The Battle Of Marathon (only from Herodotus) Flashcards
Hippias’s role
Suggested Marathon- where the cavalry would be most effective
Hoped he would become Tyrant of Athens under Darius
Occurred in
September 490BC
Hippias’s dream (Herodotus)
Dreamt he slept with his mother
-thought it meant he would regain his country (Athens)
As he directed the men ashore he coughed violently and a tooth fell out, it fell in the sand and he could not find it
He turned to his companions that they would never conquer this land, the only part he would possess was that which his tooth now held
Pheidippides
Sent by the Athenians
Ran from Athens to Sparta for help (150miles)
Herodotus said that he met Pan on the way who was disappointed that the Athenians had not been honouring him
Pheidippides told the Athenians upon his return
After their victory they set up a shrine to the god
The Spartan response
It was the 9th day of the month
Engaged in a religious festival
Could not come until the full moon
The Plataeans response
Would help with every available man
The Athenians had helped them before (against the Thebans)
Fought on the left wing p, the only support the Athenians had
The Greek generals
10 in total (one was Militiades)
Some believed their forces were too small for success
The opinion was equally divided, the war archon had to be asked (Callimachus)
Militiades convinced him
How the general’s position worked
Each general took the presiding position in turn (each for a day)
The generals that had sided with Militiades offered their turn to him
-He decided to only fight on his own day
The layout of the Greeks
Callimachus commanded the right wing
The Plataeans were on the left wing
The Greeks were spread out with a shallow centre, they were as wide as the Persians
The battle
The Greeks entered the battle at a run
The Persians broke the Greek centre
The Persians took heavy blows on the sides
-these began to flee
The Greeks turned their attention to those that had broken through and surrounded them
They then chased the remaining Persians
The dead
192 Athenians- likely as all their names are engraved on a grave
6400 Perisans- less likely, thought that every three dead Greeks killed 100 Persians
Why did the Persians fail
Absence of Persian cavalry
Athenians excelled at hand to hand combat
Persians weren’t heavily armed like the Greeks
ThePersians that passed through the Greek centre were trapped
Callimachus’s speech according to Herodotus
Shows he thought Marathon was a key moment in Athens development
“It Is down to your Kallimachos, either to enslave Athens or make her free and to leave a memorial of yourself for the whole span of human history greater than Harmodius and Aristogeiton. For now the Athenians have come to the greatest crisis they have ever faced, and if they submit to slavery to the Persians, it is clear what they will suffer when handed over to Hippias; but if this city survives, it will be able to become the most powerful of all the Greek cities
