Battle of marathon

Pheidippides (c. 520-490 B.C.) or Philippides is the central figure in a story that was the inspiration for a modern sporting event, the marathon race. Pheidippides is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a military victory against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.

During the Battle of Marathon, 10,000 Greek citizens defeated the numerically superior Persian army. How did the Athenians win, and why were they involved in the Persian Wars?

Ancient Greece Tourism: Sparta. Athens, Rhodes, Olympia, Zeus, Artemis, Herodotus. Lighthouse of Alexandria. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

The Greek Age of Bronze - Sea Peoples

THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 490 BC The Greeks had begun settling the Aegean coastline in 1000 BC. Four hundred years latter however they were drawn into conflict with the westward expanding Persian empire. Greek refusal to submit to Persian rule and authority prompted King Darius I, to send a powerful naval force of six hundred war galleys to take control of Athens and install a government favorable to his regime. The Persian commander, Datis, landed with an invasion force of twenty five thousand…

The surprise defeat of the mighty Persian Empire in 490 B.C. began the Golden Age of Athens and the Greco-Persian wars.

Battle of Marathon, 490 BCE: Greek forces defeat the dominant Persian Empire, considered by many to be invincible. After this battle, the epicenter of civilization began to shift away from the Middle East towards Europe.

george rochegrosse

The Athenians charge the persian line at the battle of marathon.

The Battle of Marathon in northeastern Attica is one of history's earliest recorded battles. The fighting in 490 B.C. marked the first blows of the Greco‑Persian War. The victory of “the Marathon men” captured the collective imagination of the Greeks, with the tale of the messenger running 25 miles to Athens to deliver the news fueling the creation of the modern marathon.