The First Persian War: The Battle of Marathon and its Significance

At the beginning of the 5th century BC. BC, the Persian Empire confronts Greece, and particularly the indomitable Athens, during the First Persian War. In September 490 BC. J.-C., the army of king Darius Ier is defeated by the Athenians on the beach of Marathon. The Persian giant is crushed thanks to an ingenious military strategy.

The expansion of the Persian Empire

In the sixth century BC. J.-C., the Persian king Cyrus II transforms his kingdom into an immense empire which extends from India to the Mediterranean. His son, Darius I, continued his conquests and notably seized the Greek cities of the Ionian coast, on the Aegean Sea. Greece feels threatened.

Taking advantage of a war of succession which weakened the authority of King Darius I, the Ionian Greeks rose up against Persian domination in 499 BC. J.-C. They profit from the assistance of Athens which intervenes to bring them assistance. The revolt of Ionia ended in the annihilation of the Greek fleet at the battle of Ladé in 494 BC. J.-C. And the capture of Millet.

⋙ In Libya, the “African Athens” threatened by real estate projects

In spite of his victory, Darius Ier does not support the insult which Athens made to him while coming to assistance of the insurrectionists. His thirst for revenge pushes him to invade Greece in 492 BC. J.-C. This is the beginning of the First Medical War. The following year, he sent emissaries to Athens and Sparta to demand water and earth, as a sign of submission. In Athens, his men are tried and executed. In Sparta, they are thrown straight into the bottom of a well. A way of saying “go and draw some water yourselves”. In 490 BC. J.-C., the Persians cross the Aegean Sea.

The Persians land at Marathon

A Persian fleet led by Generals Datis and Artapherne, made up of 600 triremes, 25,000 fighters and a powerful cavalry, seized the Cyclades islands. The city of Naxos is taken and plundered. It is then Eretria, the ally of Athens, which is set on fire while its population is deported to Mesopotamia and reduced to slavery.

The Persian generals benefit from the presence at their side of a valuable adviser: Hippias, a former tyrant of Athens deposed and exiled in 510 BC. J.-C. Wishing to take his revenge, he advised Datis to land on the beach which runs along the plain of Marathon, 40 km north of Athens. It is over 4 kilometers long, so it is perfect for cavalry maneuvers. And this would above all attract the Athenians out of their city. September 12, 490 BC. BC, the Persians land at Marathon.

Miltiades’ strategy

For their part, the Athenians are fortunate to be advised by a very experienced strategist named Miltiades. His message is clear: we must go ahead of the enemy. There is no point in waiting for them, entrenched behind the city walls. Almost all of the Athens hoplite force, ie 9,000 men, therefore headed north. They take position on the hill which dominates the plain. The two armies observe each other in this way, 1,500 meters away, for five days.

The arrival of the Spartans, as reinforcements, is planned for later. For the moment, they cannot send anyone because of a religious holiday which imposes a military truce. The Plataeans send their side nearly a thousand hoplites. This makes about 10,000 men on the Greek side while the Persians would have two or three hundred thousand men according to ancient sources. Current historians find it difficult to quantify the forces involved, but the figure would rather be around 25,000 men on the Persian side.

The course of the battle

The battle begins on September 17. The Greeks attack first, on orders from Miltiades. They are fewer in number, but more motivated and experienced. Their strategy is ingenious: the heart of the Greek army is refined to deploy on a long line, equivalent to that of the Persian army. The strength of the Greeks is indeed in their frontal impact.

The Greek right and left wings push back the Persians, thus encircling the center. Constituted in phalanxes, the hoplites charge with such force that the opposing infantrymen find themselves on the ground. Surprised, the Persians, who expected their enemies to be easy targets, fled to the shore.

Herodotus recounts the battle as follows: “When the troops had taken up their positions and the sacrifices gave good omens, the Athenians, as soon as they gave the signal to attack, set off at a run against the Barbarians; the interval which separated them was not less than eight furlongs. The Persians, when they saw them coming at them running, prepared to receive them; noting that they were few in number and that, in spite of that, they set off at a run, without cavalry, without archers, they believed them to be afflicted with madness, a madness which would cause their total ruin. This was the idea the Barbarians had; but the Athenians, after they had, in serried ranks, made contact with them, memorably fought […]. And the victory remained with the Athenians. (Herodotus, Histories, 6.107-113). Defeated, the Persians return home. A few days later, the Spartans arrive… after the battle.

⋙ What is the real story of the Marathon?

A victory that legitimizes Athenian imperialism

The balance sheet of the Battle of Marathon, according to ancient historians, reports 7,000 dead on the Persian side against 192 Athenians. If the figures are debatable, the outcome of the conflict is not. And Athens will claim this victory for centuries.

Its proud population worships the fighters of the Battle of Marathon. Nicknamed the Marathonomaques, they embody the ideal of the Greek hoplite. The hoplites being soldiers from the people, Marathon is also the military consecration of democracy.

Eager to avenge his father, Xerxes I, who took over in 486 BC. J.-C., launches a Second Medical War. The Greeks prevail again, triumphing over their enemies at Salamis six years later. Against the Persian threat, the Greek cities come together to form a military alliance.

In 472 BC. J.-C., Athens takes the head of this league of Délos and transforms it over time into a true empire. To justify its hegemony over the Greek world, the city does not hesitate to use its victory at Marathon.

And the marathon in all this?

Contemporaneous with the events, Herodotus recounts that a hemerodrom – a mail carrier – named Philippides, was sent to Sparta to request the help of his army against the Persians. To do this, the man would have covered the distance of 250 kilometers between Athens and Sparta in just 36 hours. What an achievement!

⋙ A return of the Parthenon friezes to Greece excluded by the British government

Later, in the 1st century AD, Plutarch recounts that the strategist Miltiades would have sent the warrior Eucles to warn Athens of his victory at Marathon: “He arrived in Athens still smoking with the blood of the enemies; that he fell from fatigue at the door of the magistrates, to whom he said only these words: “Rejoice, we have conquered” and that he fell dead at their feet”. Euclès collapses after covering more than 40 kilometers in just 4 hours. We can understand it.

These two stories were subsequently brought together to form the one that is remembered today as the origin of the marathon. It is Lucian of Samosata, rhetorician of the second century, who would have confused them by making Philippides the runner of the first marathon in history!

On the same topic :

⋙ Stone spheres could come from an ancient Greek board game

⋙ Ancient Greece: test your knowledge

⋙ Pericles: inventor of democracy and Athenian statesman