How the Athenians Defeated the Persians | The Battle of Marathon 490 BC

490 BC. After the fall of Eretria, the Persian army lands at Marathon. Athens is to be their next target.

About ten thousand Athenian hoplites, along with a small detachment of Plataeans, march out to meet the Persian army. Sparta promises assistance, but fails to arrive in time for the battle.

The Athenians are forced to fight on their own.

Miltiades extends the Greek line, strengthens the flanks, and deliberately weakens the center. When the Persians begin to press the center of the Greek line, it is the flanks that decide the outcome of the battle.

This issue of "Fields of History" covers the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC: the Persian landing, Athens' decision to withdraw from the city, the Spartans' wait, the hoplite attack, the breakthrough of the Persian center, the reversal of the Greek flanks, and the flight of Darius's army to the sea.

Victory at Marathon did not end the Greco-Persian Wars. Ten years later, Persia would return—this time under the command of Xerxes.