Some Athenian commanders were against risking battle because their force was very small, while others, including Miltiades, were in favour of fighting. Callimachus had the deciding vote as to whether they should fight or not. Miltiades said to him “It is now in your hands, Callimachus, either to enslave Athens or to make her free and to leave behind you all future generations a memory more glorious than even Harmodius and Aristogeiton left. Never in our history have we Athenians been in such peril as now. If we submit to the Persians, Hippias will be restored to power – and there is little doubt what misery must then ensue: but if we fight and win, then this city of ours may well grow to pre – eminence amongst all the cities of Greece. If you ask me how this can be, and how the decision rests with you, I will tell you: we commanders are ten in number, and we are not agreed upon what action to take… If we refuse to fight, I have little doubt that the result will be bitter dissension; our purpose will be shaken, and we shall submit to Persia. But if we fight before the rot can show itself in any of us, then, if God gives us fair play, we can not only fight but win.” He went on to tell him that the decision was his and that he didn’t vote in favour of fighting then happiness would be denied of him. Callimachus voted in favour of fighting. Miltiades waited to fight until the day that he held the presiding position. The Athenians charged towards the Persians. The Persians prepared themselves to meet them, but were expecting an easy fight, thinking that the Athenians were mad to risk an assault with so small an army. The Athenians chased the routed enemy until they came to the sea. All but seven ships got away carrying Persians – they hoped to reach Athens before the Athenians. The Athenians got there first and beat the Persians.
However, an un – named source says: In 490 BC the most influential man in Athens was Miltiades. This nobleman, whose family had fled from the tyrants and founded a colony in the Thracian Chersoneus from which the Persian advance had driven them, embodied the spirit of resistance. Miltiades persuaded the Athenians not to wait for the Persians but to take the offensive. Surprised on the plain of Marathon by the foot soldiers, Datis was forced, after Athenian harbour of Palermo with the intention of seizing the city while its troops were still at Marathon. Miltiades countered this manoeuvre by a forced march, and Datis found the Athenian army facing him. He sailed away without risking another landing, and Athens acquired the glory of having single – handed repulsed the first assault of the barbarians.
This account is far simpler, and contains no quotes, which are very unlikely to be inaccurate, unlike Herodotus’ account. Also there are not death figures in the latter account while Herodotus claimed that 6,400 Persians died while only 192 Athenians died. These figures seem highly impossible, thus forcing us to cast doubt in the reliability of Herodotus’ account. However, Herodotus’ account is the only one we have – the last account is a simplified version probably taken from Herodotus’ works. Herodotus supposedly asked Athenian soldiers for their accounts of what happened – these are probably inaccurate because the Athenians on, meaning they probably exaggerated their part in the proceedings. He didn’t speak to any Persians because in that time it was not done o go home from a war in which your side lost – you either won or you died trying, supporting loosely Herodotus’ death figures.
Herodotus’ work was written years after the Battle – in fact he was only born in 490 BC, the time when the battle took place – and years after, people’s memories of the battle are going to be fairly poor – things will be exaggerated and confabulated.
We also know that Herodotus was pro – Athenian because they adopted him as a story teller – which we must remember he was, hence he deviates from the story. Could it be tht he was employed by the Athenians to write an account of the battle, writing favourably about them?
In conclusion I would say that while Herodotus’ works give us a rough idea of what happened in the Battle of Marathon, we must not trust what we read, and the help of simplified accounts will help to make the event clear in our heads. However, these accounts are based on his works so we cannot wholly trust any account and so yes, we can work out some of what happened in the Battle of Marathon because some things have been backed up by scientific evidence, but no, we can not work out the entire happenings of the battle.