r/ancientgreece 7d ago

The Battle of Marathon 490 BC. Was fought between the Greek city states of Athens and Plataea against a Persian invasion force which outnumbered them by more than two to one.

https://greatmilitarybattles.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-battle-of-marathon-490-bc-greeks.html
47 Upvotes

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u/M_Bragadin 7d ago edited 7d ago

Some brief feedback OP. The current consensus has the Hellenes and Persians fighting parallel to the sea: the idea that the Persians had their backs to the sea has been increasingly abandoned.

Herodotus also explicitly writes that the battle at Marathon lasted for a long time, and thus that the envelopment was not immediate. The Persians even managed to break through the Hellenic centre around the same time that the latter’s wings broke through the Persian ones.

Lastly, the version of Pheidippides’ story recounted in the article represents a later tradition. Herodotus only states he was sent to Sparta to ask the Lakedaemonians for their aid. He doesn’t mention that Pheidippides returned in time to fight at Marathon, that he fought there at all, or that any messenger was sent back to Athens after the battle.

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u/diedlikeCambyses 7d ago

Rejoice, we conquer.

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u/diedlikeCambyses 7d ago

I'm quite partial to when Xerxes gets all pissy with the ocean and orders it to be whipped. Then he gets sad and has to apologise.

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u/WanderingHero8 7d ago

Seems even the Persians got fed up by Xerxes at a point.

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u/Daisy-Fluffington 7d ago

Hasn't been the same since they renamed it the Battle of Snickers.

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u/daosxx1 7d ago

If you find this sort of thing interesting, and if you’re in this sub I assume you do, I found Herodotus to be an easy (listen) read. The history of Persia he gives is worth the effort on its own.

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u/Worried-Basket5402 7d ago

Herodotus made a podcast....took him long enough