Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. Pursuing the Greek center, the Persians quickly found themselves flanked on both sides by Militiades' strengthened wings which had routed their opposite numbers. During the battle, the right and left wings of the Greek army crushed those of the Persians. The Greeks had long been terrified of the Persian army, and even without the cavalry, their enemy still heavily outnumbered them. Seeing that the opportunity to strike the previously lightly-defended city had passed, the Persians withdrew back to Asia. This suited the Persians as they could now continue unimpeded along the mountain path and arrive behind the main Greek force. For five days the armies squared off with little movement. Help us and translate this definition into another language! By the end of the battle, between 5,000 and 6,500 Persians lay dead on the field. Using innovative tactics, he succeeded in trapping the Persians in a double envelopment and nearly surrounding their army. 3 What was the most important impact of the Battle of Marathon? It states that as dawn broke on the sixth day, the Greeks gazed across the plain of Marathon to see that the Persian cavalry forces had suddenly disappeared, right from under their noses. 10 generals at the head of 10,000 soldiers set out for Marathon, tight-lipped and fearful, but ready to fight to the last man if necessary. However, the Persian king, Darius the Great, was greatly angered by Greek meddling in what he considered to be Persian affairs. Displeased with Mardonius' failure, Darius began planning a second expedition for 490 BC after learning of political instability in Athens. In this lesson, pupils will play a starter game to learn about warfare in Ancient Greek times, including armour and fighting formation. Herodotus writes that before leaving the city, the Athenians sent a runner, Pheidippides, to Sparta to ask for aid. The Greek forces included 300 Spartans and their helots with 2,120 Arcadians, 1,000 Lokrians, 1,000 Phokians, 700 Thespians, 400 Corinthians, 400 Thebans, 200 men from Phleious, and 80 Mycenaeans. Read about what happened at the Battle of Marathon in ancient Greece. Datis chose to land his army at the Bay of Marathon, a largely sound military decision, as the natural promontory provided excellent shelter for his ships, and the plains onshore offered good movement for his cavalry. Losing 300 ships and 20,000 men in the disaster, Mardonius elected to withdraw back towards Asia. There is also the division of the battle into successive efforts (phases), a real military innovation as far as tactical planning is concerned. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Darius sent an army of around 25,000 or 30,000 soldiers to punish the Athenians and take control of Greece. Responding to the impending crisis, Athens raised around 9,000 hoplites and dispatched them to Marathon where they blocked the exits from the nearby plain and prevented the enemy from moving inland. His strategy was victorious over the Persians strength, and the victory of the Marathon men captured the collective imagination of the Greeks. ThoughtCo. Though some other ancient historians also wrote of the events of the Greco-Persian Wars, they did not include as much detail as Herodotus. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Hickman, Kennedy. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Finding no battle to be fought, the Spartans toured the bloody battlefield, still littered with numerous rotting corpses the cremation and burial of which took days and offered their praise and congratulations. After a failed naval expedition in 492 BC, Darius sent a second army two years later. The Greek right and left wings, however, quickly routed the Persian left and right. Miltiades had his center form columns of only four men, rather than eight. Greece was about to face its greatest ever threat, and even the oracle at Delphi ominously advised the Athenians to 'fly to the world's end'. Then after much discussion and compromise between Greek city-states, suspicious of each others' motives, a joint army of between 6,000 and 7,000 men was sent to defend the pass at Thermopylae through which the Persians must enter mainland Greece. Next in King Darius' sights were Athens and the rest of Greece. And, forced into action, they took their stand in Marathon. