 Section 35 of the Great Events, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 1, edited by Charles F. Horne, Rosseter Johnson, and John Rudd. The Battle of Marathon, BC 490, Part 2. The Plain of Marathon, which is about 22 miles distant from Athens, lies along the bay of the same name on the northeastern coast of Attica. The Plain is nearly in the form of a crescent, and about 6 miles in length. It is about 2 miles broad in the center, where the space between the mountains and the sea is greatest, but it narrows toward either extremity, the mountains coming close down to the water at the horns of the bay. There is a valley trending inward from the middle of the plain, and a ravine comes down to it to the south route. Elsewhere, it is closely gerts round on the landside by rugged limestone mountains, which are thickly studded with pines, olive trees, and cedars, and overgrown with the myrtle, arbitus, and the other low, odiferous shrubs that everywhere perfume theatic air. The level of the ground is now varied by the mound raised over those who fell in the battle, but it was an unbroken plain when the Persians encamped on it. There are marshes at each end, which are dry in spring and summer, and then offer no obstruction to the horsemen, but are commonly flooded with rain and so rendered impracticable for cavalry in the autumn, the time of year at which the action took place. The Greeks, lying encamped on the mountains, could watch every movement of the Persians on the plain below while they were enabled completely to mask their own. Miltiades also had, from his position, the power of giving battle whenever he pleased, or of delaying it at his discretion, unless status were to attempt the perilous operation of storming the heights. If we turn to the map of the Old World to test the comparative territorial resources of the two states whose armies were now about to come into conflict, the immense preponderance of the material power of the Persian king over that of the Athenian Republic is more striking than any similar contrast which history can supply. It has been truly remarked that in estimating mere areas, Attica, containing on its whole surface only 700 square miles, shrinks into insignificance if compared with many a baronial fife of the Middle Ages or many a colonial allotment of modern times. Its antagonist, the Persian Empire, comprised the whole of modern Asiatic and much of modern European Turkey, the modern Kingdom of Persia, and the countries of modern Georgia, Armenia, Balkh, the Punjab, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Egypt, and Tripoli. Nor could a European in the beginning of the 5th century before our era look upon this huge accumulation of power beneath the scepter of a single Asiatic ruler with the indifference with which we now observe on the map the extensive dominions of modern Oriental sovereigns. Before, as has already been remarked, before a marathon was fought, the prestige of success and of supposed superiority of race was on the side of the Asiatic against the European. Asia was the original seat of human societies, and long before any trace can be found of the inhabitants of the rest of the world having emerged from the rudest barbarism, we see that mighty and brilliant empires flourished in the Asiatic continent. They appear before us through the twilight of primeval history, dim and indistinct, but massive and majestic, like mountains in the early dawn. Instead, however, of the infinite variety and restless change which has characterized the institutions and fortunes of European states ever since the commencement of the civilization of our continent, a monotonous uniformity pervades the histories of nearly all Oriental empires from the most ancient down to the most recent times. They are characterized by the rapidity of their early conquests, by the immense extent of the dominions comprised in them, by the establishment of a satrap or partial system of governing the provinces, by an invariable and speedy degeneracy in the princes of the royal house, the effeminate nurselings of the Seroglio succeeding to the warrior sovereigns reared in the camp, and by the internal anarchy and insurrections which indicate and accelerate the decline and fall of these unwieldy and ill-organized fabrics of power. It is also a striking fact that the governments of all the great Asiatic empires have in all ages been absolute depotisms. And Heron is right in connecting this with another great fact which is important from its influence both on the political and the social life of Asiatics. Among all the considerable nations of Inner Asia, the paternal government of every household was corrupted by polygamy. Where that custom exists, a good political constitution is impossible. Fathers being converted into domestic despots are ready to pay the same abject obedience to their sovereign which they exact from their family and dependence in their domestic economy. We should bear in mind also the inseparable connection between the state religion and all legislation which is always prevailed in the East. And the constant existence of a powerful sacerdotal body exercising some check, though precarious and irregular over the throne itself, grasping at all civil administration, claiming the supreme control of education, stereotyping the lines in which literature and science must move, and limiting the extent to which it shall be lawful for the human mind to prosecute its