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MARATHON

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 675 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARATHON , a See also:

plain on the N.E. See also:coast of See also:Attica, divided from the plain of See also:Athens by the range of See also:Pentelicus; it contained four villages—Marathon, Probalinthos, Tricorythos and Oenoewhich originally formed an See also:independent tetra polls and in See also:historical times still upheld See also:peculiar See also:rites and legendary associations, chiefly connected with Heracles and See also:Theseus. In the 6th See also:century B.C. it served as a See also:base for See also:Peisistratus (q.v.), who owned much See also:property in that See also:district, for securing the See also:rest of Attica. Theplain derives its fame mainly from the See also:battle in which the Athenians and Plataeans defeated the Persians (490 B.C.). The See also:Persian force had been sent by See also:King See also:Darius to punish the Athenians for previous interferences in See also:Asia and to restore their See also:tyrant Hippias. It was probably by See also:advice of the latter that the generals Datis and See also:Artaphernes landed their troops, numbering perhaps 50,000, at Marathon. The Athenians, on the recommendation of their See also:strategus See also:Miltiades, resolved to meet this force in the open See also:field, and sent out their full See also:levy of 9000 heavy See also:infantry under the polemarch See also:Callimachus. They were joined on the way by l000 Plataeans, but were disappointed of the assistance which they expected from See also:Sparta. From their station at the See also:head of the Vrana valley, which slopes down to Marathon plain, the Athenians for some days observed the Persian See also:army, which gave no sign of proceeding to attack. After some waiting, Miltiades, who seems throughout to have played a more prominent See also:part than his See also:superior Callimachus, See also:drew up the Athenian army for battle and charged down upon the enemy, whose See also:line was formed on the level about a mile distant. The Athenian wings, whose formation had been made specially deep, See also:broke the opposing divisions by their impact; the centre was at first overborne by the superior See also:weight of the native Persians, but ultimately was relieved by the victorious wings, which closed in upon the Persian centre. The Persians were thereupon driven back into the See also:sea all along the line, and, although the See also:majority regained their See also:ships, no less than 6400 were See also:left dead, as against 192 Athenians. The Persian See also:fleet, of which perhaps a detachment had been sent on before the battle, now sailed See also:round Cape See also:Sunium in See also:order to effect a landing at Phalerum, See also:close by Athens, and with the help of traitors within the walls to take the See also:city by surprise.

But Miltiades, who had suspected some See also:

plot all along, and had lately been warned by a See also:signal on Mt Pentelicus which he interpreted as a See also:message to the Persians, marched back the victorious army in See also:time to defend Athens. The enemy, upon noticing his presence, did not venture a second disembarcation and retired straightway out of See also:Greek See also:waters. The details of the battle, and the Persian See also:plan of See also:campaign, are not made clear by our See also:ancient See also:sources, but reconstructions have been attempted by numerous See also:modern authorities. (M. O. B. C.) The See also:tumulus or " Soros " was excavated by M. Stais in 1891 and 1892. A slight previous excavation had brought to See also:light some prehistoric implements, and it was supposed that the See also:mound had no connexion with the battle; but it has now been discovered that the presence of those prehistoric See also:objects was accidental. Underlying the mound was found a stratum about 85 ft. See also:long by 20 broad, consisting of a layer of See also:sand, above which See also:lay the ashes and bones of many corpses; together with these were the remains of many lecythi and other vases, some of them contemporary with the Persian See also:wars, some of them of much earlier See also:style, and probably taken in the emergency from neighbouring cemeteries. It is conjectured with some See also:probability that a large See also:vase containing ashes may have been used as the See also:burial See also:urn of one of the Athenian generals who See also:fell. There was also, in the See also:middle of the stratum, a See also:trench for funeral offerings about 30 ft. by 3; it contained bones of beasts, with ashes and fragments of vases.

There can therefore be no doubt that the tumulus was piled up to commemorate the Athenians who fell in the battle, and that it marks the See also:

place where the carnage was thickest. A selection from the contents of the tumulus has been placed in the See also:National Museum at Athens. (E.GR.) See See also:Herodotus vi. 102-117; W. M. See also:Leake, The See also:Topography of Athens (See also:London, 1841), ii. 203–227; R. W. Macan, Herodotus, iv.–vi. (London, 1895), ii. 149–248 ; G. B.

See also:

Grundy, The See also:Great Persian See also:War (London, 1901), pp. 145-194; J. A. See also:Munro in See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1899, pp. 186-197. For the tumulus, 'ApxauoXoyiehv L1eXrtov 1891, pp. 67 sqq. See also MILTIADES.

End of Article: MARATHON

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