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. Indeed, for this very reason, the Spartans had arrived too late at the earlier Battle of Marathon. Having somewhere in the region of 80,000 troops at his disposal, the Persian king, who led the invasion in person, first waited four days in expectation that the Greeks would flee in panic. Although the Persians had enjoyed the upper hand in previous contests during the recent Ionian revolt, the terrain at Thermopylae would better suit Greek warfare. This was later conflated with the victorious Athenian army marching back to Athens at a quickened pace. On top of that, defeat at the battle of Marathon meant the utter destruction of Athens. Before the Athenian army departed, the elected city magistrates, or archons, had dispatched Pheidippides an athletic message carrier whose profession, called a hemerodromos (meaning day-long-runner), bordered a sacred calling on a desperate plea for assistance. The battle occurred on the beach, near the Persian ships, and can be visualized using the map of the Battle of Marathon in figure 2. Early in the morning, the hoplites once more met the enemy, but this time Xerxes could attack from both front and rear and planned to do so but, in the event, the Immortals behind the Greeks were late on arrival. Sailing with orders to attack Eretria and Athens, the fleet succeeded in sacking and burning their first objective. Related Content The Greek army inflicted a crushing defeat on the more numerous Persians, marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars. The Greek tactic of feigning a disorganised retreat and then turning on the enemy in the phalanx formation also worked well, lessening the threat from Persian arrows and perhaps the hoplites surprised the Persians with their disciplined mobility, a benefit of being a professionally trained army. And the peoples of Peru were approximately 300 years away from cultivating the potato. The Battle of Marathon marked an important shift in historical momentum as the always quarrelsome, squabbling Greeks managed to stand together and defend against the powerhouse of the Persian Empire for the first time after years of fear. The Greeks had no problem closing the distance and engaging the Persian army at close-range. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Olympos, but these withdrew when the massive size of the invading army was revealed. The Battle of Marathon took place in Greece, not far from Athens. With this declaration, Pheidippides likely thought it was the end of everything he knew and loved. Battle of Thermopylae. The Battle of Marathon was fought in August or September 490 BC during the Persian Wars (498 BC448 BC) between Greece and the Persian Empire. The Persian infantry carried a lightweight (often crescent-shaped) wicker shield and were armed with a long dagger or battleaxe, a short spear, and composite bow. Peloponnesian War & Thucydides | What was the Peloponnesian War? About five days after first arriving at Marathon, the Greeks decided to attack, and Miltiades moved his army into position. Leonidas moved his troops to the widest part of the pass to utilise all of his men at once, and in the ensuing clash the Spartan king was killed. The Battle of Marathon still has influence on the world today, remembered in the worlds most popular international sporting event the Olympics. The Battle of Marathon also gave rise to the legend that the Athenian herald Pheidippides ran from the battlefield to Athens to announce the Greek victory before dropping dead. THEN THE GREEKS MARCHED BACK TO ATHENS TO DEFEND THE CITY AGAINST In another feat of incredible strength and endurance, the main body of the Athenians reformed and marched back to Athens at top speed, arriving in time to dissuade the Persian army from landing and launching their planned attack on the city. The Greeks, who did not have cavalry or archers, could not safely cross the plains while the Persian cavalry were present. Most, however, wore armor made from linen, which nonetheless provided good protection. The Athenian force numbered around 10,000, including 1,000 Plataeans, and was led by the Athenian General Miltiades. 5 Where was the Athenians buried after the Battle of Marathon? With the departure of the cavalry, the Persian army left to face them were significantly reduced in numbers. The Battle of Marathon was fought between a Persian army and a mostly Athenian Greek army in 490 BCE during the first Greco-Persian War. - Mythology & Facts, Who was Telemachus? For decades the mere mention of the Persian army was enough to terrify the Greek city-states they were an unknown entity, supported by incredibly strong cavalry and vast numbers of soldiers, and seemingly impossible for the small, contentious peninsula to confront. Why was the battle of Marathon fought? Ephialtes, son of Eurydemos, a local shepherd from Trachis, seeking reward from Xerxes, informed the Persians of an alternative route the Anopaia path which would allow them to avoid the majority of the enemy forces and attack their southern flank. Due to the tactical superiority of the Greek hoplite soldiers, who fought in the phalanx formation, the Athenians triumphed over the Persians. In winning the battle, as well as defeating the next Persian invasion ten years later, the Greeks secured their independence. "Battle of Thermopylae." Mark is a full-time author, researcher, historian, and editor. Athens had been spared the revenge of Darius, though the Persian king was far from finished. In around 500 BCE, the Persian Empire looked poised to continue their western expansion and absorb tiny, disunited Greece into their fold. Meanwhile at Artemision, the Persians were battling the elements rather than the Greeks, as they lost 400 