why did the battle of marathon happen

They also ensured that their ideas would be able to spread. began the Golden Age of Athens As with most battles from this period, these numbers are suspect. He spread the center of the line thin to extend its reach so as to lower the risk of being encircled, and placed his strongest soldiers on the two wings a direct contrast to the normal order of battle in the ancient world, which concentrated strength in the center. 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. Submitted by Mark Cartwright, published on 16 April 2013. With all prepared, the trumpets sounded and Miltiades ordered, At them!. The Spartans toured the battlefield at Marathon, and agreed that the Athenians had won a great victory. The Battle of Marathon was a conflict fought in 490 B.C. Taking heaving losses, the Persian ranks broke and they fled back to their ships. Read about what happened at the Battle of Marathon in ancient Greece. Herodotus writes that before leaving the city, the Athenians sent a runner, Pheidippides, to Sparta to ask for aid. And the peoples of Peru were approximately 300 years away from cultivating the potato. 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. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Anticipating this, Militiades quickly returned the bulk of the army to the city. World History Encyclopedia. Seeing that the opportunity to strike the previously lightly-defended city had passed, the Persians withdrew back to Asia. What were the consequences of the battle of Marathon? There was also the matter of the Persian cavalry, numbering around 1,000. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. https://www.thoughtco.com/persian-wars-battle-of-marathon-p2-2360876 (accessed May 1, 2023). The Battle of Marathon also gave rise to the legend of Pheidippides who reputedly ran from the battlefield to Athens to bring news of the victory. It was a move that ultimately turned into a major tactical error; the Athenians, faced with the same life and death decision, knew that to follow Eretria would mean their death. A victory that proved to them that, together, and with the use of careful timing and tactics, they could stand up to the might of the great Persian Empire. With hard to meet entry requirements and checkpoints set up during the actual race, the course is much more extreme, and runners are often pulled before the end due to being overly fatigued. Following Greek support for an uprising in Ionia (a coastal area in modern-day western Turkey), Darius I, emperor of the Persian Empire dispatched forces west to inflict retribution on those Greek city-states that had aided the rebels. AP World History - Ancient Greece: Tutoring Solution, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses. 6 Who was the Athenian runner who ran from Athens to Sparta? By the end of the battle, between 5,000 and 6,500 Persians lay dead on the field. Help our mission to provide free history education to the world! The battle proved the superiority of the Greek long spear, sword, and armour over the Persians weapons. Conceived as a purely maritime enterprise, Darius assigned command of the expedition to the Median admiral Datis and the son of the satrap of Sardis, Artaphernes. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. succeed. His strategy was victorious over the Persians strength, and the victory of the Marathon men captured the collective imagination of the Greeks. No Persian accounts of the Greco-Persian Wars, including the Battle of Marathon, have been passed down to us. 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. By the first years of the 5th century BCE, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, under the rule of Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE), was already expanding into mainland Europe and had subjugated Thrace and Macedonia. The Greek hoplite army's victory at Marathon ensured that the Greek city-states would continue to be independent, rather than becoming just another part of the Persian Empire. This was later conflated with the victorious Athenian army marching back to Athens at a quickened pace. The Ionians deeply resented Persian rule, and, in 499 BCE, the Ionian Revolt began. Battle of Thermopylae. This made the Persian archers much less effective against them. The pass had also been fortified by the local Phokians who built a defensive wall running from the so-called Middle Gate down to the sea. It was here, then, in a 15-metre wide gap with a sheer cliff protecting their left flank and the sea on their right, that the Greeks chose to make a stand against the invading army. Greek soldiers of the time were known as hoplites. THE GREEK GENERAL, MILTIADES, AFTER MUCH HESITATION, STARTED WITH MEN IN THE CENTER MOVING FORWARD AND HAD SOLDIERS COME AROUND THE SIDES ALSO TO ATTACK. 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. With the re-institution of a modern Olympics in 1896, the organizers of the games hoped for an event that would capture the publics attention and also reflect upon the gilded age of ancient Greece. Having trained dedicatedly for most of his life, he was able to travel long distances over difficult terrain, and at that moment, he was invaluable. Wealth and resources seem an unlikely motive; other more plausible suggestions include the need to increase the prestige of the king at home or to quell once and for all a collection of potentially troublesome rebel states on the western border of the empire. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. Forming his men, Militiades reinforced his wings by weakening his center. The Greeks learning these lessons when they did had a powerful impact on the course of world history. In 490 BCE, they were stopped in their tracks largely by the efforts of a single Greek city, Athens. 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. It looks like you were misusing this feature by going too fast. