Battle Of Marathon Research Paper

The Battle of Marathon was a very important battle that was fought in the first Greco-Persian war. It was fought in either August or September of the year 492 B.C.E. The battle was between the Persians and a few city-states from Greece. The Persians were attacking the Greeks because during the expansion of the Persian Empire, under the leadership of King Darius I, the people of Ionia had rebelled against Persia. Then the people of Athens offered assistance to the Ionian people, but the Persians soon put the rebellion to an end. After the Persians had ended the rebellion they were very angry that the Athenians had given assistance to the rebels so they decided that they would attack Athens.

After the Persians had conquered Thrace a city-state in northern Greece they prepared to take over the rest of Greece. As they were sailing south a storm wrecked some of its ships so King Darius I was forced to send out messengers to tell the rest of Greece to submit to him. As a result of this most city-states submitted, but Athens and Sparta refused to surrender to the Persians. This act lead to the Battle of Marathon and many other battles between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire. The Persian navy landed in 492 B.C.E., on the bay of

Marathon, which is approximately twenty-six miles north of Athens. Next the Athenian army moved to the plains surrounding the bay to block of the Persians from attacking. When the Athenians and the Persians were at a stand still General Miltiades sent messengers to Sparta and Plataea to ask for assistance. Pheidippedes ran to Sparta and brought back news that they were in the middle of a religious festival but said that they would send troops as soon as it was over which would be in six days on the full moon. Plataea sent 1,000 troops to the aid of the Athenians. These troops were called hoplites or in other words Greek soldiers.
There were 10 generals over the Greek soldiers; there were 9,000 Athenian soldiers and 1,000 Plataea soldiers so there was a total of 10,000 soldiers fighting for Greece. Each soldier was equipped with a large shield that covered most of his body, a large spear, and a breastplate. While there were around 20,000 troops fighting for Persia, but their weapons and armor were inferior to those of the Greeks. That means that the Greeks were outnumbered two to one, but they had an advantage of knowing the land and having better equipment for their soldiers. On the fifth day of the standstill the battle broke out, but there are many people who argue different reasons for why they attacked but no one is certain on why they attacked. Some say that Persia’s Calvary had been loaded onto the ships and they attacked to stop the Persian Army from going to Athens, while others argue that Persia attacked the Greeks first and the Greeks didn’t actually start the battle. Another version, which is more accurate of why the Greeks attacked, is because of General Miltiades convincing the other generals to fight. When he urged Callimachus, another general, to fight he said “With thee now it rests, Callimachus, either to bring Athens under slavery, or by making her free to leave behind thee for all the time that men shall live a memorial such as not Harmodios or Aristogeiton have left.” Which means all the other generals had given the go ahead to attack and it was up to Callimachus to fight to make their county free and leave a memory of that battle in history. A memory greater than that of Harmodios and Aristogeiton who killed a tyrant ruler named Hipparchus and make a democracy in Athens. When the Greeks attacked they made a line about the same length as the Persians, then General Miltiades ordered the Greeks to attack in a dead run. When the two armies clashed the middle of the line gave way but they held long enough for the flanks or sides of the line to engulf the Persian army. Once the Greeks had entrapped the Persians they slaughtered 6,400 of them before they were able to retreat to their ships, while only losing 192 Greeks in the battle. Some people think that Herodotus who was a Greek historian likely exaggerated these numbers, but they could be accurate because the Greeks had better armor and weapons.
When the Persians retreated to their ships they sailed towards Athens in hopes that they would reach the city before the Athenian army made it back to defend the it.

But the Greeks marched back to Athens in double-time to defend their beloved city, and they ended up reaching the city before the Persians did. When the Persians saw this they decided to return to Asia instead of launching another attack on the Greeks, which ended the invasion of the Persians. As a result of the battle the Greeks gained confidence in themselves and their ability to defend their country. It also showed the Persians that even though they had a bigger army they weren’t going to be able to just waltz in and take control of Greece without a

fight.
Something that came out of the battle that is still around today is the marathon race. The marathon that we know today actually gets its name from The Battle of Marathon. After the Greeks had defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon they sent a messenger ahead of the army to tell Athens of their victory. Pheidippedes was that messenger, and he ran about twenty-six miles to the city of Athens but collapsed and died after he told the city the great news. In 1896 the first Olympic games was held in Athens, Greece and one event that they had was the marathon run in honor of Pheidippedes’ run. It was run from Marathon to Athens, was 24.8 miles long, and was won by a Greek runner named Spiridon Louis, who got the only gold metal for Greece that year.
In conclusion there are many things that came out of the Battle of Marathon mostly all of them were good for the Greeks. While on the other hand they were bad for the Persians, but we still gained important life lessons out of it as well as the marathon race.