A reenactment of the Battle of Marathon.
TO King Darius I of Persia, Greece was a prize like no other: a prosperous centre of trade, of the arts, of civilisation itself. So in 490 BC a Persian force, almost three times anything the city states of Greece could muster, swept over Asia Minor and into the Aegean, and, on 12th September that year, faced the Athenians across the plain of Marathon.
Yet the pride of the Persian army, its cavalry, was strangely absent. Maybe that is why, when the desperate Athenian charge came, the panic-stricken Persians simply broke ranks and fled. Indeed, it was said that Pan himself, and a phantom of the Athenian hero Theseus, both appeared in the chaos.
It was also said, that a messenger named Pheidippides ran with the joyful news of the victory - as complete as it was unexpected - all the way to Athens, some twenty-five miles away. That supreme athletic feat was celebrated by the Marathon race introduced at the 1896 Athens Olympics.
Précis
The Persian King Darius I launched an invasion of Greece in 490 BC, but his army was turned back by the much smaller Athenian army at Marathon. News of the victory was brought to Athens by a messenger who ran all twenty-five miles, a feat celebrated today by the Marathon road race. (51 / 60 words)