All language subtitles for Battles BC s01e08 Judgement Day at Marathon

On the narrow plain of Marathon in
eastern Greece, a battle rages that will

alter the course of western
civilization.

On one side, the army of the Persian
Empire, the most powerful fighting force

the world.

On the other side, the army of Athens,
half its size, led by the famed Greek

general Miltiades.

This is a battle of military brilliance
in the face of overwhelming odds.

A battle for the future of Greece and
for the supremacy of the ancient world.

Two civilizations are about to collide.

Eat meat west on the plains of Marathon.

Death comes swiftly.

For six days, a brutal attack by a
faceless invader stains the soil red.

Those not butchered are enslaved.

The aggressors are the heavy infantry of
the mighty Persian Empire.

They are called immortals.

The victims are residents of the island
of Euboea in the Greek city of Eritrea.

600 Persian warships had set sail on the
Aegean Sea and swallowed every Greek

island in their path.

But Euboea is not their final
destination.

They're heading to Athens.

Five -year -old commander.

Alexander the Great.

It's his time now.

Alexander has a kind of larger -than
-life aura about him.

He's handsome with a muscular build, and
he's extremely charismatic.

His troops pretty much worship him.

In less than five years, he had managed
to carry out a major strategic plan from

Greece to invade... Persia and destroy
the Persian Empire.

In five years he managed to suppress his
own domestic opposition and then

finally was able to force a cataclysmic
battle in modern day Iraq on the plains

of Arbela where he destroyed the last
remaining Persian army and then by right

of conquest became emperor of all of
Persia.

Some say Alexander's pedigree destined
him for greatness.

They believe he's a descendant of
Hercules on his father's side and

his mother's.

Alexander's empire now stretches from
Greece to Egypt to modern -day

Afghanistan, one of the largest in the
history of the world.

But Alexander's appetite for power and
glory is insatiable.

Five years after he defeats the
Persians, Alexander is ready to take on

opponent.

He stands with his 32 ,000 battle
-tested soldiers along the banks of the

down to Athens, Corinth, Bata, all those
states whose names pop up in history.

Each city -state was a self -contained
society.

It had its own lands, its own army.

But aboard his warship...

The Persian commander, Datis, cares
about only one of these city -states,

Athens.

He's so confident he'll be able to
destroy this historic city, the only

in his mind is exactly how he'll destroy
it.

He can either attack Athens directly
from the sea, is one possibility.

This is a bit difficult. Athens is
walled, and an amphibious assault from

sea against opposition is pretty iffy
business.

He decides not to attack Athens head
-on, rather to pick a spot about 25

away from the city, along his line of
route, and to land there and figure one

two things would happen.

Either the Greek army responds and comes
up to meet him, or he would land,

assemble his army, and simply march on
to Athens from the ground. So given the

choice between the land campaign or an
amphibious landing of Athens itself, he

chooses the land campaign.

Datis directs his fleet of 600 ships
about 26 miles away from Athens at

Marathon.

He moors his ships in Marathon Bay and
disembarks on the skinniest beach.

The Persians then make camp on the
northeast side of the plain, next to the

Great Marsh.

The Persian army is about to slam into
Athens like a Category 5 hurricane.

The Athenians know surrender isn't an
option, but they're divided on how to

prepare. Should they hunker down behind
the city walls or march out to meet the

Persians in battle?

Some Anathans believe that an open field
battle against the Persians is suicide.

But one Athenian disagrees. His name is
Miltiades, and he has a personal history

with the Persians.

Miltiades is a very interesting
character.

He comes from a prominent family in
Athens, and when he's about 35, he takes

over a Greek colony in Ionia, on the
edge of the Persian Empire.

He rules there as a tyrant. That makes
him very unpopular in Athens.

In the late 6th century BC, Miltiades'
home on the Hellespont Peninsula is

engulfed by the expanding Persian
Empire.

He's forced into military service.

Now wielding a Persian sword, he must
fight along his conqueror.

The Persians soon spread north, cross
the Danube River, and invade Scythia,

modern -day Eastern Europe and Asia.

