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What has this got to do with our lesson today??

What has this got to do with our lesson today??. What about now?

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Page 1: What has this got to do with our lesson today??. What about now?

What has this got to do with our lesson today??

Page 2: What has this got to do with our lesson today??. What about now?

What about now?

Page 3: What has this got to do with our lesson today??. What about now?

The Battle of Marathon and Miltiades

Herodotus’ narrative of the Battle and surrounding events

Page 4: What has this got to do with our lesson today??. What about now?
Page 5: What has this got to do with our lesson today??. What about now?

Key themes:

1. The nature of the account and its content

2. The structure of the whole section of narrative

3. The rise and fall of Miltiades

Page 6: What has this got to do with our lesson today??. What about now?

Nature of the Account: 6.102-140 – an bridged versionUndaunted by the numerical superiority of the invaders, Athens mobilized 10,000 hoplite warriors to defend their territory. The two armies met on the Plain of Marathon twenty-six miles north of Athens. The flat battlefield surrounded by hills and sea was ideal for the Persian cavalry. Surveying the advantage that the terrain and size of their force gave to the Persians, the Greek generals hesitated.

“…The Athenians were drawn up in order of battle in a sacred close belonging to Heracles, when they were joined by the Plataeans, who came in full force to their aid.”

The Athenian generals were divided in their opinions. Some advised not to risk a battle, because they were too few to engage such a host as that of the Persians. Others were for fighting at once. Miltiades, seeing that opinions were thus divided, and that the less worthy counsel appeared likely to prevail, resolved to go to the polemarch [an honored dignitary of Athens], and have a conference with him. The polemarch at Athens was entitled to give his vote with the ten generals, since anciently the Athenians allowed him an equal right of voting with them. The polemarch at this juncture was Callimachus of Aphidnre.

‘….With you it rests, Callimachus, either to bring Athens to slavery, or, by securing her freedom, to be remembered by all future generations….We generals are ten in number, and our votes are divided: half of us wish to engage, half to avoid a combat. …..on you therefore we depend in this matter, which lies wholly in your own power. ….

Miltiades by these words gained Callimachus; and the addition of the polemarch's vote caused the decision to be in favor of fighting.'"

Miltiades arranges the Greek line of battle so that it stretches the length of the opposing, and far superior, Persian army. Then, much to the surprise of the Persians, he orders the Greek warriors to charge headlong into the enemy line.

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“…The Athenians...charged the barbarians at a run. Now the distance between the two armies was little short of eight furlongs [approximately a mile] The Persians, therefore, when they saw the Greeks coming on at speed, made ready to receive them, although it seemed to them that the Athenians were bereft of their senses, and bent upon their own destruction…Such was the opinion of the barbarians; but the Athenians in close array fell upon them, and fought in a manner worthy of being recorded. They were the first of the Greeks, so far as I know, who introduced the custom of charging the enemy at a run, and they were likewise the first who dared to look upon the Persian garb, and to face men clad in that fashion. Until this time the very name of the Persians had been a terror to the Greeks to hear.

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“…The two armies fought together on the plain of Marathon for a length of time; and in the mid-battle the barbarians were victorious, and broke and pursued the Greeks into the inner country; but on the two wings the Athenians and the Plataeans defeated the enemy.”

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“…Having so done, they suffered the routed barbarians to fly at their ease, and joining the two wings in one, fell upon those who had broken their own center, and fought and conquered them. These likewise fled, and now the Athenians hung upon the runaways and cut them down, chasing them all the way to the shore, on reaching which they laid hold of the ships and called aloud for fire."

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Athenian burial mound on the plain at Marathon

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The helmet of the Athenian General Miltiades, with the inscription inside "Miltiades dedicated to Zeus", most likely after the battle of Marathon, 490 BC

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Persian helmet, 500-480 BC."The Athenians took [this helmet] from the Medes [and dedicated it] to Zeus".

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Structure of the NarrativeThis section of the histories deals with one of the defining moments of the Persian wars, and Athenian history in general. What key themes can we identify within it?

-Speeches – Miltiades’ speech acts as a mouthpiece for Herodotus to air his views.

-Military explanations – contrasting heavily with Thucydides and his eye for military detail, Herodotus is concerned with an overview of the battle and a generalisation of events. Also notice the exaggeration of military figures – the number of Persian dead is considerably more than the Athenians and beyond reasonable judgement, although a large number of hastely buried skeletons have been unearthed on the battlefield.

-Homeric links – burial of the dead on the battlefield occurs during the Trojan Wars, whilst it was unusual in Greek culture to do so generally, the burial mounds suggests a cult growing up around the heroic dead. Circular composition – breaking off from the narrative to explain short stories is a Homeric style. Similarly, an impartiality towards the enemy is a stark contrast from contemporary sources about Greeks, often much more dismissive, Herodotus is pleasant towards the Persians.

-Chronology – as Miltiades’ career ends in disgrace, Herodotus ends the narrative with a story about his capture of Lemnos, which occurred several years earlier.

-Role of Religion and Oracles – Sparta cannot take part in the defence because of a religious festival, whilst Miltiades decided to act because of a favourable omen – later sources suggest there was a tip off from Ionian deserters that the Persian cavalry was ‘away’ (presumably being loaded back on the ships bound for the attack on Athens).

- Evidence – Herodotus appears to have interviewed survivors of Marathon – partly due to the accuracy of his work, but also the timing of his writing would have made this sufficient.

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Rise and Fall of Miltiades

Miltiades is the central figure of Herodotus’ account as he focuses on personal and cultural details unlike the precise military detail of Thucydides with the campaigns of the Peloponnesian wars.

Your weekend task:

1. Write a brief biography of Miltiades and his role before, during and after Marathon.

2. What were the consequences of the battle of Marathon?

Read and make notes the immediate aftermath as described by Herodotus in passages 1-4 book 7.