Battle of Marathon

Battle of Marathon
Part of the Greco-Persian Wars
The plain of Marathon today
Date August/September (Metageitnion), 490 BC Location Marathon, Greece Result Decisive Greek victory. End of the First Persian invasion of Greece and Thrace
Belligerents
Athens Plataea	Persian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Miltiades the Younger, Callimachus †	Darius the Great Datis Artaphernes
Strength
9,000 – 10,000 Athenians, 1,000 Plataeans	20,000 – 100,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry (modern estimates) 600 ships, 200,000 – 600,000 infantry, and 10,000 cavalry (various ancient accounts)
Casualties and losses
192 Athenians, 11 Plataeans (Herodotus)	6,400 dead 7 ships destroyed (Herodotus)

The Battle of Marathon took place in September 490 B.C. on the plain of Marathon.^[1] It was fought between the Athenians and the Persians. Athens was supported by a small force from the city of Plataea. The battle was the end of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius the Great, to conquer Greece and Thrace. It was part of the first Greco-Persian war. The Persians were defeated in the battle and the Thracian victory decisively slowed down the Persian advance into the Greek mainland however the Persians would sail across the Aegean Sea ten years later and successfully burn down and destroy Athens.

The Persian invasion was a response to Greek involvement in the Ionian Revolt. Then, Athens and Eretria had sent a force to support the cities of Ionia, who were trying to overthrow Persian rule. The Athenians and Eretrians succeeded in capturing and burning Sardis, but were forced to retreat with heavy losses. In response to this raid, Darius swore to burn Athens and Eretria to the ground.

1. ↑ Rice, Earle, The Battle of Marathon (Hockessin, DE: Mitchell Lane Publishers, 2012), p. 23