Well, only one thing to do now: Crush some Wolverines.
This week, we’ll take up one of the more famous battles in history. This battle really brings together two storylines. The first is the continuation of the Greco-Persian Wars. Many think of this battle as the first clash between the two, but, as we saw last time with the Battle of Lade and the Ionian Revolt, that’s not really true. However, this is not just a battle between the big, bad Persians and the tiny Athenians. It’s one of the final struggles in effort to establish Athenian Democracy, which is where we’ll start talking about this battle.
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Athenian Politics
Greece is a peninsula of peninsulas, cut through with rough hills that make movement overland hard, and cuts down on the fertile land one can farm. It does produce a number of valleys suitable for small towns, but only a few large plains exist- Attica, Boetia, Laconia, Messinia. Over the course of the 700s and 600s BC, a few city-states came to dominate their respective plains- Athens over Attica, Thebes over Boetia, and Sparta over Laconia and Messinia.
As these cities grew to dominate the other towns on their plain, they ran into a series of problems. The population of the plains was often at about the carrying capacity of the land, stretching food production. A lack of large rivers made the crops very dependent on good weather, which, in turn, left many small and medium farmers in a chronic cycle of debt that seemed, often, to be impossible to escape. Larger aristocratic families came to duel over the governments of these states. Different cities took different routes to solve this issue- Thebes just let everyone bicker in coups and counter-coups. Sparta’s arisocrats allied to create a warrior elite that ruled over a slave kingdom.
Athens attempted, in some ways, to follow Sparta in some ways. Namely, they tried to settle unrest by creating a written code of laws that would be published so everyone would know it. The first lawmaker, Dracon, wrote a law code so… draconic that it was quickly ignored. A generation or so later, the Athenians asked one of their own, Solon, to write some laws for them. Solon both wrote laws and a new constitution for Athens, which admitted a number of the hoplite class- that is, those men wealthy enough to own weapons and fight in the army- to an assembly. While the nobles still handled the cities affairs, Solon gave the hoplites a say in the city’s government by the 570s.
However, Solon’s reforms would not last long past his death. His reform still ignored most of Athens’ population- even most of the men in the army. Also, Solon’s death led to a power vacuum in the city, into which three families began to struggle for power at the expense of the populace. Into this tension stepped Peisistratos, Solon’s cousin. Peisistratos decided he could run Athens better than anyone else, and decided to prove it. He gathered up some armed men, and seized the Acropolis by a coup de main, taking control of the treasury, the citadel and the courts in 561. This lasted a few months before he was driven out by force and into exile. However, in 556, one of the leaders of the factions in Athens invited him back by offering him his daughter’s hand in marriage. Peisistratos returned, hiring a tall prostitute, Pyle, to ride in his chariot with him. He spread the rumor that Pyle was Athena herself, and the Athenians asked him to take control of the government as a tyrant again. This lasted a couple more years, before he was forced into exile again. During his lengthy period away from Athens, he built up great wealth, and built alliances and webs of influence. Using these webs of influence, he built up a large following, landed at Marathon, and marched on the city.
Once in the city, he set himself up as a private citizen. However, he was hardly any such thing. His wealth allowed him to make loans- and forgive them as needed. His alliances in the nobility allowed him to manipulate the city’s legislature and leadership. His championing of the lower classes gave him a body of support- violent or otherwise. His keen business sense kept his money coming in, and, in fact, helped stabilze the Athenian economy and promoted overseas trade, which would become more and more important to the city. His stabilizing influence, and the economic prosperity, made Peisistratos popular in the city, and most accepted his soft tyranny in the city. By ruling not by office, but by favor and alliance making, he diffused most of the criticism against him- after all, he didn’t rule, others did.
In the end, though, Peisistratos was a man, and men are mortal. He died in 527, and left his wealth to his sons, Hippias and Hipparchus. Hippias seemed to be most interested in running the city, but wasn’t doing it as well as his father. However, he was popular still, and was buoyed by the popularity of his brother, Hipparchus. Hipparchus was a patron of the arts, and used his family money to beautify the city. He was also a fan of teenage boys, and used his family money to get the ones he wanted. This led to trouble in 514, when he set his eyes on Harmodius, a young man who was already involved with another man, Aristegieton. Hipparchus didn’t take rejection well, taking his revenge by publicly shaming Harmodius’ sister in a public festival. Harmodius and Aristegieton decided to take revenge and, during another festival, attacked and slew Hipparchus.
While Hippias had the two men executed for the murder, he became increasingly paranoid as a result of the killings. He took his paranoia out on Athens, ruling with increasing despotism, rejecting the support of others, leading to alliances against him. He sniffed out these alliances, and killed those responsible. His increasing paranoia began to tear Athens apart, and Clisthenes, one of the aristocrats, decided to do something about it. In 508, he paid a Delphic Oracle off to command the Spartans to invade Athens and depose Hippias. The pious Spartans dutifully did the bidding of the gods, and no one came to Hippias’ defense. He locked himself in the citadel, but the Spartans took his family hostage. The two sides agreed that the Spartans would return his family, if he agreed to leave Greece. Hippias did, heading for Persia, and the court of Darius. Clisthenes then worked to restore regular government in Athens, reforming some of the assemblies to spread power around Attica.
Darius Strikes Back
Darius knew he had to deal with the situation in Greece. To allow Hellenic interference in his provinces was to invite trouble, given the wealth and position of his Greek subjects. He had tried to show them love, through the largess of his coffers and positions in his court. But, if the carrot didn’t work, he would need to try the stick.
