On 12 August 490 BCE, the Battle of Marathon was fought between the Greeks under Miltiades and Callimachus and the Persians under Datis and Artaphernes during the Greco-Persian Wars.
Why did it happen & Who was involved?
In 499 BCE, the Ionian Greeks along the west coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) rose in rebellion against the Persian Empire. Despite the support of Athens and Eretria, the Greek revolt was crushed in 494 BCE. The Persian king, Darius I, then decided to punish the Greek city-states who had supported the rebellion. In 490 BCE, the Persian invasion force under the Median general Datis, numbering some 60,000 troops, was carried across the Aegean Sea in a fleet of 600 warships to land at the Bay of Marathon, 42 kilometres northeast of Athens. Upon hearing this, the Athenians under Miltiades and Callimachus mustered 9,000 hoplites and marched north to confront the Persian host. Joined only by a small force of 1,000 hoplites from Plataea, the Greeks arrived at Marathon on 7 August where the waited for five days. On the night of 11/12 August, Datis embarked 40,000 Persian troops aboard his warships to sail around the Attica peninsula and make a surprise attack on Athens. Informed by their spies, the Greeks chose Miltiades to be their chief commander and formed their army on the plain of Marathon. To compensate for their inferior numbers, the Greeks chose to extend their line while making their wings strong and their centre thin.
What happened?
The battle began with the Greek hoplites charging across the plain of Marathon towards the 20,000 Persian soldiers, to both negate their arrow-fire and maintain the element of surprise. Upon reaching the Persian line, the stronger armour of the Greek hoplites contrasted greatly with the lightly armed Persians. The Greeks gained the advantage on the wings where their deeper ranks forcing the Persian flanks to buckle. On the Greek left wing, the Persians routed and fled towards a swamp before becoming bogged down and slaughtered by the pursuing Greek hoplites. In the centre, however, the Persians broke through the thin Greek line with a barrage of arrows and javelins. At this crucial moment, Miltiades and Callimachus ordered the Greek wings to stop their pursuit and envelop the flanks of the Persian army. Faced with encirclement, the Persians panicked and fled back towards their anchored fleet in Marathon Bay. The Greeks pursued and managed to capture seven ships before the Persians sailed away. During the whole battle, the Persians suffered 6,400 casualties while the Greeks lost just 192 men.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Marathon was a decisive victory for the Greeks. Following the battle, the Greek army marched back to Athens before the Persian navy under Datis could arrive and disembark the rest of the Persian army in an assault on the city. When the Persians saw the Greek hoplites stationed on the walls of Athens, they decided to sail back home, bringing the first invasion of Greece to an end. While Marathon did not stop the Persians from invading Greece in 480 BCE under Darius’ successor, Xerxes, it still showed the superiority of the Greek hoplite in battle over the lightly armoured Persian foot soldier. The victory at Marathon would be celebrated in Athens in subsequent years, ultimately inspiring the modern-day marathon of the Olympic Games.
Bibliography
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Grant, R.G. 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History. London, Cassell Illustrated, 2011.
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Harwood, Jeremy. Atlas of History’s Greatest Military Victories. London, Quantum Publishing, 2013.
McNab, Chris. The World’s Worst Military Disasters. London, Amber Books, 2005.