The Marathon Story
The Battle that Changed Human History
By Paul Ostapuk
Setting the Stage
The first two decades of the fifth century B.C. marked one of the great turning points in
world history. These were the years of the Persian and Greek wars. The powerful Persian
Empire in 546 B.C. extended from Asia to Eygpt to what is now Turkey. This great empire
built the first Suez Canal which linked the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea.
Greece on the other hand, consisted of a scattering of independent city-states, called
poleis. These early city-states spawned the democratic ideas that have persisted into
modern times. Athens eventually became the largest and most prosperous polis. Another
Greek polis, Sparta, was not so democratic. They kept their kings and maintained a
conservative, regimented society built around military training and the art of war.
The Persian/Greek War
The Persian Empire over the years expanded to the Mediterrean Sea. In the process some
Greek settlements were conquered. Ionia was one such settlement. After many years, they
tried to revolt against the Persians but the uprising was immediately squashed by the
powerful Persian Army. By the year 490 B.C., the Persian Army was ready to expand their
territory and move into Europe. They landed a large force just outside of Athens on the
plains of Marathon and prepared for attack.
The Role of Phidippides
The Athens, vastly outnumbered, desperately needed the help of Sparta's military base to
help fend off the attack. Time was short, so the Athenian generals send Phidippides (or
Philippides) a professional runner to Sparta to ask for help. The 140 mile course was very
mountainous and rugged. Phidippides ran the course in about 36 hours. Sparta agreed to
help but said they would not take the field until the moon was full due to religious laws.
This would leave the Athenians alone to fight the Persian Army. Phidippides ran back to
Athens (another 140 miles!) with the disappointing news. Immediately, the small Athenian
Army (including Phidippedes) marched to the plains of Marathon to prepare for battle.
The Battle of Marathon
The Athenian Army was outnumbered 4 to 1 but they launched a suprise offensive thrust
which at the time appeared suicidal. But by day's end, 6400 Persian bodies lay dead on the
field while only 192 Athenians had been killed. The surviving Persians fled to sea and
headed south to Athens where they hoped to attack the city before the Greek Army could
Phidippides was again called upon to run to Athens (26 miles away) to carry the news of
the victory and the warning about the approaching Persian ships. Despite his fatigue after
his recent run to Sparta and back and having fought all morning in heavy armor,
Phidippides rose to the challenge. Pushing himself past normal limits of human endurance,
the reached Athens in perhaps 3 hours, deliverd his message and then died shortly
thereafter from exhaustion.
Sparta and the other Greek polies eventually came to the aid of Athens and eventually they
were able to turn back the Persian attempt to conquer Greece.
Concluding Remarks and Beginning of Olympic Marathon Races
The Greek victory marked one of the decisive events of world history because it kept an
Eastern power (the persians) from conquering what is now Europe. The victory gave the
Greeks incredible confidence in themselves, their government and their culture.
In the two centuries that followed, the Greek culture spread across much of the known
world. It made Europe possible and in affect won for civilization the opportunity to
develop its own ecomomic life.
Modern European-based nations such as the United States and Canada can trace their growth
straight back through an unbroken chain of Western historical events back to the Victory
Centuries later, the modern Olympic Games introduced a "marathon" race of
(40,000 meters or 24.85 miles). The winner was Spiridon Louis, a Greek postal worker
from village of Marusi and veteran of several long military marches , His time was 2
hours, 58 minutes, 50 seconds for the 40 kilometer distance (average pace of 7:11
minutes per mile).
At the 1908 Olympic Games in London, the marathon distance was changed to 26 miles to
cover the ground from Windsor Castleto White City stadium, with 385 yards added on so the
race could finish in front of King Edward VII's royal box. After 16 years of extremely
heated discussion, this 26.2 mile distance was established at the 1924 Olympics in Paris
as the official marathon distance.