Miltiades was in charge of guarding the
bridges across the Danube over which the

Persian army had come in order to go
into Scythia and prosecute the campaign.

Finally, after three long years in
Scythia, Miltiades decided he had

Miltiades had never been a big fan of
the Persians, and he tried to get other

Greek generals to agree that what we
ought to do is burn the bridges behind

Darius and his army and let them die of
starvation or be killed by the

Scythians.

Other Greeks would not go along with it,
but it was Miltiades' idea, and it was

picked up by Persian intelligence.

So Persian intelligence were not very
happy with... Miltiades, as you might

expect.

Miltiades flees to Athens, but he's not
welcome there either.

The people of Athens still remember
Miltiades as a tyrant and lock him up at

first chance they get.

Three years after his arrival in Athens,
Miltiades faces the death sentence for

tyranny, but he's got an ace in the
hole. He knows the Persian game.

and the Persians are on their way,
looking to destroy Athens.

The Athenians not only spare Miltiades'
life, they make him a general.

But Miltiades has to wonder which fate
is worse, execution or being hacked to

little bitty bits by the Persian
warriors.

Miltiades chooses to face the Persian
blade, and rather than hide behind the

walls of Athens, He wants to meet the
Persians on the battlefield.

But the final decision on whether to
fight is not his to make.

Athenian democracy extends to the army,
too.

So when an argument erupts over what to
do at Marathon, the council of ten

generals must decide what to do.

Attack now, or retreat and try to get
help from other Greek city -states.

The vote is five to five.

The tie -breaking vote falls to a man
named Callimachus.

He is the polemarch.

It's a ceremonial position in the
Athenian army.

Miltiades makes an impassioned case to
Callimachus, saying, it's up to you

whether Athens is reduced to slavery or
rise to become the greatest of all the

Greek city -states.

He explains that failure to fight now
will shatter the democracy along factual

lines and make them easy prey for the
Persians.

Callimachus is convinced, and he votes
to attack.

Miltiades gets his war.

He leads the entire Athenian army,
roughly 10 ,000 strong, 26 miles east to

plains of Marathon.

The odds are overwhelmingly against
Miltiades. The Persian force is

More than twice the Athenian size.

20 ,000 infantry, 3 ,000 archers, 2 ,000
cavalry.

Miltiades takes a look at the situation
and realizes immediately he's severely

outnumbered. Not only outnumbered, he's
outgunned in the sense that there are

fairly substantial archer and cavalry
contingents.

Even if the Athenians can hold back the
Persian infantry, they have no way to

counter the Persian warhorses.

It's a massive mismatch.

Cavalry is one of the keys to Persian
military success.

They were one of the first armies to
fully integrate horses and heavy

for a devastating one -two punch.

And funnel their enemies into the
chomping jaws of their main infantry

Miltiades is outnumbered and outgunned.
The Athenians have never faced a force

like this before.

But they have cut their teeth on some of
the greatest warriors of the ancient

world.

For centuries, these two Greek city
-states shed each other's blood. But 50

years before Miltiades faces the
Persians, a conflict erupts between the

neighbors that will ultimately lead to
the Battle of Marathon.

It's 540 B .C., 50 years before the
Battle of Marathon.

Two Greek city -states, Athens and
Sparta, attack each other on the open

battlefield.

The rivalry between Athens and Sparta is
kind of like Michigan versus Ohio

State, except with spears.

They constantly seek any advantage they
can over one another.

While most of their battles are
provincial squabbles,

One of them gets the Persians involved
and eventually leads the battle

Athens is known as the birthplace of
democracy.

Sparta, their neighbor to the west,
couldn't be more different.

Imagine that the U .S. Marines had their
own country.

That's Sparta.

They train constantly, weapons, tactics,
armor.

It's pretty much all they do.

Now, the Athenian -Spartan relationship
is very bipolar.

Sometimes they help each other, and
sometimes they fight.

At the time, Athens is ruled by a man
named Hippias.

He is, however, wildly unpopular with
the Athenian aristocrats.

So they plot a coup and overthrow
Hippias with the help of some unlikely

the Spartans.

Now, the problem with the Spartans
helping you is that they wouldn't go

And that was the problem that the
Athenians had, was how to get rid of the

Spartans. Well, they rose in revolt and
drove the Spartans out of Athens.

And it was that period about 540 B .C.,
which was the beginning of Athenian

democracy at about this time. The
problem was this.

Inevitably, one would expect the
Spartans to counterattack.

Athens believed they need an ally to
defend themselves against Sparta.

They turned to the Persian Empire.

So that's one of the first examples in
Greek history of a smaller state trying

to ally itself with a larger state, in
this case the Persian Empire, in order

protect itself from aggression of
another state, in this case Sparta.

Athens sends an envoy to the Persian
province of Ionia, now modern -day

At the court of the Persian governor,
the envoy asks for Persian help against

Sparta.

The Persian governor agrees, but on one
condition.

The Athenians must make a sacred offer
of earth and water.

The trouble is, the Athenians don't
really understand what the offer of

and water means. They think they're
signing a treaty, just like the treaties

they've made in the past with other
Greek city -states. But to the Persians,

accepting earth and water means they own
Athens. It has become their colony.

Without understanding what they're
really doing, the envoys submit to

rule. All of Athens will pay dearly for
this mistake.

It made no sense to the rational Greeks.
I mean, these are the people who

invented logic, mathematics, and
philosophy.

For them, it was just a silly little
ritual that really meant nothing.

Now, the problem then is the same
problem now. When you have two cultures

reaching an agreement, Sometimes that
agreement means different things to each

party because the cultural context in
which it occurs is different.

Athens secures the promise of Persian
protection, but Sparta attacks so

Athens has no time to call on her new
ally.

Determined to keep their new democracy,
Athenians fight more ferociously than

ever. They defeat the Spartan invasion
on their own.

Now, this is important because Athens
had asked the Persians for help, but

don't need it. They defeated Sparta all
by themselves.

The Athenians now felt that the
agreement they had made with the

null and void and made the terrible
mistake of telling the Persians that.

This infuriates the Persian emperor,
Darius I.

It amounted, in the Persian view, to
little more than an open revolt.

And Darius resolved that he was going to
bring Athens to heel.

The Persians send heralds to Athens and
demand payment of customary taxes.

The Athenians throw them into a pit to
die.

Athens has spit in the face of the
world's most powerful empire.

Throughout history, alliances often come
with unintended consequences, but few

have the magnitude of the one of the
treaty between Athens and Persia. If the

Athenians never asked for Persian help
against the Spartans, the world might be

a completely different place today. It
sets off centuries of conflict between

the East and the West.

And the first major battle is Marathon,
where more than 20 ,000 Persian

infantry, cavalry, and archers are
preparing to burn Athens to the ground.

The Athenian general Metaites and 10
,000 Greek infantrymen are colossally

overmatched. But Metaites does have one
advantage.

How does he offset the...

that he suffers relative to the Persian
forces.

And the answer is almost always in
antiquity is the same.

Terrain, terrain, terrain.

Location, location, location.

Historians debate the exact route the
Persians would have taken to get from

Marathon to Athens.

Some believe they would have taken the
coastal route, a route that passes

through the Rexiza Swamp.

But then you would have to go through a
swamp, which was doable.

But then you would have been in a
problem where the Persian army would

in column of march, trying to gain the
road with the Athenian army on its

Always a bad idea.

The only other way to Athens is through
the mountains, beginning at the Vrana

Valley.

If the Persian army intends to invade
Athens, it's got to go through the mouth

of that valley.

And it's not very wide.

It's not very wide.

So what Miltiades does, he decides to
block the valley.

And he deploys his troops in the mouth
of the Vrana Valley in order to make it

impossible for the Persians to advance
further.

Miltiades has positioned his infantry in
the valley like a cork in a bottle.

The Athenian phalanx is made up of lines
of tightly organized interlocking

warriors.

They can move forward and back easily,
but not side to side.

The phalanx formation is incredibly
effective at holding ground and moving

forward. With rows of mimpak tightly
together, they use each other's

shills to form an armored wall.

