On This Day: Athens Defeats Persian Army at the Battle of Marathon

In the late fourth century and early fifth century B.C., the Persians controlled Asia Minor, much of southwest Asia, and parts of southeastern Europe. However, Ionian Greeks, who lived along the Aegean Sea in present-day Turkey, began to revolt against their local governors with the assistance of the Athenians in eastern mainland Greece. The Ionian Revolt was defeated in 492 B.C.

Persian King Darius I, who had wanted to expand his empire into Europe, sought to punish the Athenians for their actions. He sent an army to Greece in 492; it conquered Thrace in northern Greece, but a storm wrecked its ships as it was moving south. Darius then sent emissaries through Greece to demand submission; most city-states submitted, but Athens and Sparta, located in southern Greece, refused, leading to war.

A Persian army led by Datis and Artapherne sailed across the Aegean Sea, conquering islands as it moved toward Athens. The ships landed at Marathon, a town located north of Athens. The Athenian army, consisting of 9,000 Athenian soldiers and 1,000 Plataean allies, marched up to meet the Persian army, and the two sides spent nine days waiting for the other to attack.

Though the Athenians were waiting for Spartan forces to arrive as reinforcements, Miltiades, one of their 10 generals, implored the others to launch an offensive. Needing to convince the general Callimachus to win support for the offensive, Miltiades said, according to ancient historian Herodotus, “With you it rests, Callimachus, either to bring Athens to slavery, or, by securing her freedom, to be remembered by all future generations.”

Callimachus agreed; Miltiades ordered his troops to form a line and make a direct charge at the Persians, estimated between 20,000 and 48,000. They attacked in a phalanx formation (a tightly packed rectangular formation), with each soldier armed with a large spear, breastplate and large shield that covered most of his body.

Though the Persians had a larger force, their weapons and armor were inferior, and they were not prepared for a direct attack. According to Herodotus’ account, the flanks of the Athenian army defeated the Persians, and then engulfed the Persians in the center. The Athenians won the battle, killing an estimated 6,400 Persians while losing only 192 men (these numbers were likely exaggerated by Herodotus).

The Persians retreated to their ships and sailed toward Athens, hoping to reach the undefended city before the Athenian army could return. The Athenians marched double-time back to the city and reached it before the Persians did. Datis and Artapherne decided to return to Asia rather than launch an attack on the city, thus ending the Persian invasion of Greece.

According to legend, the messenger Pheidippides was sent ahead of the Athenian army to Athens to tell the city about the victory. He reached the city, but died of exhaustion after the roughly 26-mile run.

The story is almost certainly a myth. Many attribute it to Herodotus, but he did not write of it. He did write of Pheidippides’ run to Sparta, which likely served as the basis of the myth. Pheidippides covered more than 140 miles in two days, according to Herodotus, and then immediately returned to Marathon, meaning that he ran at least 280 miles in three or four days.

The myth of the Marathon run, says Livius.org, “is a late invention. It originates in a combination of two stories: Pheidippides’ athletic achievement and the swift Athenian march from Marathon to the harbor. The legend can be found in Plutarch of Chaeronea, The glory of Athens, 347c and is also told by Lucian.”

The story was made famous in Robert Browning’s 1879 poem “Pheidippides.” He wrote:

“Unforeseeing one! Yes, he fought on the Marathon day:
So, when Persia was dust, all cried ‘To Akropolis!
Run, Pheidippides, one race more! the meed is thy due!
“Athens is saved, thank Pan,” go shout!’ He flung down his shield, Ran like fire once more: and the space ‘twixt the Fennel-field
And Athens was stubble again, a field which a fire runs through,
Till in he broke: ‘Rejoice, we conquer!’ Like wine thro’ clay,
Joy in his blood bursting his heart, he died—the bliss!”

A long-distance race honoring Pheidippides’ run, called the marathon, was created for the 1896 Athens Olympics, the first modern Games. “It is probable that this poem, and not the actual historical facts, would have been in the minds of those, who not twenty years later, would be concerned with the revival of the Olympic Games and the formation of any possible events which could provide a link with the past,” wrote R. Grogan in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The precise distance of 26.2 miles was not set until the 1908 London Olympics, according to Stephen Miller, author of “Ancient Greek Athletics.” It was not based on the distance from Marathon to Athens, but rather the distance from Windsor Castle to London’s Olympic Stadium, the route of the 1908 marathon.

The Battle of Marathon was an early battle in the Greco-Persian Wars, a series of conflicts between Persia and the Greek states fought between 492–449 B.C.

“Although the Persian empire was at the peak of its strength, the collective defense mounted by the Greeks overcame seemingly impossible odds and even succeeded in liberating Greek city-states on the fringe of Persia itself,” writes Encyclopedia Britannica. “The Greek triumph ensured the survival of Greek culture and political structures long after the demise of the Persian empire.”

Sept. 12 has traditionally been considered the date of the Battle of Marathon. The date was determined by 19th century German scholar August Boeckh, based on his analysis of the lunar calendar and the account of Pheidippides’ trip to Sparta.

According to Herodotus, Pheidippides had run to Sparta before the battle to ask for assistance. The Spartans told him that they could not go to war until the end of their religious festival, which would end six days later when the moon was full.

Using the Athenian calendar, Boeckh determined that the full moon occurred in September. However, some modern researchers believe that the Spartan calendar and the Athenian calendar differed by a month that year because there had been an extra full moon. These researchers therefore believe that the battle occurred in August.