What Is The Cause Of The Battle Of Marathon

The Battle of Marathon happened in 490 BC and lead to the rise of the city of Athens and the fall of the Persian Empire. The cause of the battle was the The Ionian Revolt which happened in 499-493 BC, the story is that Histiaeus didn’t like his long exile beyond the Tigris and wanted to go back to Ionia. He sent a message to Aristagoras on the head of a slave to tell him to start a rebellion. The Ionians got help from the Athenians but they saw the revolt was going to fail so left after they had burnt down Sardis according to Herodotus (5.102-5.103). This lead Darius to want be reminded of the Athenians so he could seek revenge as shown by Herodotus with the quote (6.94) “exhorted by his servant ‘remember the Athenians,’”. In 490 BC Darius
Pheidippides a runner for the Athenians sent message to Sparta help them fight the large Persian force. In response the Spartans said they will not help until their religious festival is over which was when the moon was full (in 10 days). Herodotus states (6.110) that Miltiades was the general that gained the deciding vote from Callimachus to fight the Persians without waiting for the Spartans. Herodotus does not say why the Athenians choose to attack the Persians but with no mention of the Persians cavalry during the battle we can suspect it is because the Persians split up there force for a separate attack. This would then favour the Athenians planax formation as it is weak to cavalry so it would make them decide the face the Persians. During mid battle “the barbarians were victorious” but the two wings containing Athenians and Plataeans defeated the Persians(6.113). Herodotus (6.117) states that 6,400 barbarians died and only 192 Athenians during the battle but it is hard to trust his numbers as he can be bias and exaggerate the numbers but he is the most accurate source about the battle we have so you can clearly see the limitations of the texts. The Persians then fled back to Asia ,the Spartans who arrived too late but praised Athenians for their great feat then went home and the Athenians celebrated this victory for many years
You see how important the battle was to the Athenians culturally, socially and politically through the artwork, plays, and buildings still 30 years after the battle. The temple of Nike is an ionic acropolis entrance in Athens as it shows the significance of battle of Marathon to the Athenians culturally. The Athenians building the temple in such a sacred place on the acropolis in Athens for all to see shows the significance of the battle and victory for them. Building it there was a massive honor for the god Nike as the land was very scared and not many temples were built there as shown on the map of acropolis. The chosen site shows you the Athenians want to remember the victory for many generations and they are proud of this victory as they built it as their entrance. In being victorious against the Persians and building the temple in honor of Nike the goddess of victory you see that it was important being victorious in the battle of Marathon as it became a part of their culture to be remembered for generations to come. In honoring Nike you see how big of an influence the gods had on the Athenians and how important religion actually is for