Who won the Battle of Marathon and why?

Answer 1

The Greek victory proved that their superior armor and tactics would persevere over a numerically superior enemy .

Answer 2

Athens victory over the Persian expeditionary force gave them great confidence. It also brought a lesson that they needed sea power to match a full Persian invasion, which the Greek city-states had assembled by the time of the major Persian invasion ten years later.

Answer 3

The victory of Greeks in the battle of Marathon was a surprise not only for the Greeks but for the world since they were fighting the Persian Armed forces that were 10 times bigger in numbers.

Answer 4

In the Battle of Marathon, the Athenian and Plataean armies defeat of the Persian expeditionary force convinced other Greek city-states that they could hold off Persian attempts to dominate them.

Answer 5

The Athenians were lurking in the hills around the Plain of Marathon to avoid the Persian cavalry, while waiting for Spartan reinforcement, when the say the Persian cavalry being loaded onto ships. Seizing the opportunity, the ran down and defeated the inferior Persian infantry unprotected by their cavalry.

Having won, they then realised that the cavalry was being shipped around to Athens to sieze the city in the absence of the army, so they ran back the 26 miles to Athens an formed up in front of the city just as the Persian cavalry was disembarking. Frustrated, the Persians went home.

Answer 6

It was not the Greeks, it was Athens and its ally Plataia.

The Athenians waited on the edge of the Plain of Marathon for reinforcement from Sparta. Then saw the superior Persian cavalry being embarked on ships and ran down and defeated the unsupported inferior Persian infantry.

Answer 7

It was the Athenians and their allies from Plataea who were facing a punitive expedition from Persia for interfering in a revolution in Asia Minor. They were waiting in the hills around the Plain of Marathon, where the Persian cavalry could not get at them, for the arrival of the Spartans who had agreed to help. After ten days they saw the Persian cavalry being embarked on ships. They seized the opportunity and their armoured warriors ran down and defeated the inferior unarmoured Persian infantry which were no longer protected by their cavalry.

They then got to thinking about where the Persian cavalry was going, and realised it was being shipped around to undefended Athens. So they ran back the 26 miles from Marathon and arrived to form up in front of the city as the Persian cavalry was being disembarked. The Persians gave up and went home.

This run by the 18,000-strong Athenian army is commemorated in today's 26-mile Marathon runs. The difference is that today's pampered athletes get it easy. The Athenians had to run back carrying armour and weapons, wearing sandals; they lived on a diet of barley bread, vegetables and fish and chicken sauce. Tough blokes.