Battle of Marathon 490 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 490 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | Greece | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | First Persian invasion of Greece | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Achaemenid Empire, Classical Athens, Plataea | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 38.1181, 23.9783 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BCE during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, against a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. The battle was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia under King Darius I to subjugate Greece. The Greek army inflicted a crushing defeat on the more numerous Persians, marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars.
The first Persian invasion was a response to Athenian involvement in the Ionian Revolt, when the city-states of Athens and Eretria each sent a force to support the cities of Ionia in their attempt to overthrow Persian rule. The Athenians and Eretrians had succeeded in capturing and burning Sardis, but they were then forced to retreat with heavy losses. In response to this raid, Darius swore to burn down the two cities that had aided the failed revolt. According to Herodotus, Darius had his bow brought to him and then shot an arrow "upwards towards heaven", saying as he did so: "Zeus, that it may be granted me to take vengeance upon the Athenians!" Herodotus further writes that Darius charged one of his servants to say "Master, remember the Athenians" three times before dinner each day.
At the time of the battle, Sparta and Athens were the two largest city-states in Greece.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Marathon (revision 1380768828), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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