Why was the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC considered decisive?

At Marathon in 490 BC the Athenians won the first major Greek victory over the Persians on land, which shattered the belief that Persia could not be beaten and saved Athens from the first Persian invasion.

What made Miltiades' tactics work at Marathon?

At Marathon in 490 BC Miltiades deliberately thinned his center and massed his wings, so the wings crushed the lighter Persian troops and then wheeled inward to envelop the enemy center from both sides.

Why did the Athenians charge at a run at Marathon?

At Marathon in 490 BC the Athenians advanced at a run to cross the plain quickly under arrow fire, bringing their long spears and heavy armor to bear before the Persian archers could break their ranks.

Is the famous story of the marathon run true?

The legend that a messenger ran to Athens and died with news of the victory at Marathon in 490 BC is not in Herodotus, who tells only of the runner Pheidippides, sent from Athens to Sparta before the battle; the dying messenger appears centuries later in writers such as Plutarch. What Herodotus does record is that the exhausted victors marched straight back to guard the city against the Persian fleet.

Who fought at Marathon in 490 BC and what were the reported losses?

At Marathon in 490 BC the Athenians, joined only by a small force from Plataea, faced the Persians of Darius I; by the count of Herodotus the Persians lost about 6,400 men and the Athenians 192.

Battle of Marathon 490 BC: How Athens Beat Persia, with Map

Q: Who won the Battle of Marathon?

The Athenians won the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, aided only by a small force from Plataea, defeating the invading Persian Empire of Darius I.

German engraving, 1832, Bavarian State Library, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

By the numbers
Side	Strength	Casualties	Killed
Athens and Plataea	~10,000 to 11,000	192 killed; wounded unknown	192
Persian Empire	~25,000	~6,400 killed; wounded unknown	~6,400

Quick answer

Who won the Battle of Marathon?

Athens won the Battle of Marathon in September 490 BC, when about 10,000 Athenian and Plataean citizen-soldiers defeated a much larger Persian invasion force on the plain by the sea. The victory saved the city and became a defining moment in the history of the West.¹

In the late summer of 490 BC, some 10,000 citizen-soldiers of Athens stood on a plain by the sea and faced the largest empire the world had known. What happened on the beach at Marathon saved their city, and shaped the course of the West.²

The battle from both sides

Two perspectives

Athens and Plataea Persian Empire

The Athenians and their Plataean allies faced a Persian expedition sent to punish Athens, and they could not wait for Sparta, whose help was delayed. On the plain of Marathon the outnumbered hoplites charged across the open ground, thinning their center and massing the wings. The strong wings routed the Persian flanks and then turned inward to crush the enemy center, driving the invaders back to their ships. It was the first major Greek victory over the Persians on land, and the victory gave Athens enormous confidence, a self-belief that shaped its coming golden age and its leading part in the wars still to come.

Dark locator map with a gold star in a glowing circle marking the approximate site of the Battle of Marathon, the coasts, rivers and lakes of the region, and a small world map inset with the area boxed — The Battle of Marathon: the star marks the approximate site, and the inset shows the area on a world map. Drawn for this article from Natural Earth data, with no modern borders. Location map: © Echoes of Battle (data: Natural Earth, public domain)

For Darius's expedition Marathon was a punitive strike, above all against Athens for aiding the Ionian revolt. The Persians landed on the plain expecting their numbers and cavalry to prevail, and perhaps hoping treachery would open the city. Instead the Athenian hoplites came on at speed, blunting the Persian archers and routing the Persian wings. Driven back to the beach with heavy loss, the survivors re-embarked and sailed for Athens itself, only to find the army had marched back to defend it. The repulse settled nothing at the imperial level, and a decade later Xerxes returned with a far greater force to finish what his father had begun.

Persia comes

The Persian king Darius I had sent a fleet across the Aegean to punish Athens for supporting a revolt against him. The army landed at the bay of Marathon, northeast of the city (see the map below), and there the Athenians, joined only by a small force from little Plataea, marched out to meet them. They were badly outnumbered, and Sparta, asked for help, replied that a religious law kept it from marching until the moon was full.³

Terrain map of Marathon: the open Plain of Marathon between Mount Agrieliki and Mount Kotroni, the Great Marsh to the north, the curving Bay of Marathon and the Soros burial mound near the shore — Our reconstruction of the ancient ground at Marathon: a flat, open plain hemmed in by Mount Agrieliki and Mount Kotroni, closed to the north by the Great Marsh and open to the bay where the Persian fleet lay, with the Soros, the mound of the Athenian dead, near the shore. This is the open ground the hoplites crossed at a run, and the marsh the beaten Persians fled through to their ships; positions are approximate. Tap to enlarge. Map: Echoes of Battle. Relief: Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA/Airbus). Base: Curtius & Kaupert, Karten von Attika

Engraved map of the bay and plain of Marathon with the Greek and Persian lines of battle marked — The plain and bay of Marathon on a map from an 1897 edition of Herodotus, with the Greek camp in the Herakleion, the Persian position by the Great Marsh, the Persian fleet in the bay and the Soros, the burial mound of the Athenian dead. Public domain. Herodotus, translated by George Rawlinson, 1897, British Library, via Wikimedia Commons.

The wait

For days the two armies watched each other across the plain. In Herodotus's account the Athenian generals were divided. Miltiades, who knew the Persians, pressed for an immediate attack, warning that delay would breed strife in Athens and push some citizens to side with Persia. The deciding vote lay with the polemarch Callimachus, and Miltiades won him over. Some modern historians, following a later tradition, hold that the Athenians finally struck while the Persian cavalry was away.⁴

They had to beat the greatest empire on earth before Sparta could arrive, or not at all.

The charge

Miltiades drew up his hoplites in an unusual line: thin in the center, packed heavy on both wings, so that his front was as long as the Persian line. Then, in what Herodotus calls a first for any Greek army he knew of, the Athenians advanced across the plain at a run, closing the distance under arrow fire to bring their long spears and heavy armor to bear before the archers could break them.⁵

The double envelopment

In the center, where Herodotus places the Persians themselves and the Sakae, the thin Greek line was broken and driven back inland. But on the wings the Athenians and Plataeans crushed the lighter Persian troops, then wheeled inward and fell on the enemy center from both sides. The Persian army broke and ran for its ships, cut down as it fled to the sea.⁶

Long frieze-like drawing of Greek hoplites fighting and pursuing Persians toward ships — The lost painting of Marathon in the Painted Stoa of Athens, reconstructed by the archaeologist Carl Robert in 1895 from ancient descriptions: the fight on the plain flows toward the Persians fleeing to their ships. Public domain

The numbers

By the count of the historian Herodotus, the Persians lost some 6,400 men; the Athenians, 192. It was the first major Greek victory over the Persians on land, and it shattered the belief that they could not be beaten at all.⁷

The run

Legend says a messenger ran the whole way to Athens with news of the victory, gasped it out, and died, the story behind the modern marathon. Herodotus tells a different story: his runner, Pheidippides (or Philippides), ran from Athens to Sparta before the battle to ask for help, while the dying messenger first appears in writers of the Roman era such as Plutarch, who names him Eucles or Thersippus. What Herodotus does record is that the exhausted victors marched straight back to guard the city against the Persian fleet, and got there first. Persia would return ten years later, to Thermopylae and Salamis, but Marathon had already proven it could be stopped.⁸