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. What happened at Battle of Marathon? The struggle between the rapidly growing Persian Empire and Greece had been an ongoing conflict for years, before the Battle of Marathon itself took place. And, showing up a little late only a few days after the Athenians victory 2,000 Spartan soldiers arrived, having marched immediately upon the conclusion of their festival and moving their entire army over the 220 kilometers in only three days. The romantic tale of the runners joyful sacrifice (which caught the imagination of 19th century writers and popularized the myth, but was in reality far more impressive, and far less tragic) tells of an incredible long distance run to beg the military assistance of Sparta, and the determined quick march of the battle-worn Athenians from Marathon back to Athens to defend their city. The outnumbered Athenians famously defeated the Persian armies on the beach of Marathon, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Athens. According to Herodotus, an Athenian runner named Pheidippides was sent to run from Athens to Sparta to ask for assistance before the battle. Mary has a Master's Degree in History with 18 advanced hours in Government. A full marathon race is 42.195 km, or 26.2 miles - the exact distance between Marathon and Athens. The Athenians had called upon every available soldier in order to have any chance against the Persians, and yet they were still outnumbered by at least two to one. On the first day, Xerxes sent his Median and Kissian troops, and after their failure to clear the pass, the elite Immortals entered the battle but in the brutal close-quarter fighting, the Greeks held firm. Although the Persian tactic of rapidly firing vast numbers of arrows into the enemy must have been an awesome sight, the lightness of the arrows meant that they were largely ineffective against the bronze-armoured hoplites. With their position now seemingly hopeless, and before their retreat was cut off completely, the bulk of the Greek forces were ordered to withdraw by Leonidas. A commotion outside the city walls caught the attention of the archons, and suddenly the gates were thrust open. The Battle of Marathon was the first major victory for the Greeks over the Persians and gave them confidence that they could be defeated. In 490 BCE, the Battle of Marathon took place between Athenian Greeks, with help from Plataea, and the Persian Empire. The pass of Thermopylae, located 150 km north of Athens was an excellent choice for defence with steep mountains running down into the sea leaving only a narrow marshy area along the coast. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. In what year did the Battle of Losing 300 ships and 20,000 men in the disaster, Mardonius elected to withdraw back towards Asia. In 2005, outside of the normal competition, he decided to fully retrace the steps of Pheidippides and ran from Athens to Sparta and then back to Athens. The battle would take on mythical status amongst the Greeks, but in reality it was merely the opening overture of a long war with several other battles making up the principal acts. The truth, however, is that The modern running event takes its name from his supposed actions. WebWhy couldnt the Spartans help the Athenians in the Battle of Marathon right away? They were joined by 1,000 Plataeans, which, according to Herodotus, greatly calmed the nerves of the Athenians. Also for the first time in military history, the phalanx in its entirety does not have the same mission. Meanwhile, the Immortals now entered the fray behind the Greeks who retreated to a high mound behind the Phokian wall. 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. Though the Persians did try again with a second invasion in 480 BCE, that, too, was ultimately beaten back by the Greeks in 479 BCE. World History Encyclopedia. Rather than pursue the fleeing Persians, these two wings of the Greek army joined together, turned around, and attacked the Persian center from behind. The date was either August 12th or September 12th in the year 490 BC when the battle commenced. The Battle of Marathon was a conflict between Athens and the Persian Empire in 490 B.C.E that stemmed from Athenians providing aid to rebels in Ionia who were fighting The battle was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius I, to subjugate Greece. The Battle of Marathon occurred in 490 BCE, when the Persian Empire was at its height. This easy submission was not soon forgotten by Athens and Sparta, and over the following years they watched as Persian influence spread ever closer towards them. Herodotus writes that the Greeks ran the full distance to the Persian army. Why was the battle of Marathon fought? WebWhat happened at the battle of Marathon? Upon receiving the answer, he swore vengeance upon them, commanding one of his attendants to say to him, three times every day before he sat down to his dinner, Master, remember the Athenians.. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. https://www.worldhistory.org/thermopylae/. Only 192 Greeks died in the fighting. What happened to Athens after the Battle of Marathon? Herodotus contradicts this legend and states that Pheidippides ran from Athens to Sparta to seek aid before the battle. The rest of the Persian fleet still with a staggering 600 ships or more managed to escape, but 6,400 Persians lay dead on the battlefield, and more had drowned in the swamps. This experience provided him with something invaluable: a firm knowledge of Persian battle tactics. Figure 1: A map of Ancient Greece with regional dialects. The hoplites' main advantage were their shields, with an outer bronze layer, and their heavier armor. The Spartan king, on the third day of the battle, rallied his small force - the survivors from the original Spartan 300, 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans - and made a rearguard stand to defend the pass to the last man in the hope of delaying the Persians progress, in order to allow the rest of the Greek force to retreat or also possibly to await relief from a larger Greek force. She has taught college History and Government courses. The battle of Marathon is characterized by the unequal distribution of hoplites within the phalanx. World History Encyclopedia. He also knew that Marathon was far enough away that the Athenians wouldnt be able to surprise him while his own forces unloaded the ships, a scene of utter pandemonium that would have placed his men in a vulnerable position. There are three different ways you can cite this article. The Athenians stood in support of a resistance movement called the Ionian Revolt and dreams of democracy, sparked when subjugated Greek colonies were provoked into rebellion against the tyrants put in place (by regional Persian governors) to control them. But, in late 486 B.C., only a handful of years after Marathon, he became seriously ill. The left and right wings of the Greek army consisted of the normal eight-man columns. Related Content He has appeared on The History Channel as a featured expert. Thus the Athenians, initially, went to face the Persians alone. WebFor all of its significance, the Battle of Marathon admittedly did little more than delay the encroaching invaders. 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.

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