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The Persian War: Marathon and Thermopylae
The Greco-Persian Wars, fought from roughly 500 to 449 B.C., were a long-running series of conflicts between the
mighty Persian Empire and the independent Greek city-states, which fought to keep their identities and avoid being
subsumed by the Persians. Against the odds, the Greeks defeated the Persians, keeping alive a culture that would help
shape western civilization. Two battles from Greco-Persian Wars remain famous down to the present day, one of them –
the Battle of Marathon – an epic Greek victory, the other – the Battle of Thermopylae – a glorious Greek defeat.
The Plain of Marathon
The battle of Marathon was fought in September of 490 B.C., when the Persian king Darius I sent a force to subdue
Athens after the Athenians had supported the Ionian Greeks during their unsuccessful rebellion against Persian rule in
western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). This first mainland clash between Persia and Greece took place on the seaside
plain of Marathon, about 26 miles northeast of Athens, when an invading Persian fleet disgorged 30,000 soldiers to
meet a force of 10,000 Greeks.
Surprise Tactics
The foes facing off at Marathon had two very distinct styles of fighting. The Persians relied on their highly accurate
archers to devastate enemies from a distance. But the heavily armored Greek hoplites (named for the hoplon, their large
circular shield) fought in a densely-packed phalanx bristling with long spears. The Athenian commanders, Callimachus
and Miltiades, were without the help of the Spartan warriors who could have bolstered their ranks (the Spartans were
celebrating a religious feast and would not arrive until the battle was over). Callimachus and Miltiades knew that if the
Persians were able to make a stand and fire arrows, the Greeks would lose. So they sent a phalanx to charge straight at
the Persians, surprising them. They also put their best troops on their flanks, sucking the Persians into their center and
slaughtering them.
Another Persian Invasion
The Greeks killed 6,400 Persians that day and sent the others fleeing back to their ships. The Greek army then marched
quickly to Athens to keep the Persians from invading there; first, they sent a runner named Pheidippides to tell the
Athenians of the victory and thus the modern marathon was born. The Persians were not done with Greece, however.
They invaded again 10 years later with a 80,000 man army under King Xerxes I, Darius’ successor. In order to reach
central Greece, Xerxes army was forced to march through a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea called
Thermopylae. They were confronted there in August of 480 B.C. by a Greek army of 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers, led by the
Spartan King Leonidas.
Fighting to the Death
Despite being so heavily outnumbered, the Greeks held off the Persians for three days, using their phalanx formation
and heavier weapons to keep their enemy at bay in the narrow confines of the pass. At last, however, Xerxes discovered
a mountain path that led to the rear of the Greek forces. Seeing that he was about to be attacked from both rear and
front, Leonidas sent most of the Greek forces home to fight another day, and died at Thermopylae with his famous 300
Spartans, along with 1,100 other Greek troops.