inquiries. With these general characteristics rightly felt and understood, it becomes a comparatively easy task to investigate and depreciate the origin, progress and principles of Oriental empires in general, as well as of the Persian monarchy in particular. And we are thus better enabled to appreciate the repulse which Greece gave to the arms of the East, and to judge of the probable consequences to human civilization if the Persians had succeeded in bringing Europe under their yoke, as they had already subjugated the fairest portions of the rest of the then known world. The Greeks, from their geographical position, formed the natural vanguard of European liberty against Persian ambition, and they preeminently displayed the salient points of distinctive national character which have rendered European civilization so far superior to Asiatic. The nations that dwelt in ancient times around and near the northern shores of the Mediterranean Sea were the first in our continent to receive from the East the rudiments of art and literature, and the germs of social and political organizations. Of these nations, the Greeks, through their vicinity to Asia Minor, Phoenicia and Europe, were among the very foremost in acquiring the principles and habits of civilized life, and they also at once imparted a new and wholly original stamp on all which they received. Thus, in their religion, they received from foreign settlers the names of all their deities and many of their rights, but they discarded the loathsome monstrosities of the Nile, the Orantes and the Ganges. They nationalized their creed, and their own poets created their beautiful mythology. No sacerdotal caste ever existed in Greece, so in their governments they lived long under hereditary kings, but never endured the permanent establishment of absolute monarchy. Their early kings were constitutional rulers governing with defined prerogatives, and long before the Persian invasion, the kingly form of government had given way in almost all the Greek states to republican institutions, presenting infinite varieties of the blending or the alternate predominance of the oligarchical and democratic principles. In literature and science, the Greek intellect followed no beaten track and acknowledged no limiter rules. The Greeks thought their subjects boldly out, and the novelty of a speculation invested it in their minds with interest and not with criminality. Versatile, restless, enterprising, and self-confident, the Greeks presented the most striking contrast to the habitual quietude and submissiveness of the Orientals. And of all the Greeks, the Athenians exhibited these national characteristics in the strongest degree. This spirit of activity and daring, joined to a generous sympathy for the fate of their fellow Greeks in Asia, had led them to join in the last Ionian War, and now mingling with their abhorrence of the usurping family of their own citizens, which for a period had forcibly seized on and exercised despotic power at Athens, nerve to them to defy the wrath of King Darius, and to refuse to receive back at his bidding the tyrant whom they had some years before driven out. The enterprise and genius of an Englishman have lately confirmed by fresh evidence and invested with fresh interest the mites of the Persian monarch who sent his troops to combat at Marathon. Inscriptions in a character termed the arrow-headed, or cuneiform, had long since been known to exist on the marble monuments at Persepolis, near the side of ancient Sousa, and on the faces of rocks in other places formerly ruled over by the early Persian kings. But for thousands of years they had been mere, unintelligible, enigmas to the curious but baffled beholder. And they were often referred to as instances of the folly of human pride, which could indeed write its own praises in the solid rock, but only for the rock to outlive the language, as well as the memory of the vain glorious inscribers. The elder Nebure, Grotvind, and Lassen had made some guesses at the meaning of the cuneiform letters, but Major Rawlinson of the East India Company's service, after years of labor, has at last accomplished the glorious achievement of fully revealing the alphabet and the grammar of this long unknown tongue. He has in particular fully deciphered and expanded the inscription on the sacred rock of Biaston on the western frontiers of Medea. These records of the Acha Manide have at length found their interpreter, and Darius himself speaks to us from the consecrated mountain and tells us the names of the nations that obeyed him, the revolts that he suppressed, his victories, his piety, and his glory. Kings who thus seek the admiration of posterity are little likely to dim the record of their successes by the mention of their occasional defeats. And there throws no suspicion on the narrative of the Greek historians that we find these inscriptions silent respecting the overthrow of Datus and Adafurnis, as well as respecting the reverses which Darius sustained in person during his Scythian campaigns. But these indisputable monuments of Persian fame confirm and even increase the opinion with which Rotitus inspires us of the vast power which Cyrus founded and Cambesus increased, which Darius augmented by Indian and Arabian conquests and seemed likely when he directed his arms against Europe to make the predominant monarchy of the world. With the exception of the Chinese Empire, in which throughout all ages