Miltiades anchors his flanks on the
rocky sides of the hill and then goes

chopping down trees to put them on the
flanks as well.

Why does he do this?

He's well aware of the fact that the
weakness of the Greek phalanx is its

flanks. Whenever it has died in battle,
it has died because it has been taken in

the flanks, either by another phalanx or
mostly by cavalry.

In the valley, the flanks of the phalanx
are well protected.

So not going to rely on the steepness
and the rocks alone. You pile it with

brush and trees and logs so that there
can't be any cavalry attack.

So just by positioning his troops where
he has, he has essentially taken the

cavalry out of the fight.

Brilliant maneuver.

The Persian commander, Datis, is not
concerned and assembles his infantry.

For three days, the Persians line up for
battle.

But the Greeks choose not to engage them
and stay in their protective zone.

It wins the day if there's no fight at
all.

Its job, essentially, is to protect
Athens by blocking the road.

So if you would like to stay here for
several weeks, that was quite okay with

Miltiades. It's not okay, of course,
with the Persians.

Finally, the frustrated Persians
initiate an attack.

The Athenians form up for battle.

But the Persians do not immediately send
in their infantry.

They first launch a blistering mirage of
arrow fire.

Under a tidal wave of missiles, there is
nowhere for the Athenians to hide.

490 B .C.

It's the Athenian Greeks versus the
mighty Persians on the plains of

The Persians draw first with a
devastating arrow attack.

You can imagine this wall of mist
literally blocking out the sun, raining

on the Athenians.

But you know what? The Athenians brushed
the arrow fire away like annoying

gnats.

Thousands of Persian arrows.

Very few Athenian casualties.

And despite being outnumbered two to
one, the Athenians, led by General

Mattiades, taunt the Persians.

The Persians are on a mission.

Break through the wall of Greek
soldiers.

March to Athens.

and burn the city to the ground.

Exactly what happens next is up for
debate.

Every historian has a theory of what
went down at Marathon and why.

And that's because we only have one real
source, the Greek historian Herodotus.

The problem is that Herodotus is more
like the world's first blogger than an

objective historian.

He blends events, myths, anecdotes.

hearsay into this great story but nobody
in the right mind believes it's all

true so who attacked who first marathon
and why well from the athenian position

there's no need to attack anyone but
datis the persian commander is itching

a fight after the failed missile attack
there's only one thing for him to do

all that's left is a frontal assault now
you're going to have to mix it up head

-on, one -on -one.

10 ,000 Persian light infantrymen charge
across the marathon plain.

Waiting for them is the Athenian
phalanx, a bronze wall of spears and

More than a million pounds of flesh and
bone collide.

Helping the Athenians create this wall,
is the Hoplon Shield.

The Greek shield known as the Hoplon is
more than just a glorified garbage can

lid. It's a revolutionary innovation in
warfare.

The Hoplon is a large, circular, bowl
-shaped shield made of wood and faced

bronze.

It can withstand arrows and punishing
sword blows without splintering.

But what makes it truly remarkable is
what's called an argive grip.

The soldier passes his arm through a
leather loop in the middle of the shield

and holds onto a handle near the rim.

And why this is important is it gives
you very good control and much more

with the shield, whereas the old tether
grip in the center wouldn't allow you to

produce a lot of force with it.

The Athenians stop the crushing charge.

Now, they go on the offensive.

The Athenians' primary weapon is the
heavy ashwood spear called the dory.

Seven feet long, tipped with sharpened
iron, the dory can smash through shields

and armor.

This spear is not prone.

It's used to stab the enemy with a
gruesome thrust.

In the 6th century BC, most Athenian
warriors wear lightweight lamellar armor

made of bonded strips of linen and
leather.

Some, however, wear heavy, rigid
cuirassies, bronze plates sculpted to

a muscular torso.

Bronze helmets with distinctive
horsehair plumes protect their heads.

while greaves protect their lower legs.

In full battle gear, the hoplites are
armored head to toe.