In 492, he sent Mardonius, his trusted general who had put down the Ionian Revolt, across the Hellespont to Macedonia. Macedonia had been paying tribute to the Persians since the reign of Cyrus, but Darius wasn’t going to let anything related to the Greeks slide at this point. A year’s campaigning convinced the Macedonians to keep close to the Persians, and to accept more Persian control of their internal affairs. He also subjected the Greeks in Thrace to further campaigns to secure their loyalty, only ending his campaign when the ships that supplied his army were wrecked in a storm.
In 491, Darius announced to the Greeks that he was coming, and he planned to conquer Greece. His ambassadors went to each city, demanding the traditional tokens of earth and water to show their submission to the Persian Empire. In all the cities other than Athens and the cities of the Spartan led Peloponnesian League, the citizens agreed to submit. The Athenians arrested the Persian emissaries and executed them, sending the heads to Persia. The Spartans tossed the Persians down a well, telling them to dig out the earth and water from the bottom. It was the answer Darius expected, though he had hoped to ally with the Spartans.
With the overland through Greece largely closed off, Darius opted for a naval campaign. This would bring them to Naxos and Delos in the Aegean, where the Persians needed to settle some accounts. Then to Eretria, where the Persians would exact revenge for Sardis, and then down to Athens, which the Persians would also burn in return for Sardis, and punish the Athenians for the insolence. Darius sent Datis to command the army, and Artaphenes to support him with ships. He also sent Hippias along with them. Darius expected Hippias would betray Athens to him, and then Hippias would serve as satrap of Greece.
The expedition started well enough. The Persian fleet sailed to Naxos, where they burned the city and enslaved anyone too slow to run away from them. Then on to Delos, where the repeated their actions at Naxos. And then on to Eretria, where they… well, you get the idea. From there, Hippias suggested they sail to Marathon, where they could unload the army and march inland against Athens. He would contact his friends there, who would open the gates for them.
The Battle of Marathon.
The Athenians knew that Hippias approached with the Persians, and worried that he had spies and agents in the city that would open the gates for the enemy. They heard reports of shields being flashed from the walls, and other such signals from outside the city, which lead the Athenian commanders to believe that the city wouldn’t be safe- after all, Eretria had been betrayed from within. They also knew running wouldn’t solve anything. The Naxians had ran, and lost everything as a result. So, they resolved to march out of the city and face the Persians at the beach. They sent word to the Spartans that the Persians approached, so they should probably hurry up and get over to Athens. However, the Spartans replied that they were busy with a variety of festivals- they would be over as soon as they were done.
Without the Spartans, the Athenians would have to fight alone. Their army marched out to meet the Persians as they began to offload their ships. The Athenians were armed in the traditional Greek manner, largely as hoplites. The traditional view of the hoplites holds that they wore heavy armor- a bronze breastplate and helmet, bronze greaves, a large bronze round shield, and perhaps some bronze bracers. For weapons, they carried long spears, about eight feet long, and a short sword. That said, the reality was that few men would be completely armored. In order to stand in the line, a man needed a spear and a shield. Other parts of armor would be added as the man could afford them, or not. Some men would have had leather helmets, or perhaps iron ones. Leather or linen cuirasses were fairly common as well. Some others would also have no armor or shields, but would act as light infantry with bows and javelins. Still, in spite of this, the bulk of the Athenians would have as much armor as they could afford, and march with shields in a close formation, using each other’s shields for protection when they could. The Athenians brought about 9,000 men to Marathon.
The Persians were more of a combined arms force. They brought plenty of archers and horsemen, though these would play less of a role in Marathon. They also brought along some heavy infantry, though not as heavily armored as the Greeks. They wore leather jerkins, carried spears and wicker shields. The wicker would catch a spear o sword point, and make it easier to disarm an enemy. Some other forces rounded out the army- the Persians tended to take whatever men were armed with from different parts of the Empire. There were about 30,000 Persians on the beach at Marathon.
The Athenians left their city on August 5th, and arrived near Marathon on the 7th, as the Persians were offloading their troops and getting set. After that, both sides waited for 5 days, the Athenians because they were outnumbered, the Persians because they wanted to avoid attacking uphill against the Athenians position. However, once it became clear that the bulk of the Athenian army was at Marathon, Datis began loading up his cavalry on his ships to sail to another beach and attack the undefended city.
Seeing the Persians starting to load up, Miltiadates, the Athenian commander gave the order: “Get them!” The Athenians swarmed down the hills they defended and down towards the beach. Miltiadates ordered his center to advance in four ranks, his flank forces in eight ranks. Meanwhile, the Persians formed up into a dense formation. What remained of the cavalry in front, followed by ranks of archers, and then a dense array of infantry. This deployment meant that, while the Greek center was weak, it pushed the denser formations to the flank of the Persians, which could wrap around the Persian army to attack the Persian flank.
The armies started 1500 or so meters apart. Seeing the Greeks starting to move down, the Persians marched out to meet them. Once the armies closed within bow range, the Athenians broke into a run to cross the zone of archery. The Athenians moved with such speed that they were hard to hit, and the Persians could not get many shots off. Many of those that were hit were hit on their armor or shields, and so the Greeks took few casualties. The speed of the assault also created momentum for when the sides clashed, and the weight of Greek armor and the speed of the men attacking burst them through the Persian ranks, creating a close in melee- just the battle the Greeks wanted. The lighter armored Persians had little choice but to give way.
As they did, the Greek formations on their flanks curled in, and began to press home their attacks. The Persian forces quickly began to give way, streaming back to the beach and the protection of their ships. What Persians could boarded ships, which began to row away at a high speed. However, many could not, and were cut down from behind by the Greeks, or driven into the sea to drown, or to the nearby swamps to be hunted down later. Most of them got away, but, at the end of the battle, about 6,500 Persians lay dead on the field, for only 200 Greeks.
It was a magnificent victory, but the war was hardly over.