down to the last few years, one third of the human race has dwelt almost unconnected with the other portions, all of the great kingdoms which we know to have existed in ancient Asia were, in Darius' time, blended into the Persian. The Northern Indians, the Assyrians, the Syrians, the Babylonians, the Chaldeas, the Phoenicians and the nations of Palestine, the Armenians, the Bactrians, the Lydians, the Phrygians, the Parthians, and the Medes all obeyed the scepter of the great king. The Medes standing next to the native Persians in honor and the Empire being frequently spoken of as that of the Medes or as that of the Medes and the Persians. Egypt and Cyrene were Persian provinces. The Greek colonists in Asia Minor and the islands of the Aegean were Darius subjects. In their gallant but unsuccessful attempts to throw off the Persian yoke had only served to rivet it more strongly and to increase the general belief that the Greeks could not stand before the Persians in a field of battle. Darius-Syphian War, the one successful in its immediate object had brought about the subjugation of Thrace and the submission of Macedonia from the Indus to the Penaeus, all was his. We may imagine the wrath with which the Lord of so many nations must have heard nine years before the Battle of Marathon that a strange nation toward the setting sun called the Athenians had dared to help his rebels in Ionia against him and that they had plundered and burned the capital of one of his provinces. Before the burning of Sardis, Darius seems never to have heard of the existence of Athens but his satraps in Asia Minor had for some time seen Athenian refugees at their provincial courts imploring assistance against their fellow countrymen. When Hipeus was driven away from Athens and the tyrannic dynasty of the Pisces Traetidae finally overthrown in BC 510 the banished tyrant and his adherents after vainly seeking to be restored by Spartan intervention had be taken themselves to Sardis, the capital city of the satrape of Artafernes. Their Hipeus, in the expressive words of Herodotus began every kind of agitation slandering the Athenians before Artafernes and doing all he could to induce the satrap to place Athens in subjection to him as the tributary vassal of King Darius. When the Athenians heard of his practices they sent envoys to Sardis to remonstrate with the Persians against taking up the quarrel of the Athenian refugees. But Artafernes gave them in reply a menacing command to receive Hipeus back again if they looked for safety. The Athenians were resolved not to purchase safety at such a price and after rejecting the satrap's terms they considered that they and the Persians were declared enemies. At this very crisis the Ionian Greeks implored the assistance of their European brethren to enable them to recover their independence from Persia. Athens in the city of Eritrea in Yubia alone consented. Twenty Athenian galleys and five Eritrean crossed the Aegean Sea and by a bold and sudden march upon Sardis the Athenians and their allies succeeded in capturing the capital city of the Haute Satrap who had recently menaced them with servitude or destruction. They were pursued and defeated on their return to the coast and Athens took no further part in the Ionian War but the insult that she had put upon the Persian power was speedily made known throughout that empire and was never to be forgiven or forgotten. In the emphatic simplicity of the narrative of Herodotus the wrath of the great king is thus described. Now when it was told to King Darius that Sardis had been taken and burned by the Athenians and Ionians he took small heed of the Ionians well knowing who they were and that their revolt would soon be put down but he asked who and what manner of men the Athenians were and when he had been told he called for his bow and having taken it and placed an arrow on the string he let the arrow fly toward heaven and as he shot it into the air he said Oh Supreme God grant me that I may avenge myself on the Athenians and when he had said this he pointed one of his servants to say to him every day as he sat at meet Sire remember the Athenians some years were occupied in the complete reduction of Ionia but when this was effected Darius ordered his victorious forces to proceed to punish Athens and Eritrea and to conquer European Greece the first armament said for this purpose were shattered by shipwreck and nearly destroyed off Mount Athos but the purpose of King Darius was not easily shaken a larger army was ordered to be collected in Cilicia and requisitions were sent to all the maritime cities of the Persian Empire for ships of war and for transports of sufficient size for carrying cavalry as well as infantry across the Aegean while these preparations were being made Darius sent heralds round to the Grecian cities demanding their submission to Persian it was proclaimed in the marketplace of each little Hellenic state some with territories not larger than the Isle of Wight that King Darius the lord of all men from the rising to the setting sun required earth and water to be delivered to his heralds as a symbolical acknowledgment that he was head and master of the country terror stricken at the power of Persia and at the severe punishment that had recently been inflicted on refractory Ionians many of the continental Greeks and nearly all the islanders submitted and gave the required tokens of vassalage at Sparta and Athens an indignant refusal was returned a refusal which was disgraced by outrage and violence against the persons of the Asiatic heralds fresh fuel was thus added to the anger of Darius against Athens and the Persian preparations went on with renewed vigor in the summer of BC 490 the army destined for the invasion was assembled in the Elian plain of Cilicia near the sea a fleet of 600 galleys and numerous transports was collected on the coast for the embarkation of troops horse as well as foot a Median general named Datus and Adafurnis the son of the satrap of Sardis and who was also nephew of Darius replaced in titular joint command of the expedition the real supreme authority was probably given to Datus alone from the way in which the Greek writers speak of him we know no details of the previous career of this officer but there is every reason to believe that his abilities and bravery had been proved by experience or his Median birth would have prevented his being placed in high command by Darius he appears to have been the first Med who was thus trusted by the Persian kings after the overthrow of the conspiracy of the Median magi against the Persians immediately before Darius obtained the throne Datus received instructions to complete the subjugation of Greece and his special orders were given him with regard to Eritrea and Athens he was to take these two cities and he was to lead the inhabitants away captive and bring them as slaves into the presence of the great king Datus embarked his forces in the fleet that awaited them and coasting along the shores of Asia Minor till he resolved Samos he then sailed due westward through the Aegean Sea for Greece taking the islands in his way the Naxians had ten years before successfully stood a siege against the Persian armament but they now were too terrified to offer any resistance and fled to the mountaintops while the enemy burned their town and laid waste their lands then Datus, compelling the Greek islanders to join him with their ships and men sailed onward to the coast of Euboea the little town of Caristus essayed resistance but was quickly overpowered he next attacked Eritrea the Athenians sent 4,000 men to its aid but treachery was at work among the Eritreans and the Athenian force received timely warning from one of the leading men of the city to retire to aid in saving their own country instead of remaining to share in the inevitable destruction of Eritrea left to themselves the Eritreans repulsed the assaults of the Persians against their walls for 6 days when the 7th they were betrayed by two of their chiefs and the Persians occupied the city the temples were burned in revenge for the firing of Sardis and the inhabitants were bound and placed as prisoners in the neighboring island of Agilia to wait there till Datus should bring the Athenians to join them in captivity when both populations were to be led into Upper Asia there to learn their doom from the lips of King Darius himself flushed with success and with half his mission thus accomplished Datus re-embarked his troops and crossing the little channel that separates Ubia from the mainland he encamped his troops on the Attic coast at Marathon drawing up his galleys on the shelving beach as was the custom with the navies of antiquity the conquered islands behind him served as places of deposit for his provisions and military stores his position at Marathon seemed to him in every respect advantageous and the level nature of the ground on which he camped was favorable for the employment of his cavalry if the Athenians should venture to engage him the Pius who accompanied him as the guide of the invaders had pointed out Marathon as the best place for a landing for this very reason probably, the Pius was also influenced by the recollection that 47 years previously he, with his father Piscistratus had crossed with an army from Eritrea to Marathon and had won an easy victory over their Athenian enemies on that very plain which had restored them with a unique power the Omen seemed cheering the place was the same but if Pius soon learned to his cost how great a change had come over the spirit of the Athenians but though the fierce democracy of Athens was zealous and true against foreign invader and domestic tyrant a faction existed in Athens as at Eritrea who were willing to purchase 30 triumphs over their fellow citizens at the price of their country's ruin communications were opened between these men in the Persian camp which would have led to a catastrophe like that of Eritrea if Miltiades had not resolved and persuaded his colleagues to resolve on fighting at all hazards when Miltiades arrayed his men for action he staked on the arbitrement of one battle not only the fate of Athens but that of all Greece for if Athens had fallen no other Greek state except Lacedaemon would have had the courage to resist and the Lacedaemians though they would probably have died in their ranks to the last man never could have successfully resisted the victorious Persians and the numerous Greek troops which would have soon marched and satraps had they prevailed over Athens nor was there any power to the westward of Greece that could have offered an effectual opposition to Persia had she once conquered Greece and made that country a basis for future military operations Rome was at this time in her season of utmost weakness her dynasty of powerful Etruscan kings had been driven out was reeling under the attacks of the Etruscans and Vulsians from without and the fierce dissensions between the patricians and plebeians within Etruria with her Leukimos and serfs Samnium had not grown into the might which she afterward put forth nor could the Greek colonies in south Italy and Sicily hope to conquer when their parent states had perished had escaped the Persian yoke in the time of Cambesus through the reluctance of the Phoenician mariners to serve against their kinsmen but such forbearance could not long have been relied on and the future rival of Rome would have become as submissive a minister of the Persian power as were the Phoenician cities themselves if we turn to Spain or if we pass the great mountain chain which prolonged through the Pyrenees the Savannes the Alps and the Balkan divides northern from southern Europe we shall find nothing at that period but mere savage Finns, Celts, Slavs and Tzutons had Persia beaten Athens at Marathon she could have found no obstacle to prevent Darius the chosen servant of Ormans from advancing his sway over all the known restaurant races of time the infant energies of Europe would have been trodden out beneath universal conquest in the history of the world like the history of Asia have become a mere record of the rise and fall of despotic dynasties of the incursions of barbarous hordes and of the mental and political prostration of millions beneath the diadem the tiara End of Section 35 The Battle of Marathon Part 2 Section 36 of the Great Events Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Great Events by famous historians Volume 1 Edited by Charles F. Horn Rosseter Johnson and John Rudd The Battle of Marathon B.C. 490 Part 3 Great as the preponderance of the Persian over the Athenian power at that crisis seems to have been it would be unjust to impute wild rashness to the policy of multities and those who voted with him in the Athenian Council of War or to look on the aftercurrents of events as the mere fortunate result of successful folly As before has been remarked Multities while Prince of the Cherisines had seen service in the Persian armies and he knew by personal observation how many elements of weakness lurked beneath their imposing aspect of strength he knew that the bulk of their troops no longer consisted of the hardy shepherds and mountaineers from Persia proper and Kurdistan who won Cyrus's battles but that unwilling contingents from conquered nations now filled up the Persian muster rolls fighting more from compulsion than from any zeal in the cause of their masters he had also the sagacity and the spirit to appreciate the superiority of the Greek armor and organization over the notwithstanding former reverses above all he felt and worthily trusted the enthusiasm of those whom he led the Athenians whom he led had proved by their newborn valor in recent wars against the neighboring states that liberty and equality of civic rights are brave spirit-stirring things they who while under the yoke of a despot had been no better men of war than any of their neighbors as soon as they were free became the foremost men of all for each felt that in fighting for a free commonwealth he fought for himself and whatever he took in hand he was zealous to do the work thoroughly so the nearly contemporaneous historian describes the change of spirit that was seen in the Athenians after their tyrants were expelled and multities knew that in leading them against the invading army where they had Hipeas the foe they most hated before them he was bringing into battle no ordinary men and could calculate or no ordinary heroism as for traitors he was sure that whatever treachery among some of the higher born and wealthier Athenians the rank and file whom he commanded were ready to do their utmost in his and their own cause with regard to future attacks from Asia he might reasonably hope that one victory would in spirit all Greece to combine against the common foe and that the latent seeds of revolts in disunion in the Persian Empire would soon burst forth and paralyze its energies so as to leave Greek independence secure with these hopes and risks multities when the afternoon of a September day BC 490 gave the word for the Athenian army to prepare for battle there were many local associations connected with those mountain heights which were calculated powerfully to excite the spirits of the men and of which the commanders well knew how to avail themselves in their exhortations to their troops before the encounter Marathon itself was a region sacred to Hercules close to them was the fountain of Micaria who had in days of yore devoted herself to death for the liberty of her people the very plan in which they were to fight the scene of the exploits of their national hero Theseus and there too as old legends told the Athenians and the Heracles had routed the invader Eurystheus these traditions were not mere cloudy myths or idle fictions but matters of implicit earnest faith to the men of that day and many a fervent prayer arose from the Athenian ranks to the heroic spirits who while on earth had striven and suffered on that very spot and who were believed to be now heavenly powers looking down with interest on their still beloved country and capable of interposing with superhuman aid in its behalf According to old national custom the warriors of each tribe were arrayed together neighbor thus fighting by the side of neighbor friend by friend in the spirit of emulation in the consciousness of responsibility