Summary of battle of marathon. What is a summary of the battle of marathon 2019-01-27

Persian Wars: The Battle of Marathon

While the army kept the Persians at a standstill, Miltiades sent runners to Sparta and Plataea to ask for aid. It is unknown how many more died in the swamps. For the man on whom the lot fell to be polemarch at Athens was entitled to give his vote with the ten generals, since anciently the Athenians allowed him an equal right of voting with them. The Athenians set up a column and statue of Iris or Nike on their acropolis in honor of Kallimachos, and his role in the victory and statues and war booty were dedicated at the great sanctuary of Delphi. Moving towards each other and perhaps with the Greeks running the final 400 metres whilst undoubtedly under fire from the Persian archers, the two armies clashed.

Battle of Marathon Essay Example

A lengthy and bloody struggle ensued with eventually the centre of the Persians, perhaps predictably, pushing the weakened Greek centre back. 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-armored hoplites. The Background of the Battle In the years leading up to the war between the Persian Wars, the Persian Empire had rapidly expanded across the Mediterranean. The Persianexpedition then went home. While thousands of Persians lay dead on the field, Herodotus reports only 192 Athenians and 11 Plataeans killed though the true figure might be closer to 1000.

The Battle of Marathon

Pursuing the enemy, the Greeks were slowed by their heavy armor, but still managed to capture seven Persian ships. Interesting Facts About Battle of Marathon: 11-20 11. In chapter 2, Athens, now allied with Persia, managed to put a halt to an invading Peloponnesian army and then proceeds to take the fight northwards, to Boeotia and Chalcis. It was here that the battle was won, as the levies were crushed, leaving the Greek flanks free to turn on the Persian center, which was enjoying success against the thinner Athenian line in the middle. The advantages of the site are probably why Pisistratus also chose the spot to land in c. The actual number of fighting men may have been two baivarabam units or 20,000-25,000 men. Miltiades ordered the Greek hoplites to form a line equal in length to that of the Persians.

Battle of Marathon: Summary, Facts & Map

Some did not want to attack and some were in favor of engaging the Persian army. The Ionian Revolt follows in chapter 3, as it must, since the support that Eretria and Athens lent to the rebels is the direct cause of the Battle of Marathon. The two opposing armies were essentially representative of the two approaches to Classical warfare — the Persians favoured long-range assault using archers followed up with a cavalry charge, whilst the Greeks favoured heavily-armoured hoplites, arranged in a densely packed formation called the phalanx, with each man carrying a heavy round bronze shield and fighting at close quarters using spears and swords. Sacrifices were made in thanks to the gods, notably 500 goats to Agrotera, and each year thereafter, a sacrifice was performed at the site, a ritual continued for another 400 years. Moving a brisk pace, possibly a run, the Greeks advanced across the plain towards the Persian camp.

Battle of Marathon

In response to this raid, Darius swore to burn Athens and Eretria to the ground. They overdid it by capturing and burning the Persian provincial capital of Sardis, and were singled out by Persian King Darius I for retribution as an example to others to stop interfering in the peace of his empire. The Persian force then sailed for , landing in the bay near the town of Marathon. Billows claims that if the Athenians had lost at Marathon to a relatively small Persian force , the following would have happened: the Athenians would have been deported, Athenian democracy would have been killed off, all of Greece apart from the Peloponnese would have come under Persian dominion and the Spartans would eventually have been conquered by the Persians, Billows says , and classical Greek culture would not have flourished. The Athenians heard of this and quickly marched on Marathon to block the two exits of the Persians landing area, the Plataeans then joined in support. After three days of holding their own against the Persian king and his vast southward-advancing army, the Greeks were betrayed, and the Persians were able to outflank them.

30 Interesting Facts About Battle of Marathon

The Athenian generals were divided in their opinions. Then, much to the surprise of the Persians, he orders the Greek warriors to charge headlong into the enemy line. The remainder of the text is divided into nine chapters, organized chronologically. The historian reports that their retreat was disciplined and organized. The Persians Land in Marathon The Persians set sail from Attica and from advice given to them from a rogue Athenian they landed at Marathon. There is no reason to believe that democracy would have been abolished by the Persians if they had managed to conquer Athens, for example. The Athenian infantry, lurking in the hills behind the Marathon plain for fear of the Persian cavalry, saw it leaving and ran down to defeat the Persian infantry.

The Significance of Marathon

Any Western commentator who claims direct descent from Pericles or Plato blithely ignores the Roman occupation of Greece, the history of the Byzantine Empire, the European middle ages, the renaissance and enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, universal suffrage, and so on. He bribed some ofthe cities to agree to this, and planned t … o mount an expedition tobring the rest under control. Forming his men, Militiades reinforced his wings by weakening his center. Until this time the very name of the Persians had been a terror to the Greeks to hear. Moving south, the Persians landed near Marathon, approximately 25 miles north of Athens.

Marathon

This was the start of what we now know as a Marathon, a run of 42. The victory was also commemorated in statues by the renowned sculptor Phiedias - a bronze group at Delphi which included , Artemis, and Miltiades, and a colossal bronze on the Athenian acropolis. According to Herodotus, 6,400 Persian soldiers were killed and many more died in swaps while the Athenians only lost 192 of their men and 11 more from Plataeans. The first reference to Europeans as a cultural unity is the Mozarabic Chronicle of 754. However the Persian did not learn from their mistakes at Marathon and repeated them time and time again in the subsequent battles that followed, which is largely part of why they were responsible for their own defeat. Forming a front eight men deep, the Greeks lengthened their lines to match the Persians and thinned out their centre group to four men deep. Finally, the Greek commander, Miltiades, elected to attack after receiving favorable omens.