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The Battle of Marathon Remembered as the inspiration of the famous Olympic road race, but much more important than that.
490 BC
Classical Greece 492 - 338 BC
Music: Gustav Holst

© Phokion, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0. Source

A reenactment of the Battle of Marathon.

About this picture …

Enthusiasts reenact the Battle of Marathon down by the seashore in Marathon, Greece, some 25 miles from Athens.

The Battle of Marathon
The Battle of Marathon is remembered today chiefly as the inspiration for the modern road race. But its real significance was that it kept Greece from being asset-stripped by Persia, and so helped to save Western civilization.

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)

Suggested Music

Planets Suite (1916)

Mercury, the Winged Messenger

Gustav Holst (1874-1934)

Performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras.

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