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Timeline Index. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. The battle was the culmination of the first attempt by Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War, under King Darius I, to subjugate Greece. The Greek army decisively defeated the more numerous Persians, marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars. The first Persian invasion was a response to Athenian involvement in the Ionian Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War, when Athens and Eretria had sent a force to support the cities of Ionia in their attempt to overthrow Persian rule. The Athenians and Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War had succeeded in capturing and burning Sardis, but they were then forced to retreat with heavy losses. In response to this raid, Darius swore to burn down Athens and Eretria. According to Herodotus, Darius had his bow brought to him and then shot an arrow "upwards towards heaven", saying as he did so: "Zeus, that it may be granted me to take vengeance upon the Athenians! Herodotus further writes that Darius charged one of his servants to say "Master, remember the Athenians" three times before dinner each day Darius I was the third king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Miltiades considered himself a member of the Aeacidae, and he was a member of the prominent Philaid clan. He is known mostly for his role in the Battle Athenian statesman and general. He was one of the 10 generals who commanded the Athenians at the battle of Marathon B. In he was ostracized because he opposed the naval policy of Themistocles. Themistocles Greek: "Glory of the Law"was an Athenian politician and general. He was one of a new Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War of politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy, along with his great rival Aristides. As a politician, The The son of Darius I, he had been governor of Babylon before his succession. He ferociously suppressed rebellions in Egypt and Babylonia To avenge Darius's defeat by the Greeks a The collision between the fractious p He is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the Persians for three days in one of history's most fa The Greek victory marked the turning point of the A largely Spartan force, including helots, defeated the Persian army of Xerxes I, led by Mardonius; the victory marked this battle as Aristides, Athenian Leader Athenian statesman and general. The Battle That Inspired The Marathon | Ancient Origins

Pheidippides is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of the victory of the battle of Marathon. The first recorded account showing a courier running from Marathon to Athens to announce victory is from within Lucian 's prose on the first use of the word "joy" as a greeting in A Slip of the Tongue in Greeting 2nd century AD. The modern use of the word dates back to Philippides the dispatch-runner. Bringing the news of the victory at Marathon, he found the archons seated, in suspense regarding the issue of the battle. Fowler, [3]. The traditional story relates that Pheidippides — BCan Athenian herald or hemerodrome [1] translated as "day-runner", [4] "courier", [5] [6] "professional-running courier" [1] or "day-long runner" [7]was sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon, Greece. Most accounts incorrectly attribute this story to the historian Herodotuswho wrote the history of the Persian Wars in his Histories composed about BC. However, Magill and Moose suggest that the story is likely a "romantic invention. Robert Browning gave a version of the traditional story in his poem Pheidippides. So, when Persia was dust, all cried, "To Acropolis! Run, Pheidippides, one race more! Athens is saved, thank Pango shout! In any case, no such story appears in Herodotus. Before they left the city, the Athenian generals sent off a message to Sparta. The messenger was an Athenian named Pheidippides, a professional long-distance runner. According to the account he gave the Athenians on his return, Pheidippides met the Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War Pan on Mount Parthenium, above Tegea. Pan, he said, called him by name and told him to ask the Athenians why they paid him no attention, in spite Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War his friendliness towards them and the fact that he had often been useful to them in the past, and would be so again in the future. The Athenians believed Pheidippides's story, and when their affairs were once more in a prosperous state, they built a shrine to Pan under the Acropolis, and from the time his message was received they held an annual ceremony, with a torch-race and sacrifices, to court his protection. On the occasion of which I speak - when Pheidippides, that is, was sent on his mission by the Athenian commanders and said that he saw Pan - he reached Sparta the day after he left Athens and delivered his message to the Spartan government. It was the ninth day of the month, and they said they could not take the field until the moon was full. So they waited for the full moon, and meanwhile Hippiasthe son of Pisistratusguided the Persians to Marathon. The significance of this story is to be understood in the light of the legend that the god Pan returned the favor by fighting with the Athenian troops and against the Persians at Marathon. This was important because Pan, in addition to his other powers, had the capacity to instill an irrational, blind fear that paralyzed the mind and suspended all sense of judgment— panic. Herodotuswriting about 30 to 40 years after the events he describes, did, according to Miller Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War