured the battlefield at Marathon, and agreed that the Athenians had won a great victory. It was the first time the Greeks had won against the Persians. This made the Greeks confident in themselves and so allowed Greek civilisation to continue.

Final note

Pheidippides did not run to Athens (about 35km away), as some popular stories tell. The modern marathon is based on a story invented by Plutarch in the 1st century AD and the distance was only decided on about 100 years ago. It has nothing to do with the distance Pheidippides actually ran.