- a) When news reached Athens that the Eretrians were going to be attacked they sent help, 5000 soldiers in total, but when the Retrain generals were in a split decision of what to do, some faithful leaders told the Athenians to go back, or they would meet their death.
b) The fact that at Sardis the retrains had sacked and burnt their temples meant the Persians were going to do the same here; they did.
c)After 7 days of fighting at Eretria a few prominent leaders of Eretria betrayed the city and let the Persians in, this was Eretria’s fall.
- Sorry don’t get this one???? Revenge against evil eretrians?!?!?!?!?
- Now Hippias provided his most useful piece of help, he guided them to Marathon, the bets place for cavalry action in the whole of Greece!
Prelude to the Battle.
- Herodotus needs a hero for his story, and I this case Militiades was the Hero, he gave us some wonderful stories about Militiades which try to show us how great a man he is, how proud he is to be Athenian and such.
- I think that the reason Herodotus gives us a supposed conversation between the god Pan and Phidippides is to show us that Athens had the Gods support and to show that Pan helped them in the battle, and as a result the Athenians gratified his efforts by building a temple in his honour after the battle.
The Armies
Athens – 10,000 + 600 Plateans (staunch allies)
Mode of battle – metal armour solid shields, spear and short sword, in formation
Battle-plan – wait for Spartans, fight at marathon and again at Athens if necessary
Persia – over 10,000 easily.
Mode of battle – light armour wicker shields and archers and cavalry
Battle Plan – weaken the Athenians at marathon before attacking a weakened Athens.
The Battle (according to Herodotus).
The Athenians hold the high ground sacred to heracles, at the south of the plain.
]The Persians hold the low ground at the north of the plain
5 Athenian generals want to fight , 5 want to wait (for Spartan reinforcements?)
Callimachus, the polemarch, has the crucial eleventh vote.
Militiades with a moving speech, persuades callimachhus to fight now.
Yet fighting is delayed because Militiades will only lead out the army on the day appointed for him to lead.
On his day the Athenian line, stretched beyond the norm and so weak in the centre, faces ther Persian line (but no mention of cavalry!!)
From a distance of one mile apart the Greeks (amazingly) ran at the enemy
The Athenians, strong on the flanks but weak in the centre, eventually win by surrounding the strong Persian centre with their strong flanks
The defeated Persians escaped to their ships, only 7 of which were captured.
Persian losses – 6400 Athenian losses – 192
The Persian survivors sail round to Athens for a surprise attack, BUT on seeing the Athenian army having zoomed back from Marathon to guard Athens on sacred ground of Heracles (again!) the Persians call it a day(defeated again!)
Problems.
- Was Militiades really so important?
- Can soldier run one mile in full armour?
- Why was there so much waiting?
- What happened to the crucial Persian cavalry?
- According to Shepherd, Callimachus the Polemarch was in charge, not the generals on different days, IT looks as though Herodotus was looking for a colourful character to be his hero and miltiades fitted the bill, both in what he did before the marathon and after it; hence the ‘brilliant’ (fictional) speech with which he persuaded Callimachus.
- Even Athenians hoplites at the peak of their fitness couldn’t run one mile in full armour, the Olympic 192m race in full armour was the most likely distance they would have been able to run, so they probably marched to within 200metres of the Persians and then charged.
3-4. The Athenians were probably waiting for the Spartans rather than militates day, and the Persians were waiting for the Athenians to attack on the plain so that they could use their important cavalry (brought with great difficulty over the Aegean, and the reason for them landing at marathon).
So what probably sparked the Athenians into action? The Persian cavalry may well have been put on board the fleet in order to sail round to Athens for a surprise attack on the unguarded city. This will have forced the Athenians into attacking at once ion the hope that they could win and get back to the city in time to defend the city from the Persians. This is what happened, and would explain the absence of the crucial Persian Cavalry at Marathon.
Herodotus’ Numbers
Xerxes counted all his men by getting 10000 and packing them as tightly as possible together in an allotted space, and then he had a wall built around them, and then he marched his whole army through, counting in sets of 10000 the size of his army! HE counted in total, 1.7 million men, but shepherd gives us a more reasonable amount by knocking a 0 off the end, around 200000 men.
NB – throughout Herodotus’ history he is trying to document what happened in tradition, not challenge it.
As well as having 1,700,000 men in hi army, Xerxes gathered 3000 ships for his fleet. This consisted of 1207 triremes with main contributors being Phoenicia and Egypt. Shepherd suggests we use around 600 warships as a reasonable estimate.
Herodotus’ describes many of the nations in Xerxes army, he describes their clothes and their weapons, and when it comes to their weapons, the answer is surprisingly basic, and for one thing wicker shields doesn’t shout out at you as being unstoppable..
Damaratus.
Damaratus was an ex Spartan king, he had been unfairly disposed of by Cleomenes, and damaratus decided he would help the Persians take over Greece, he became Xerxes advisor, hoping to come into power once Greece had been captured, much like Hippias.
When Xerxes asks Damaratus if he thinks Greece will face him, Damaratus replies telling him that the Spartans would never, never give up and become part of their empire, they would fight if there was 1 against 10,000, there motto being
STAND FIRM AND WIN, OR DIE
