[Chapter 3] Battle of Marathon: Athenian Glory

Greece and the Persian War have been depicted in movies with Spartans and the Battle of Thermpylae, although, I feel like the greater detail of how it all began comes from the Athenians and the Battle of Marathon. Ironically, the Athenians may have been the cause beginning with the quarrels they had with the Spartans concerning staying in Athens. The Athenians sought help from Persia to keep the Spartans out of their city. Persia agreed to support them and they both signed a treaty under Persia’s “earth and water” conditions. Confusion incurred because the Athenians didn’t know that by “earth and water," the Persians meant Athens would then belong to Persia. They believed they were letting them use their land as ground. This becomes the key problem as Athens gets into another battle with Sparta and ousts them without the Persian help. This in turn causes them to discontinue the treaty with Persia.

When the emperor of Persia, Darius, becomes aware of what has transpired he becomes furious with Athens. He sends his troops, led by General Datis, to destroy the city. Datis decides to lead his fleet into the Marathon Bay, twenty-five miles away from Athens. There he is met by General Miltiades and the Athenian army and prepare for battle. Even though the Athenian army was fiercely outnumbered by the Persians almost two to one, Miltiades’ army was located in a valley that would condense Datis’ troops thereby taking away their advantage. Using this tactic, many Persian warriors were slaughtered with minimal casualties for the Athenian army. Datis called for a retreat, but Miltiades still tried to fight as the Persians ran to their ships and Athens would then claim victory.

Miltiades had one of his men run twenty-six miles from Marathon to Athens to spread word of the events that had transpired. As the Persian fleet sailed off, they don’t head back to their homeland. Instead, they turned in the direction of the city of Athens. Miltiades quickly gathered his army to march to Athens to meet Datis’ fleet. When Datis realized he has been beaten to the city, he turned his ships around and sailed home. Emperor Darius swore his vengeance on Athens, but that vengeance was never realized before he died. His son, Xerxes, took over and continued the war with Greece and the Spartan battle of 300 soon follows. And even though the Spartans battle of 300 gets a lot of recognition the Athenian's battle is what the Persian War was built on, making it the most important battle of all.