Incredible Facts About Battle Of Marathon

By Eric Bennett


The marathon battle is among the most fought battles during the ancient times. This battle of Marathon was fought by the invading Persian compels of monarch Darius and the Athenian army. The army was supported by some force from the Plataea. It was a decisive battle that shaped the entire development of the contemporary European culture. The culture was shaped through defeating the Persian army.

The fight took place in early 490BC. The Greece was the first invaders who attacked the Persian Empire. The actual objective of that invasion was to obtain the Athens and Eritrea. The two cities incurred a lot of losses and had decided to retreat from such a fight. The cities had also succeeded in destroying the Sardis.

The winning of this ancient fight gave the two towns some confidence that they can defend themselves against any invasion from any army. During the fight, the Athens assembled over 10, 000 fighters who were able to defend the territory against any invasion. The battlefield was some miles away from the city of Athens. The field was surrounded by hills and rivers thus giving an advantage to the Athens army to employ all the fighting tactics.

Prior the actual fight, the Athens could organize for a five-day stalemate. It was blocking all the exits and ensuring that no foreigner could enter within that territory. The Athens army was sending some of their soldiers to the marathon, and thus it could be easier for any foreigner to defeat them from their land since there was no much defense. Some delay strategies also favored the Athens army very much.

The Athenians are the initial attackers who attacked the persons before the actual war. This was irrespective of their small numbers. People could not comprehend the actual reason for the assault. Arguably, people thought that the Athenians did that because of Calvary in their territories. Their core tactic was to surround and cover the Persian Empire and conquer it.

The critical tactic of Greeks was the famous Phalanx formation. This is a formation whereby a wall is formed through overlapping shields. The spears then were protruded at the edges of such shields. The Greeks used heavier and stronger shields than the Persians too. These kinds of formation seemed to be very reliable and efficient because the Persians had not got used to such a fight.

The occurrence of this clash brought significant changes in Europe. These fight also marked the final Persian attacks to Greece. There was a massive development of new kingdoms in Europe, and new cities started to develop too after the war. Civilization took its course too in that continent after the fight took place. There were many societal changes and the cultural practices in Europe also changed after the fight.

Currently, various legends are allied to this kind of fight. The Persian fleet was said to have matched over 25 miles to accomplish the Athenian victory. These actions led to the formation of a myth that Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Sparta to declare the victory. This also resulted in the modern Olympic Games, which includes the actual 25 miles distance.




About the Author: