It was Cleisthenes who abolished the old clans and created ten new ones which comprised all the inhabitants of Attica without discrimination in respect of wealth or status. Each of those clans elected fifty deputies and these collectively constituted the source of all power in the state. Two remarkable laws characterized the new regime. One was the law of ostracism which made legal the exile of an Athenian upon the request of his fellow citizens confirmed by the com-munity, even if he was innocent of any crime. Its purpose was to rid the city of potential tyrants. The second law introduced the democratic procedure of electing officials and rulers by ballot.

When, therefore, clouds began to gather on the Attic horizon Athenians were reaping the first fruits of their new-born democracy and their morale was high. That is why in 496 B. C. they responded so eagerly to the plea for help which came from the lonians of Asia Minor who were in revolt against Darius. But the sack of Sardes by the allied forces of Ionians, Athenians and Eretrians gave the Persians a pretext for the idea they had long entertained of invading Greece.

At the first attempt to implement this policy Mardonius, the leader of the expedition, was drowned near Athos. It was a second expedition, led by Dates and Artaphernes and the Greek tyrant Hippies Pisistratos, which ended at Marathon when Athens acquired great glory.

Though communications at this period were not highly developed the Athenians were cognizant of Persian intentions and fully aware of the danger in which they stood. Hippias had his supporters within Athens but there were fewer Athenians than Eretrians prepared to betray the city in which they had a stake. When, therefore, the news came to Athens that the Persians had destroyed Eretria, the people were prepared to play their part.

It was fortunate for the Athenians that Miltiades, a powerful character, who had played an important part in the governance of the Thracian colonies of Athens, knew the Persians well and looked beyond the narrow confines of Attica. He suggested the destruction of the bridges built by the Persians across the Danube but having failed to persuade the colonists of this necessity he returned to Athens. There not only did he encourage the people to resist the enemy from Asia but he convinced them that to give battle was their only effective means of doing so.

The plain of Marathon to-day differs little from that of two thousand five hundred years ago. The same mountains overlook it and waves of the same sea beat upon its crescent shores.

Though the larger marsh which bounds it on the north and the lesser marsh which bounds it on the south have been much reduced, they have not disappeared. The area is still approached from Athens by two roads. The longer but easier road skirts the sea and enters from the south; the shorter but more difficult road crosses the mountains to debouch into the plain on either side of Mount Kotroni.

Of the ancient towns little remains. The site of Marathon is marked by some shepherd huts at a place on the mountain road called Vrana; but its name has been transferred to a modern village on the site of Oinoe. Provalinthos has given place to the modern Nea Makri; vestiges of Tricorythos’ have been recognized in the hamlet of Kato Souli. Agriliki where was once the Sanctuary of Heracles, is in the Valley of Avloni looking across to Mount Kotroni.

A visitor who takes the trouble to climb the hill and to view the plain from the Heracleion can easily visualize the remarkable scene when the army of Darius appeared with the intention of marching on Athens to chastise its citizens. In the bay, against the background of the Euboean mountains, was his mighty fleet comprising, besides the six hundred triremes bearing his infantry, many larger vessels carrying the cavalry horses which, because they had none, filled the Athenians with dread. Close by in the valley, hidden from the enemy by the bulk of Mount Kotroni. was the Athenian camp which served as Greek headquarters. Here the Athenians were joined by a contingent from Plataca, the only Greeks to come to their aid.

It is strange that the Athenians made no use of horses in the battle. Even the messenger sent to Sparta to ask for help, before the battle, and the messenger sent to Athens, to announce the victory, after the battle, were unmounted.

For ten days neither side made a move. This gave Miltiades, one of the ten generals leading the Greek army, time to assume the command and to ponder how best with an army of ten thousand freemen and as many slaves to combat the much more numerous enemy. On the tenth day Miltiades noticed a move for embarkation of the Persian army. This prompted him to expedite the clash. The Greeks took up a position on the plain in line of battle about a mile in length. This they achieved by reinforcing their wings at the expense of their centre. The centre was com-manded by Aristeides and Themistocles. The Persians responded by deploying to face them.

The Persians were renowned for their skill in archery and the Greeks for their skill in the use of their shields. Having offered the customary oaths in a loud voice the Athenians now advanced slowly but steadily towards the enemy taking care to keep out of range of the Persian arrows. Then they broke into a run and ran so fast that they were soon at close-quarters with the Persians (someone has taken the pains to calculate that the Persians could shoot 300.000 arrows against the Greeks -i.e. 15 arrows for each one of them- during the time preceding the fight at close-quarters).

But as a result of the speed of this attack which took the enemy by surprise and because of the good use they made of their shields the Greek casualties in this phase of the battle were small.

In what may be regarded as the second phase of the battle, the strengthened wings of the Greek army drove back the relatively weak Persian wings while the Greek centre fell back in good order before the strong Persian centre. When the well-disciplined Greek wings, on the order of Miltiades, now turned inwards and attacked the Persian centre from the rear, victory became certain. The Persians fled in a panic and many were trapped in the marshes. Flushed with victory the Greeks now hoped to capture the enemy fleet, but in this they were disappointed because very few ships had been drawn up on the shore. Seven vessels fell into their hands as did the Persian camp and they counted six thousand enemy dead. The Athenian dead numbered 192 but the number of Platacan and slave losses is not recorded. Among the casualties was Cynegiros, brother of the dramatist Aeschylos, who lost both hands when holding on to a Persian ship and even his head when he seized the prow with his teeth.

When the battle was over, Miltiades sent a messenger, Pheidippides, to Athens with news of the victory, who ran all the way. He had hardly whispered the words “We have won” (NENIKHKAMEN) and he fell dead, a glorious death which made him envied of all men.

The Athenians were unable to celebrate their victory as they would have wished for they had good reason to believe that the Persian fleet, which now set sail, was bound for Athens. Moreover Miltiades feared, that if his army relaxed the enemy might suddenly return and catch them in disarray. When, therefore, a mysterious signal was flashed on the summit of Pentelicus he rushed to Athens with the bulk of the army by the mountain route in a single day. Aristeidres was left at Marathon with two clans to care for the wounded, to bury the dead and to gather the booty. The Persians duly appeared in the Saronic Gulf but finding the army back in Athens they set sail for home.

The Athenians could at last breathe a sigh of relief. Great honours were bestowed on those who survived the battle and sacrifices were offered for those who had succumbed. They were buried on the field of battle and over their remains a tumulus was erected which may still be seen. But the ten columns erected in memory of the ten tribes, where for many generations the Athenians honoured the dead as heroes, are lost. Another tumulus covered the remains of the Platacans who received separate honours. Nor were the gods forgotten, for a tenth part of the spoils were allotted to them. The great statue of Athena which so long dominated the Athenian Acropolis and the Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi were now erected. Caves in the rock of the Acropolis and at Oinoe were dedicated to Pan, because the rout of the Persian army was attributed by the Greeks to their goat-footed god (it was now that “panic” was introduced into the Greek vocabulary, and from the Greek to other languages, with the meaning of unwarranted fear).

Seven hundred years later when the traveller Pausanias visited Marathon the memory of this decisive battle was still fresh in men’s mind and he records that lonely travellers crossing the plain would sometimes hear again the din of battle.

The honours bestowed on Miltiades and the authority rested in him exceeded what was permissible by law. He was made admiral of a fleet of seventy triremes and given command of an expeditionary force for a purpose known only to himself. Perhaps he planned to carry war into Persian territory or to punish those who had aided Darius. At Paros. where he had a personal account to settle, he failed in his purpose and was wounded. He was put on trial and only the fact that he was suffering from gangrene saved the victor of Marathon from prison and perhaps execution. His son, the famous general Cimon. inherited both his father’s glory and his debts. How are we to account for the attitude of the Athenians to their savior? Was it that they honoured him when he deserved honour and punished him when he deserved punishment?

Engraved on the monument erected at Marathon by the Athenians were these words of Simonides :

This epigram makes clear that the Athenians who fought at Marathon were fully aware that they had waged war not only for their city but also for Greece, for freedom and for democracy. If for "Greeks" we substitute "free peoples" the true importance of the Battle of Marathon for mankind becomes very clear.