Marathon

a plain on the eastern coast of Attica. It is a short day's journey from Athens. It is famous for a victory won by the Athenians over the Persian army of Darius, 490 B. C. The Persians landed here to the number of 100,000 men, with the avowed purpose of leveling the walls of Athens and of putting its inhabitants to the sword or selling them into slavery. The Athenians sent swift runners to Plataea and Sparta. The messenger ran the distance to Sparta, 140 miles, in 36 hours, only to be told that the Spartan army could not set out before the full of the moon yet a week off. The sincerity of the reply is doubted. The Plataeans, however, sent their full force, 1,000 hoplites. Each of the ten tribes of Athens contributed 1,000 men. Ten Athenian commanders were entitled to command a day each in regular succession. They placed their small army under Miltiades, who, however, waited for his regular day, before he offered battle. He drew up his army in a long line and ordered a charge down a gentle slope upon the host of the Persians. The Greeks wore heavy bronze armor and were armed with long spears. They charged in platoons. The light-armed Persians, dressed in linen tunics, were no match for them. The Greeks plowed through the Persian ranks again and again. Sixty-four hundred Persians were slain before the mighty host fled to their ships. One hundred sixty two Athenians who fell in battle were accorded the honor of burial on the plain of Marathon. A great mound of earth was raised above them where it may yet be seen. Ten marble pillars surmounting the mound, one for each tribe, were inscribed with the names of those who fell for their country. The battle not only saved Athens, but gave the Greeks a feeling of confidence in their superiority over the Persians, then the great world power. It paved the way for Greek supremacy. See Thermopylae; Salamis