excited to the very utmost the war ruler Calimacus had the leading of the right ring the platines formed the extreme left and their mysticlies and Aristides commanded the center the line consisted of the heavy armed spearmen only for the Greeks until the time of the Ficrates took little or no account of light armed soldiers in a pitched battle using them only in skirmishes or for the pursuit of a defeated enemy the panoply of the regular infantry consisted of a long spear of a shield, helmet breastplate, greaves and short sword Thus equipped they usually advanced slowly and steadily into action in a uniform phalanx of about eight spears deep but the military genius of Miltiades led him to deviate on this occasion from the commonplace tactics of his countrymen it was essential for him to extend his line so as to cover all the practicable ground and to secure himself for an outflanked and charged in the rear by the Persian horse this extension involved the weakening of his line instead of a uniform reduction of its strength he determined on detaching principally from his center which from the nature of the ground would have the best opportunities for rallying if broken and on strengthening his wings so as to ensure advantage at those points and he trusted to his own skill and to his soldiers discipline for the improvement of that advantage into decisive victory in this order and developing himself probably of the inequalities of the ground so as to conceal his preparations from the enemy till the last possible moment Miltiades drew up the eleven thousand infantry whose spears were to decide this crisis in the struggle between the European and the Asiatic worlds the sacrifices by which the favor of heaven was sought and its will consulted were announced to show propitious omens the trumpet sounded for action and chanting the hymn of battle the little army bore down upon the host of the foe then too along the mountain slopes of marathon must have resounded the mutual exhortation which escalates who fought in both battles tells us was afterward heard over the waves of Salamis on sons of the Greeks strike for the freedom of your country strike for the freedom of your children and your wives for the shrines of your father's gold and for the sepal curse of your sires all all are now staked upon the earth instead of advancing at the usual slow pace of the phalanx Miltiades brought his men on at a run they were all trained in the exercise of the palestra so that there was no fear of their ending the charge in breathless exhaustion and it was of the deepest importance for him to traverse as rapidly as possible the mile or so of level ground the lay between foot in the Persian outposts and so to get his troops into close action before the Asiatic cavalry could mount, form and maneuver against him or their archers keep him long under fire and before the enemy's generals could fairly deploy their masses when the Persians says Herodotus saw the Athenians running down on them without horse or bowmen and scanty in numbers they thought them a set of madmen rushing upon certain destruction they began however to prepare to receive them and the eastern chiefs arrayed as quickly as time and place allowed the varied races who served in their motley ranks mountaineers from Hurkania and Afghanistan, wild horsemen from the steppes of Karasin, the black archers of Ethiopia, swordsmen from the banks of the Indus, the Oksus, the Euphrates and the Nile made ready against the enemies of the great king but no national cause inspired them except the division of native Persians and in the large host there was no uniformity of language, creed, race or military system still among them there were many gallant men under a veteran general they were familiarized with victory and in contemptuous confidence their infantry which alone had time to form awaited the Athenian charge on came the Greeks with one unwavering line of leveled spears against which the light targets the short lances and cimeters of the orientals offered weak defense the front rank of the asiatics must have gone down to a man in the first shot still they recoiled not but strove by individual gallantry and by the weight of numbers to make up for the disadvantages of weapons and tactics and to bear back the shallow line of the Europeans in the center were the native Persians and the Seche fought they succeeded in breaking through the weakened part of the Athenian phalanx and the tribes led by Aristides their mysticlies were after a brave resistance driven back over the plain and chased by the Persians up the valley toward the inner country there the nature of the ground gave the opportunity of rallying and renewing the struggle meanwhile the Greek wings where multities had concentrated his chief strength had routed the asiatics opposed to them and the officers instead of pursuing the fugitives kept their troops well in hand and wheeling round they formed the two wings together multities instantly led them against the Persian center which had hitherto been triumphant but which now fell back and prepared to encounter these new and unexpected assailants Aristides and their mysticlies renewed the fight with their reorganized troops and the full force of the Greeks was brought into close action with the persian and satian divisions of the enemy Datus's veterans strove hard to keep their ground and the evening was approaching before the stern encounter was decided but