Editing Battle of Marathon (section)

== Aftermath ==
{{Main|Greco-Persian Wars|Second Persian invasion of Greece}}
In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Herodotus says that the Persian fleet sailed around Cape Sounion to attack Athens directly.<ref name = VI115/> As has been discussed [[#Prelude|above]], some modern historians place this attempt just before the battle. Either way, the Athenians evidently realised that their city was still under threat, and marched as quickly as possible back to Athens.<ref name = VI116>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231022;layout=;loc=6.115.1 VI, 116] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230163522/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&redirect=true |date=2022-12-30 }}</ref>
The two tribes which had been in the centre of the Athenian line stayed to guard the battlefield under the command of Aristides.<ref>Holland, p. 218</ref> The Athenians arrived in time to prevent the Persians from securing a landing, and seeing that the opportunity was lost, the Persians turned about and returned to Asia.<ref name = VI116/> Connected with this episode, Herodotus recounts a rumour that this manoeuver by the Persians had been planned in conjunction with the Alcmaeonids, the prominent Athenian aristocratic family, and that a "shield-signal" had been given after the battle.<ref name = VI115/> Although many interpretations of this have been offered, it is impossible to tell whether this was true, and if so, what exactly the signal meant.<ref>Lazenby, pp. 72–73</ref> On the next day, the Spartan army arrived at Marathon, having covered the {{convert|220|km|mi|sp=us}} in only three days. The Spartans toured the battlefield at Marathon, and agreed that the Athenians had won a great victory.<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=6.120 VI, 120] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230163523/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&redirect=true |date=2022-12-30 }}</ref>

{{multiple image
| align         = right
| caption_align = center
| total_width   = 400
| image1        = Marathon Tomb of the Athenians 2.jpg
| caption1      = Mound (''soros'') in which the Athenian dead were buried after the Battle of Marathon.
| image2        = Marathon, tomb of the Plataeans.jpg
| caption2      = Tomb of the [[Plataea]]ns at Marathon.
}}
The Athenian and Plataean dead of Marathon were buried on the battlefield in [[Marathon tumuli|two tumuli]]. On the tomb of the Athenians this [[epigram]] composed by Simonides was written:

{{poemquote|{{lang|grc|Ἑλλήνων προμαχοῦντες Ἀθηναῖοι Μαραθῶνι
χρυσοφόρων Μήδων ἐστόρεσαν δύναμιν}}

Fighting at the forefront of the Greeks, the Athenians at Marathon
laid low the army of the gilded Medes.}}

Meanwhile, Darius began raising a huge new army with which he meant to completely subjugate Greece; however, in 486&nbsp;BC, his [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] subjects revolted, indefinitely postponing any Greek expedition.<ref name = h203>Holland, p. 203</ref> Darius then died whilst preparing to march on Egypt, and the throne of Persia passed to his son Xerxes I.<ref>Holland, pp. 206–207</ref> Xerxes crushed the Egyptian revolt, and very quickly restarted the preparations for the invasion of Greece.<ref name = h208>Holland, pp. 208–11</ref> The epic [[second Persian invasion of Greece]] finally began in 480&nbsp;BC, and the Persians met with initial success at the battles of Thermopylae and [[Battle of Artemisium|Artemisium]].<ref>Lazenby, p. 151</ref>  Defeat at the [[Battle of Salamis]] happened after Xerxes burnt Athens to the ground after Athenians left the city,<ref>Lazenby, p. 197</ref> and the next year the expedition was ended by the decisive Greek victory at the Battle of Plataea.<ref>Holland, pp. 350–55</ref>