triremes in a storm off the coast of Magnesia and more in a second storm off Euboea. Books However, an unscrupulous traitor was about to tip the balance in favour of the invaders. Athens and Eretria agreed and sent a number of ships. Sprinting, shouting, furious and ready to attack, that fear was pushed aside, and it must have seemed insane to the Persians. He arrived in Sparta the day after departing Athens. Thermopylae was an excellent choice for defence with mountains running down into the sea leaving only a narrow pass along the coast. For the Greeks, this inactivity was largely due to a fear of being attacked by the Persian cavalry as they crossed the plain. Greek hoplite armies fought in heavier armor and shields than the Persians. There is also a lesser known, grueling, long-distance event of 246 kilometers (153 miles) that recreates Pheidippides actual run from Athens to Sparta, known as the Spartathlon.. King Xerxes I Biography, Facts & Death | Who is King Xerxes? Now encircled on three sides, the entire Persian line collapsed and ran back toward their ships, the ferocious Greeks in hot pursuit, cutting down all those they could reach. The Greek victory over the Persians also proved the superiority of the phalanx over the tactics used by eastern powers. Just why Greece was coveted by Persia is unclear. It was a decision which bought time for the mobilization of Greek coalition forces that stood victorious against the same enemy at the decisive battles of Salamis and Platea tilting the scales of power in the Greco-Persian Wars towards Greece, and giving birth to an era of Athenian imperial expansion that eventually brought it to fight Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. The Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. Pupils will find out what happened at the Battle of Marathon and why it had such a surprising outcome, before using their knowledge to analyse key reasons for the Greek victory in a group sorting activity. Depots of equipment and supplies were laid, a canal dug at Chalkidike, and boat bridges built across the Hellespont to facilitate the movement of troops. He then joined the rest of Athenian army to march from Athens to Marathon to attempt to hold off the large Persian forces massing just off shore. 1 What happened to Athens after the Battle of Marathon? But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Desperation can be a powerful motivator. The Byzantine Suda, Cavalry Away, https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-html/. The answer lies in part with the failure of the first Greco-Persian war, a decade earlier, which ended in the Persian defeat at the Battle of Marathon (now famous for the race that bears its name). The Battle of Marathon is one of the many battles that Persians and Greeks fought against one another; it was also an important battle in deciding the future fate of Greece as a country of free men. Tomb of the Plataeans at Marathon. Why did Persia lose the Battle of Marathon? Moving a brisk pace, possibly a run, the Greeks advanced across the plain towards the Persian camp. The Battle of Marathon was fought because the Persian Army wanted to defeat the Greek city-states that supported the uprisings in Ionia, part of modern-day Turkey, against the Persian Empire. Mound (soros) in which the Athenian dead were buried after the The Athenians used day runners to ask for aid from Sparta and Plataea before the start of the battle. A Grecian named Yiannis Kouros was the first to win it and still holds the fastest times ever recorded. Though todays official marathon distance of 42.195 kilometers is not based on the run in Greece, but rather on the distance regularized by the 1908 Olympics in London. I feel like its a lifeline. The Battle of Marathon was the first major victory for the Greeks over the Persians and gave them confidence that they could be defeated. The Athenians also famously used day runners to send messages asking for help. In addition to the land forces, the Greek poleis sent a fleet of trireme warships which held position off the coast of Artemision (or Artemisium) on the northern coast of Euboea, 40 nautical miles from Thermopylae. Even so, it wouldnt be until 500 B.C. World History Encyclopedia, 16 Apr 2013. With your support millions of people learn about history entirely for free, every month. As Greek and Persian warriors faced each other on the battlefield, the states of China were not yet a unified empire and would soon begin a centuries long period of warfare. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Gods of Death Herodotus writes that the Greeks ran the full distance to the Persian army. WebWhat happened at the battle of Marathon? Hickman, Kennedy. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Robert Bliss has taught history and other social studies to students age 7 to 18 since 2009. The Athenians knew that to stay on the defensive in the battle of Marathon would mean returning to a destroyed home, their city plundered and burned.

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