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Few battles in the ancient world had as much impact on history as the Battle of Marathon. The battle has provided fodder for numerous books, documentaries, and movies, which often portray the event as an important battle in the existential struggle between European freedom and Oriental despotism. The Battle of marathons reality is much less hyperbolic and much more complex than the popular media often depicts, although it was just as important.

== What was the Ionian Revolt? ==

The event that placed Athens, and later Sparta and most of Greece, in the Persians' cross-hairs was their involvement in the Ionian Revolt. The Greek city-states in the coastal region of Turkey's modern nation-state, which was known in ancient times as “Ionia,” were firmly under the control of the Achaemenid Persians at the beginning of the fifth century BC as a “satrapy” or province. Ionia was listed as an Achaemenid satrapy in Persian inscriptions from Persia to Egypt. It was written about by the fifth century BC Greek historian Herodotus, who noted that the province was quite lucrative. It supplied a yearly tribute of 400 talents of silver. <ref> Herodotus. <i> The Histories.</i> Translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt. (London: Penguin Books, 2003), Book III, 90</ref> The mainland Greeks continued to trade with their Ionian cousins and maintained reasonable diplomatic relations with the Persians until events unfolded in Ionia in 499 BC that set them against each other permanently.

Aristagoras knew that the Ionian Greeks could not defeat the Achaemenid Empire alone, so he traveled to Greece to appeal to the two most powerful city-states, Sparta and Athens. He incorrectly gauged the austere Spartans' desire for riches, who rebuffed him by stating that the time away from their city would be too long. <ref> Herodotus, Book V, 50</ref> Aristagoras then went to Athens, where he changed his pitch by appealing to the fraternal bond between Athens and Miletus as it was Athenians who founded Miletus. The plea was successful, somewhat, as the Athenians agreed to send twenty triremes, although that was far below the number Aristagoras had desired. <ref> Herodotus, Book V, 97</ref>

== How did the Athenians defeat the Persians at the Battle of Marathon? ==

The key to any battlefield victory is usually the result of superb planning. The Greek commanders, led by Miltiades, showed their acumen by properly mobilizing their troops, choosing the place and time to engage the Persians, and by showing creativity with their strategies in the face of overwhelming numbers. To counteract the Persian numbers, the Athenians knew that they had to muster every man they could to their cause, so they started by requesting help from their allies, the Spartans. Although Sparta and Athens were rivals throughout most of Hellenic history, they were allied against the Persians during the Greco-Persian Wars.

===Other Factors for Athenian Victory===

Although Miltiades' planning and battlefield strategies are the primary reasons why the Athenians were victorious at the Marathon, a couple of other factors should be considered. The fact that the Greeks had rights as citizens and were the first to articulate the abstract idea of “freedom” that is often taken for granted today cannot be understated. The Athenians had just overthrown their tyranny in 510 BC, so most of the men fighting at Marathon knew that if they lost the battle, it would return to the old system. Freedom was something worth fighting for, and according to Herodotus, it made the Athenians fight better.

The Battle of Marathon was one of the most important battles in the ancient world, if not in all of history because it temporarily stopped the westward expansion of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and gave the allied Greek city-states a rallying cry. Although the Athenians and their Plataean allies were outnumbered at Marathon, they won a decisive tactical and moral victory for several reasons.

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