Qualla: Battle of Marathon https://qualla.com/battle-of-marathon en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:30 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/c/0/battle-of-marathon-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Marathon https://qualla.com/battle-of-marathon Battle of Marathon: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-marathon/ Photo credit Tomisti, CC BY-SA 4.0. The two mounds are still there. One is a long low rise by the road, holding the bones of one hundred ninety two Athenians; the other, a smaller tumulus a short walk away, covers the eleven Plataeans who died beside them. Twenty five hundred years of farming, draining, road building, and tourism have not removed them. Stand at the top of the larger mound today and you can see out over the plain to the bay, and you can see why a Persian fleet, thinking strategically, would beach there. You can also see why nine thousand Athenian citizens, looking at the same ground, decided to fight.

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Image: Tomisti | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/c/0/battle-of-marathon-wp/swc0-battle-of-marathon-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Marathon: Why the Persians Came https://qualla.com/battle-of-marathon/ Photo credit Apaleutos25, CC BY-SA 4.0. Darius I had not forgotten. Years earlier, Athens and Eretria had sent troops to support the Ionian Revolt against Persian rule, and a Greek raiding force had marched inland and burned the lower city of Sardis. Herodotus says Darius had a servant whisper 'Master, remember the Ath...

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Image: Apaleutos25 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/c/0/battle-of-marathon-wp/swc0-battle-of-marathon-why-the-persians-came.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Marathon: The Runner https://qualla.com/battle-of-marathon/ Photo credit Edmund Ollier Publication date 1882, Public domain. Before the battle, Athens sent its best long-distance runner, Pheidippides, to Sparta to ask for help. He covered roughly two hundred and twenty five kilometers - a number to make modern ultrarunners take notice - and arrived in time to be told politely that Sparta was in the mid...

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Image: Edmund Ollier Publication date 1882 | Public domain

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/c/0/battle-of-marathon-wp/swc0-battle-of-marathon-the-runner.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Marathon: Why It Began When It Did https://qualla.com/battle-of-marathon/ Photo credit A.Savin, CC BY-SA 3.0. Both armies sat for days at Marathon, the Greeks blocking the two exits from the plain, the Persians holding the beach. Then, suddenly, the Greeks attacked. The reason, modern historians think, was that the Persian cavalry had begun re-embarking on the ships - perhaps to row arou...

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Image: A.Savin | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/c/0/battle-of-marathon-wp/swc0-battle-of-marathon-why-it-began-when-it-did.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Marathon: What Happened on the Plain https://qualla.com/battle-of-marathon/ Photo credit Tilemahos Efthimiadis, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Greeks broke into a run as they entered the killing range of the Persian archers, perhaps two hundred meters out. The shock of the impact, when it came, broke the Persian wings - composed largely of subject troops - while the elite Persians and Sakae in the center pushed the ...

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Image: Tilemahos Efthimiadis | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/c/0/battle-of-marathon-wp/swc0-battle-of-marathon-what-happened-on-the-plain.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Marathon: The Long Memory https://qualla.com/battle-of-marathon/ Photo credit Carl Robert, Public domain. Aeschylus, who had also fought that day, asked that his gravestone in Sicily make no mention of his plays. It records only that he was an Athenian and that he had stood at Marathon. The Athenians built monuments at Delphi from the spoils, dedicated a sculpture group to their trib...

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Image: Carl Robert | Public domain

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/c/0/battle-of-marathon-wp/swc0-battle-of-marathon-the-long-memory.mp3 0:06 6 full