The problem for the Persians at Marathon
is they're up against a determined

Athenian phalanx that doesn't scatter
during the arrow barrage.

The Persian light infantry also doesn't
have their usual cavalry support.

So it's just sickle swords and wicker
shields against a bronze wall of

Athenians.

The Persian commander Data sends in wave
after wave of light infantry assaults.

Each time, however, they impale
themselves on the solid Athenian wall of

The Persians are unrelenting.

Defeat is not an option.

The issue of imperial prestige is at
stake. I mean, what in all hell's name

could possibly have motivated this
pipsqueak of a nation as... backwater to

insult the largest empire on earth.

For the Persians, Marathon is about more
than just a broken treaty.

It's also punishment for Athens' support
of a revolution against Persia ten

years earlier in nearby Ionia.

Once an Athenian Greek colony, Ionia was
absorbed as a province by the Persian

Empire in 540 BC.

But 40 years later, in 500 BC, a local
tyrant incited a revolution.

The people of Ionia then asked Athens
for help.

Athens was seen by her colonies as kind
of the mother country. And my guess,

Athens considered herself the mother
country.

And so when her colonies asked for
help...

She sent groups. It was a mistake of the
First Order, to be sure, but that's

probably what motivated it. It certainly
could not possibly be justified on the

grounds of rational self -interest.

The Athenians were joined by a force
from Eritrea, in nearby Euboea.

They sailed across the Aegean to Ionia
and stormed the capital of Sardis.

It is another Athenian slap in the face
the Persians will never forget.

500 BC, ten years before the Battle of
Marathon, the Ionian Revolt has begun.

Several Greek contingents, including
Athenians, attack Persian -controlled

Sardis, the Ionian capital, and burn the
city to the ground.

To make matters worse for Persia, at the
same time they are fighting wars in

India, Egypt, and Scythia.

The Ionian rebels score a major blow,
but the victory is short -lived.

The Persians increased their force level
and began to suppress the Ionian

revolt. The Athenians, knowing that
discussion was the better part of valet,

went home, as did the Eboeans. And the
Ionian revolt simmered on and

off for the next five years until it
finally simmered out and flared out and

Persia recaptured the Ionian coast.

But the Persian king Darius is furious.

He vows vengeance.

Darius calls upon his God to grant him
vengeance against the Athenians. He even

makes a servant come up to him three
times every night during dinner and

in his ear, Sire, remember the
Athenians.

So even while he's dealing with Egypt
and wars in India and Scythia, Athenian

payback is always on his mind.

King Darius attempts to exact revenge on
the Athenians at 490 BC at Marathon.

But so far, the Athenians have survived
a massive Persian missile attack.

And now they are holding fast against
the Persian light infantry.

General Mataites has brilliantly
positioned his defensive force.

The Greek heavy infantry phalanxes are
jammed in a narrow opening between the

mountains, blocking the path to Athens.

The Persians had chosen the battlefield,
okay, by landing at Marathon, but the

Athenians had chosen the terrain by
using it to maximum advantage. And it's

old trick.

But an effective one, as the Persian
light infantry doesn't even dent the

Athenian wall.

The Persian light infantry retreats, but
now Miltiades must face the elite force

of the Persian army, the heavy infantry,
the immortals.

The legendary immortals are the
stormtroopers of the Persian empire.

Faceless, they march into battle in
complete silence.

They are the Athenians' worst nightmare.

In addition to their brutal killing
ability, The presence of the immortals

forces Miltiades to change his tactics.

Miltiades, although he has prepared the
battlefield expertly and to give him

every advantage, still suffers from a
great disadvantage. And that is the area

in which he occupies, although it's
relatively narrow, okay, is still wider

than he has sufficient troops to cover.

What he does is he weakens his center
and moves the additional troops out. So

that when you look at the deployment of
the Athenian force, you're looking at a

force that is relatively thin in the
center, but has heavy phalanxes on

side.

Weakening the center of its phalanx is a
huge gamble.

But then Miltiades rolls the dice again.

He advances his line out of the
protective valley.

If he stays where he is, he knows that
when the center gets hit, it's going to

flex in.