fact base his version of the battle on eyewitness accounts, [7] so it seems altogether likely that Pheidippides was an actual Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War figure, although the same source claims the classical author did not ever, in fact, mention a Marathon-Athens runner in any of his writings. Whether the story is Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War or not, it has no connection with the Battle of Marathon itself, and Herodotus's silence on Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War subject of a herald running from Marathon to Athens suggests strongly that no such event occurred. The first known written account of a run from Marathon to Athens occurs in the works of the Greek writer Plutarch 46—in his essay On the Glory of Athens. Plutarch attributes the run to a herald called either Thersippus or Eukles. Luciana century later, credits one "Philippides. Based on this account, British RAF Wing Commander John Foden and four other RAF officers travelled to Greece in on an official expedition to test whether it was possible to cover the nearly kilometres miles in a day and a half 36 hours. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For the cardiomyopathic changes, see Phidippides cardiomyopathy. For the asteroid, see Pheidippides. For the comic character Pheidippides, see the Clouds. Main article: Spartathlon. Running Through the Ages. Retrieved A History of the Marathon race B. Sport And Spectacle in the Ancient World. Larcher's Notes on Herodotus, historical and critical comments on the History of Herodotus, with a chronological table; Translated from the French London, Whittaker. Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War Greek Athletics. Yale University Press. University of Bristol. The Histories. Oxford University Press. Pheidippides at Wikipedia's sister projects. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Wikimedia Commons. Statue of Pheidippides alongside the Marathon Road. The Persian Wars: The Battle of Marathon in BCE

This battle took place in August or September BC. During the battle, Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War Athenians and their Plataean allies successfully repelled the invading Persians, despite being outnumbered. The victory of the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon was significant as it brought an end to the first Persian invasion of Greece. Additionally, the Persians did not return to Greece until a decade later. It is also thanks to this ancient battle that we have the marathon today. This sporting event is a modern invention that was inspired by an amazing feat performed by one of the Athenian soldiers who participated in the battle. This was a revolt by the Greek colonies in Asia Minor that were under Persian rule. The Greek rebels sought aid from mainland Greece and Athens, and Eretria responded by sending them a small fleet of ships. Thus, the involvement of these two city states in the Ionian Revolt was used by the Persians to justify their invasion of Greece once the revolt was put down. Using their fleet, the Persians conquered the island of Thasos, while the land army subdued the Macedonians. After this, however, the Persians experienced some setbacks. From Thasos, the Persian fleet sailed westwards to the mainland where it hugged the coast and sailed up to Acanthus. As the ships set out to round the headland at Athos they were caught in a storm and many were destroyed. Herodotus reported that about ships were destroyed and over 20, men lost their lives. The Persian land army did not fare so well either. According to Herodotus, while the Persians were encamped in Macedonia the Brygi, a Thracian tribe, launched a night attack against them. Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War men were killed and Mardonius himself was wounded. The Persians responded by subduing the Brygi. Once this was accomplished, however, Mardonius pulled his forces back to Asia thus bringing the Persian expedition of BC to an end. This was meant to see if the Greeks would submit to the Persians or resist them. At the same time, instructions were sent to the coastal states which were already part of the Achaemenid Empire to build long ships and transport ships for horses, so as to prepare for another invasion. The Athenians accused the Aeginetans of being traitors of Greece and used it as a pretext to start a war with them. Unlike the previous expedition, the land and sea forces were not separated. Instead, it was an amphibious operation and the land forces boarded the ships at Cilicia. Herodotus reported that a fleet of triremes was sent against the Greeks. This fleet first sailed to the island of Samosoff the Ionian coast, and thence across the Aegean Sea by sailing from island to island. This was different from the route taken by Mardonius whose fleet sailed along Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War Ionian coast to the Hellespont, so as to join up with the land army at Thrace. The first place that Datis and Artaphrenes planned to attack was the island of Naxos. Instead of staying to fight the islanders fled into the hills. The Persians razed the sanctuaries and the town to the ground and enslaved anyone they caught. The next stop for the Persians was the neighboring island of Delos. The Delians, having Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War of the Persian approach, fled to another island, Tenos. Herodotus reported that Datis had no intention of destroying the island. Instead, after finding out where the Delians were hiding the commander sent a herald to inform them that he would harm neither the island nor its inhabitants and urged them