Editing Battle of Marathon (section)

== Battle ==

=== First phase: the two armies form their lines ===
[[File:First phase of the Battle of Marathon- the two armies form their lines.svg|thumb|First phase]]
The distance between the two armies at the point of battle had narrowed to "a distance not less than 8 stadia" or about 1,500 meters.<ref name="VI112">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231018;layout=;loc=6.111.1 VI, 112] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230163022/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&redirect=true |date=2022-12-30 }}</ref> Miltiades ordered the two tribes forming the center of the Greek formation, the Leontis tribe led by [[Themistocles]] and the Antiochis tribe led by [[Aristides]], to be arranged in the depth of four ranks while the rest of the tribes at their flanks were in ranks of eight.<ref>Plutarch, ''Aristides'', V</ref><ref name="VI111">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231018;layout=;loc=6.111.1 VI, 111] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230163022/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&redirect=true |date=2022-12-30 }}</ref> Some modern commentators have suggested this was a deliberate ploy to encourage a [[double envelopment]] of the Persian centre. However, this suggests a level of training that the Greeks are thought not to have possessed.<ref>Lazenby, p. 250</ref> There is little evidence for any such tactical thinking in Greek battles until [[Battle of Leuctra|Leuctra]] in 371&nbsp;BC.<ref>Lazenby, p. 258</ref> It is therefore possible that this arrangement was made, perhaps at the last moment, so that the Athenian line was as long as the Persian line, and would not therefore be outflanked.<ref name="h191" /><ref>Lazenby, p. 64</ref>

=== Second phase: the Greeks attack and the lines make contact ===
[[File:Les Héros de Marathon Georges Rochegrosse 1859.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Greek troops rushing forward at the Battle of Marathon, [[Georges Rochegrosse]], 1859.|left]]
[[File:Second phase of the Battle of Marathon-the Greeks attack and the lines make contact.svg|thumb|Second phase]]
When the Athenian line was ready, according to one source, the simple signal to advance was given by Miltiades: "At them".<ref name="h191" /> Herodotus implies the Athenians ran the whole distance to the Persian lines, a feat under the weight of hoplite armory generally thought to be physically impossible.<ref>Dennis L. Fink, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wOPDAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 ''The Battle of Marathon in Scholarship: Research, Theories and Controversies Since 1850,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230163031/https://books.google.it/books?id=wOPDAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 |date=2022-12-30 }} McFarland, 2014 pp. 154–60.</ref><ref name="L66">Lazenby, pp. 66–69</ref> More likely, they marched until they reached the limit of the archers' effectiveness, the "beaten zone" (roughly 200 meters), and then broke into a run towards their enemy.<ref name="L66" /> Another possibility is that they ran ''up to'' the 200 meter-mark in broken ranks, and then reformed for the march into battle from there.  Herodotus suggests that this was the first time a Greek army ran into battle in this way; this was probably because it was the first time that a Greek army had faced an enemy composed primarily of missile troops.<ref name="L66" /> All this was evidently much to the surprise of the Persians; "... in their minds they charged the Athenians with madness which must be fatal, seeing that they were few and yet were pressing forwards at a run, having neither cavalry nor archers".<ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=6.110 VI, 110] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230163033/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&redirect=true |date=2022-12-30 }}</ref> Indeed, based on their previous experience of the Greeks, the Persians might be excused for this; Herodotus tells us that the Athenians at Marathon were "first to endure looking at Median dress and men wearing it, for up until then just hearing the name of the Medes caused the Hellenes to panic".<ref name="VI112" /> Passing through the hail of arrows launched by the Persian army, protected for the most part by their armour, the Greek line finally made contact with the enemy army.

=== Third phase: the Greek center is pushed back ===
[[File:Third phase of the Battle of Marathon-the Greek center is pushed back.svg|thumb|Third phase]]
[[File:They crashed into Persian army with tremendous force.jpg|thumb|"They crashed into the Persian army with tremendous force", [https://archive.org/stream/storyofgreecetol00macg#page/136/mode/2up illustration] by Walter Crane in Mary Macgregor, ''The Story of Greece Told to Boys and Girls'', London: T.C. & E.C. Jack.|left|upright=0.7]]
{{Blockquote|quote=They fought a long time at Marathon. In the center of the line the foreigners prevailed, where the Persians and Sacae were arrayed. The foreigners prevailed there and broke through in pursuit inland, but on each wing the Athenians and Plataeans prevailed.|author=''Herodotus VI.113.''}}

=== Fourth phase: the Persian wings collapse ===
[[File:Fourth phase of the Battle of Marathon-the Persian wings collapse.svg|thumb|Fourth phase]]
The Athenian wings quickly routed the inferior Persian levies on the flanks, before turning inwards to surround the Persian centre, which had been more successful against the thin Greek centre.<ref name="VI113" />

=== Fifth phase: the Persians are routed and retreat to their ships ===
[[File:Fifth phase of the Battle of Marathon-the Persians are routed and retreat to their ships.svg|thumb|Fifth phase]]
[[File:The Battle of Marathon.jpg|thumb|[[Cynaegirus]] grabbing a Persian ship at the Battle of Marathon (19th century illustration).|left]]The battle ended when the Persian centre then broke in panic towards their ships, pursued by the Greeks.<ref name="VI113">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=6.113.1 VI, 113] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230163030/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&redirect=true |date=2022-12-30 }}</ref> Some, unaware of the local terrain, ran towards the swamps where unknown numbers drowned.<ref name="Pausanias I, 32" /><ref>Lazenby, p. 71</ref> The Athenians pursued the Persians back to their ships, and managed to capture seven ships, though the majority were able to launch successfully.<ref name="VI115" /><ref name="VI114">Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=6.114.1 VI, 114] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230163022/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&redirect=true |date=2022-12-30 }}</ref> Herodotus recounts the story that [[Cynaegirus]], brother of the playwright [[Aeschylus]], who was also among the fighters, charged into the sea, grabbed one Persian trireme, and started pulling it towards shore. A member of the crew saw him, cut off his hand, and Cynaegirus died.<ref name="VI114" />

Herodotus records that 6,400 Persian bodies were counted on the battlefield, and it is unknown how many more perished in the swamps.<ref name = VI117>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%231023;layout=;loc=6.116.1 VI, 117] {{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> He also reported that the Athenians lost 192 men and the Plataeans 11.<ref name = VI117/> Among the dead were the war archon Callimachus and the general Stesilaos.<ref name = VI114/>