The problem when it flexes in, if he
stays where he is, is there's not enough

room for his heavy phalanxes on the end
to maneuver inward.

There's not enough room. They're jammed
up against the terrain.

So he has a very, very delicate tactical
problem, and it's this.

Miltiades must move his troops far
enough to be able to extend his line so

phalanxes can maneuver.

The trick is, how far can Miltiades move
out from the valley?

If he doesn't come out far enough, his
flanks can't maneuver.

If he comes out too far, the Persians
can get around his flanks and surround

him. And remember, all this is happening
on the fly.

Miltiades won't know how far is too far
until it happens.

The immortals close in.

Miltiades needs to make his move.

He orders his troops to redeploy.

Herodotus tells us that Marathon is the
first time the Greek hoplites ever ran

into battle.

And the reason they'd never done it
before is that it's exhausting.

The Greeks wear all this heavy armor and
carry long spears.

So running just wastes a lot of energy.

The other problem with running is the
tight phalanx formation itself.

Their strength lies in their unit
cohesion.

If that breaks apart as they advance,
they're immediately vulnerable.

My guess is that Herodotus is describing
a redeployment at the run, not a

movement to contact at the run. At a
given signal, everybody moved in as

format as they could, moved out to 200
yards, stopped, and then reformed.

very quickly, so that by the time actual
contact occurred with the Persians,

okay, the units were once more
disciplined, ranks were dressed, ready

the charge.

While historians debate many aspects of
the Battle of Marathon, most agree about

what happens next, an apocalypse of
violence.

The armies collide in a horrifying
maelstrom of bronze and blood.

The battle is so intense that some
Greeks report crazed visions of ghost

warriors crashed through the lines and
cut down men at random.

But the reality is just as terrifying.

The Persians surge forward, and the
Athenians are beaten back.

The weak center can't withstand the
Persian attack. It's about to break.

getting pushed back, back, back towards
the valley.

The hoplite dam is about to burst, and
it looks like Athens is doomed.

Miltiades' center is on the brink of
collapse, but at the flanks, it's a

different story.

The normal tactics for the Persian
infantry would have been to put the

units in the middle and the weaker units
on the wings.

This is because the wings are usually
supported by cavalry.

Now, Miltiades would know this, and it
may be why he bolsters his own forces on

the flanks.

With the Persian cavalry rendered
ineffective by the terrain, the

able to chop down the weakened Persian
flanks.

The center of the Athenian line
continues to be pushed back while the

hold strong.

Herodotus tells us that just before the
center broke, they were rallied by their

officers to find new courage and
actually counterattack.

They counterattacked enough to stop the
forward movement in the center.

And at that point, the heavy phalanxes
on the wings, bang, closed in on the

side.

Took them in the flanks, literally had
them in the V, and literally slaughtered

them.

In a daring stroke of military
brilliance, Miltiades has completely

tables on the Persians.

The Battle of Marathon has become a
Persian bloodbath.

While keeping his flanks anchored, the
Athenian general Miltiades has pulled

center of his line back, drawing the
Persian infantry into a death trap.

Hemmed in on three sides, the Persians
can't maneuver.

One of the reasons for their panic
probably was something caused by the fog

war and by something that happens to men
in battle no matter how well they are

trained or how well you are disciplined.

Every now and again, the disease of fear
gets into your soul.

And when that happens and panic gets
into your ranks, you're done.

You can't stop it, no matter how
disciplined you are, how controlled you

More than 6 ,000 Persians perish, while
the Athenians lose fewer than 200.

Among the Athenian dead, however, is
Calamac, whose tie -breaking vote pushed

the Athenians into battle.

Some cite Marathon as the first known
example of the pincer maneuver, or

called a double envelopment.

But this isn't truly the case, because
Miltiades only uses one force, so he

not completely envelop the enemy. The
Persians still have an avenue of

And they use it. The Persians race back
toward the beach.

Some say the Athenians immediately chase
the Persians back to their ships, but

this is pretty unlikely.

since the Athenians would be completely
exhausted at this point.