to return to their homes. The next target of the Persian invaders was Eretria. When the Eretrians received news of the Persian fleet they requested for assistance from Athens and received it. Unfortunately, the Eretrians were divided into two factions, those who wanted to abandon the city, and to flee to the Euboean hills on the one hand, and those who wanted to surrender the city to the Persians on the other. One of the Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War leaders, Aeschines the son of Nothon, saw that there was no way to save the city, explained the situation to the Athenians who arrived and begged them to leave. In the meantime, the Eretrians Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War not to abandon their city and prepared to be besieged. After several days of intense fighting, the city fell to the Persians through treachery. The city was plundered, burnt to the ground, and the population reduced to slavery. A few days after the destruction of Eretria, the Persians left for Attica, and were confident that they would be able to deal with the Athenians easily too. A picture reconstructing the beached Persian ships at Marathon before the battle. Before leaving for Marathon, however, the Athenian commanders dispatched a professional courier by the name of Philippides to Sparta in order to request their aid during the upcoming battle with the Persians. From this passage, scholars were able to determine the date of the Battle of Marathon, i. Meanwhile, the Athenian commanders were divided as to how to proceed. On the one hand, there were those who wished to avoid fighting, arguing that they were outnumbered by the Persians. On the other, there were those in favor of engaging the enemy. Both sides were supported by five commanders and it was up to the War Archon, Callimachus of Aphidnae, to cast the deciding vote. The Athenians, however, did not engage the Persians immediately. While accepting the post each time, Miltiades waited until the presidency was properly his before giving battle. Herodotus reported that the right wing of the army was under the command of the War Archon, which was in accordance with Athenian customs at that time, while the Plataeans were placed on the left. Between the two, the Athenian tribes were arranged one after another in their usual order. Herodotus also tells his readers that the Athenian army was extended over the same length as the Persian army. Although the center was only a few ranks deep and therefore the weakest, the two wings were at full strength. After the battle lines were drawn and favorable omens obtained from the sacrifices, the Athenians attacked by charging the Persians at a run. Initial disposition of forces at Battle of Marathon. During the battle, the Athenian center was broken by the Persians, who pursued them inland. The left and right wings of the Athenians, however, were victorious in their battle against their respective opponents. Therefore, they combined into a single fighting unit and attacked the Persians who had broken through the center. Map showing the armies' main movements during the Battle of Marathon. The Persians were defeated and retreated back to their ships anchored along the coast. The Athenians gave chase and killed any Persian they were able to overtake. In addition, seven Persian ships were captured by the Athenians. Herodotus does not give the strength of the Athenian and Persian armies that fought at the Battle of Marathon, but reports that 6, Persian soldiers were killedwhile the Athenians lost men. Although the Athenians won the Battle Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War Marathon, the Persian army had not been completely defeated and their fleet was still a threat to Athens. In fact, following the defeat at Marathon the Persian fleet began to sail around Cape Sounion, hoping to arrive at Athens before the army returned. Finally, a popular legend that has survived till this day is that it was a messenger, Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War, who ran from Marathon back to Athens to announce the victory over the Persians. Right after he delivered his message, Pheidippides died of exhaustion. Although the story is commonly attributed to Herodotus, it is not actually found in his writings. Herodotus does report that a herald by the name of Philippides was sent by the Athenians to seek aid from the Spartans and the two stories might have been conflated. In any case, the story inspired the creation of the marathon. Inthe first modern Olympics was held in Athens and the founder of the International Olympic Committee, Pierre de Coubertin, organized the first official marathon. During the Olympics, which was held in London, the marathon began at the lawn of Windsor Castle and finished in Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War of the royal box at White City Stadium. The total distance between the two points was Although this would become the standard distance for future marathons it was only formally adopted in Top image: Greek troops rushing forward at the Battle of Marathon. Clark, M. Current World Archaeology. Greece: The battle of Marathon. EyeWitness to History. The Battle of Marathon, BC. Herodotus, The Histories - Waterfield, R. Oxford University Press. Battle of Marathon. Lendering, J. Marathon BCE. New World Encyclopedia. Nix, E. Why is a marathon Peterson, D. Why Are Marathons Rickard, J. Battle of Marathon, 12 September BC. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Greco-Persian Wars. I am a university student doing a BA degree in Archaeology. I believe that intellectual Marathon 490 BC: The First Persian War by advocates from both ends of the spectrum would serve to Read More.