Marathon, Battle of

Battle fought in September 490 BC at the start of the Persian Wars in which the Athenians and their allies from Plataea resoundingly defeated the Persian king Darius' invasion force. Fought on the Plain of Marathon about 40 km/25 mi northeast of Athens, it is one of the most famous battles of antiquity.

The Greeks, a combined force of about 10,000 Athenians under Miltiades supplemented by Plataeans, were encamped overlooking the plain, about a mile away from the Persian force which numbered perhaps 25,000 in all, including cavalry. Taking advantage of the fact that the Persians had their backs to the sea, the Greek thinned their centre to cover the longer enemy line and attacked. The enemy wings almost immediately gave way and fled northeastwards to their ships; when their centre broke through, the Greek wings turned inwards to take it in both flanks as it tried to retreat. The Greeks then pursued the Persians to their ships, and although they captured only seven, their victory was complete, 6,400 Persians allegedly being killed for the loss of only 192 Athenians. The victory at Marathon was an enormous boost to Greek morale which was to be of great value when the Persians mounted a much more threatening invasion 10 years later.

The battle has been immortalised by the race named after it in memory of the runner, Pheidippides, who reputedly ran to Sparta from Athens to appeal for aid before the battle. He covered the distance of 200 km/125 mi in a day but the Spartans failed to provide any assistance. A more recent legend, that he ran from Athens to Marathon (a distance of about 40 km/25 mi) to fight in the battle, then ran back with the news of the victory before dropping dead, actually gives rise to the name of the modern race but is considered spurious by scholars.