What likely happened is Miltiades and
his men rested until they were able to

back on the offensive.

It took a considerable time for the
Persians to try to grab what's left,

wounded, their horses, and put them on,
try to get them on the boats.

It might have taken several hours,
eight, ten hours.

At some point...

The Greeks were arrested, and at some
point they reformed, and now they began,

pursuit is too strong a word, they began
literally marching towards the beach in

order to encourage, let us say, the
Persians to leave.

Fighting breaks out again as the Persian
rearguard tries to protect the retreat.

Athenians butchered them and captured
seven of the fleeting boats.

and tries to hold it on the beach with
his teeth.

This is the kind of hyperbole that
Herodotus is known for.

The Athenians route the Persian
infantry, but the danger isn't over yet.

The Persians aren't sailing back to
Asia. They're heading straight for

Miltiades sends a Greek messenger from
Marathon to Athens with news of the

victory.

The Athenian runs the 26 miles from
Marathon to Athens, runs into the town

square, yells up his hands, Nike, which
means victory, and drops dead, probably

of a heart attack or a stroke.

And this is where we get the phrase, to
run a marathon. 26 miles, the distance

from Marathon to Athens.

But at the same time that this inaugural
race is being run,

Miltiades realizes that the fight is not
yet over.

Once Miltiades realizes what the
Persians are doing, he sends another

back to Athens to alert them. Then he
assembles his troops for a forced night

march back to the city.

It's hard to imagine how tired these
infantry guys are at this point, but if

they hope to save Athens, they have to
keep going.

The Athenians march all night long.

It's difficult to know how long it would
take the Persian ships to sail to

Athens from Marathon, a distance of
about 62 miles by sea.

While a ship of that day could make the
trip in about 10 hours, a lot would

depend on the current weather condition,
weight that the ship was carrying.

Also, it's possible that some of the
ships with the cavalry might have

sailed for Athens a day or so before.

can't be sure if he had won the battle
and lost the war.

Early the next morning, the Persian
commander Datis enters the Athenian

with his 600 ships.

On the walls of the city, he sees
Miltiades and the entire Athenian army.

Datis takes one look at this,
understands the difficulties involved of

out an opposed amphibious landing,
decides better of it.

turns to the cocksman, turn the boat
around.

The fleet turns around and sails back to
Persia.

And Athens remains free.

As the Persians sail away, the Athenian
infantry can finally celebrate their

amazing victory at Marathon.

To commemorate the victory, the
Athenians build one of the most iconic

in human history, the Parthenon, a
massive temple to the goddess Athena.

Carved into the wall of the Parthenon
are 192 figures, one for each of the

Athenian slain at Marathon.

After the defeated Marathon, Datis
returns to the court of King Darius.

Some suggest he executed for his
failure.

And while there's no evidence for this,
history never hears from Datis again.

But what we do know is that Darius was
furious.

Furious because this pygmy little
barbaric state has insulted the great

of Persia yet again and got away with
it.

Darius swears in his mind that if he
lives long enough, he will have his

on the Athenians.

As it turns out, of course, he doesn't
live long enough.

Persian revenge for Marathon falls to
Darius' son, Xerxes, who 40 years after

Marathon personally travels to Greece.

to fulfill his father's wishes.

This transmission of the desire for
revenge against

Athens sets up, 40 years later, one of
the

signature battles of Western military
history, the last stand

of the 300 at the Pass of Thermopylae.

At Thermopylae, the great Spartan
commander Leonidas uses the same tactics

against the Persians that Miltiades did
nearly half a century earlier at

Marathon.

Marathon itself is one of those moments
that is defining in Western history.

In fact, it defines what it is to be
Western and Greek over

against Persian and Eastern.

It's not the end of the story.

In fact, it's just the beginning of the
story.

The Battle of Marathon tells the ancient
world that Persia isn't invincible.

It serves as a battle cry for future
rebellion throughout the empire.

Greece and Persia will continue to clash
on and off for the next hundred years.

The struggle catapults Greece from
obscurity into the center stage of the

ancient world.

It all begins on the blood -soaked wing
of Marathon.