Battles & Wars › Greece, Rome & Han › Greco-Persian Wars
Battle of Marathon
September 490 BC· Battle· Europe
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
About 10,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plataeans defeated a larger Persian landing force on the plain of Marathon, northeast of Athens.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Darius sent a seaborne force to punish Athens for aiding the Ionian revolt. It landed at Marathon, about 40 km from Athens. After days of standoff, the Athenian general Miltiades thinned his center and strengthened his wings, then advanced at a run to cut the time under Persian arrows. The Persians pushed back the Greek center, but the Greek wings broke their opponents and turned inward. Herodotus counts 6,400 Persian and 192 Athenian dead.
Why it matters
It proved Persians could be beaten on land, boosted Athenian confidence and its young democracy, and gave Athens the leaders who faced Xerxes ten years later.
How we know
Herodotus' account, written about fifty years later, and the Soros, the burial mound of the 192 Athenians, still standing on the plain.
Still debated
The Persian army's size, why Persian cavalry seem absent, and the runner to Athens, a story that appears only centuries later, are all debated.
Connections (2)
▸Phalanx (hoplite and Macedonian) carried the day at Battle of MarathonWell documented
The connection
At Marathon, Athenian and Plataean hoplites in bronze armor, with large shields and long spears, met lighter-armed Persian infantry. Once the Greek wings closed in, the dense phalanx broke the Persian lines in close combat, where Persian wicker shields and shorter spears were outmatched.
When and how
Plain of Marathon, northeast of Athens, September 490 BC; general Miltiades with about 10,000 Athenian and 1,000 Plataean hoplites.
How we know
Herodotus describes the formation and charge; Persian equipment is known from reliefs at Persepolis and Susa and from Greek vase paintings.
Debates and open questions
Whether the Greeks really ran in armor for the full 1.5 km or so Herodotus describes, and whether thinning the center was a planned trap, are debated.
▸Battle of Marathon was the first great Greek victory in Greco-Persian WarsWell documented
The connection
Marathon ended the first Persian invasion and showed that Greek hoplites could beat a Persian army. It gave Athens the confidence to resist again. Around 483 BC, Themistocles persuaded Athens to spend a silver windfall on a large fleet, preparing it for the bigger war of 480–479 BC.
When and how
Marathon, September 490 BC, during the expedition led by Darius I's commanders Datis and Artaphernes.
How we know
Herodotus' history, the burial mound on the plain, and Athens' later commemoration of Marathon in paintings and inscriptions.
Debates and open questions
Some historians think Marathon's importance grew in later Athenian memory, and Persia may have seen it as a minor setback.