the persians with their slight ricker shields destitute of body armor and never taught by training even front and act with the regular movement of the Greek infantry fought at heavy disadvantage with their shorter and feebler weapons against the compact array of well-armed Athenian and Platian spearsmen all perfectly drilled to perform each necessary evolution in concert and to preserve a uniform and unwavering line in battle in personal courage and creativity the persians were not inferior to their adversaries their spirits were not yet calmed by the recollection of former defeats and they lavished their lives freely rather than forfeit the fame which they had won by so many victories while their rear ranks poured an incessant shower of arrows over the heads of their comrades the foremost persians kept rushing forward singly sometimes in desperate groups of 10 or 12 upon the projecting spears of the Greeks striving to force a lane into the phalanx and to bring their cemeteries and daggers into play but the Greeks felt their superiority and though the fatigue of a long continued action told heavily on their inferior numbers the sight of the carnage that they dealt upon their assailants nerfed them to fight still more fiercely on at last the previously unvanquished lords of Asia turned their backs and fled and the Greeks followed striking them down to the water's edge where the invaders were now hastily launching their galleys and seeking to embark and fly flushed with success the Athenians attacked and strove to fire the fleet but here the Asiatic resisted desperately and the principal loss sustained by the Greeks was in the assault on the ships here fell the brave war ruler Calimacus and the general Cestalos and the other Athenians of note seven galleys were fired but the persians succeeded in saving the rest they pushed off from the fatal shore but even here the skill of Davis did not desert him and he sailed round to the western coast of Attica in hopes to find the city unprotected and to gain possession of it from some of the partisans of Hipeas Miltiades however saw and counteracted his maneuver leaving Aristotus and the troops of his tribe to guard the spoil and the slain the Athenian commander led his conquering army by a rapid night march back across the country to Athens and when the Persian fleet had doubled the Cape of Sunium and sailed up to the Athenian harbor in the morning Davis saw a raid on the heights above the city the troops before whom his men had fled on the previous evening all hope of further conquest in Europe for the time was abandoned the baffled Armada returned to the Asiatic coasts after the battle had been fought but while the dead bodies were yet on the ground the promised reinforcement from Sparta arrived 2000 Lacedaemonian spearmen starting immediately after the full moon had marched the 150 miles between Athens and Sparta in the wonderfully short time of three days and right to share in the glory of the action they requested to be allowed to march to the battlefield to be hauled the meaties they proceeded thither gazed on the dead bodies of the invaders and then praising the Athenians and what they had done they returned to Lacedaemon the number of the Persian dead was 6400 of the Athenians 192 the number of the Plateans who fell is not mentioned but as they fought in the part of the army which was not broken it cannot have been large the apparent disproportion between the losses of the two armies is not surprising when we remember the armor of the Greek spearmen and the impossibility of heavy slaughter being inflicted by sword or lance on troops so armed they kept firm in their wrecks the Athenian slain were buried on the field of battle this was contrary to the usual custom according to which the bones of all who fell fighting for their country in each year were deposited in a public sepulchre in the suburb of Athens called Ceramicus but it was felt that a distinction ought to be made in the funeral honors paid to the men of Marathon even as their merit had been distinguished over that of all other Athenians a lofty mound was raised on the plane of Marathon beneath which the remains of the men of Athens who fell in the battle were deposited ten columns were erected on the spot one for each of the Athenian tribes and on the monumental column of each tribe were graven the names of those of its members whose glory it was to have fallen in the great battle of liberation the antiquarian Poesanias read those names there 600 years after the time when they were first graven the columns have long perished but the mound still marks the spot where the noblest heroes of antiquity repose a separate tumulus was raised over the bodies of the slain patiens and another over the light-armed slaves who had taken part and had fallen in the battle there was also a separate funeral monument to the general to whose genius the victory was mainly due Miltiades did not live long after his achievement at Marathon but he lived long enough to experience a lamentable reverse of his popularity and success as soon as the Persians had quitted the restaurant coasts of the Aegean he proposed to an assembly of the Athenian people that they should fit out 70 galleys with a proportionate force of soldiers in military stores and place at his disposal not telling them whether he meant to lead it but promising them that if they would equip the force he asked for and give him discretionary powers to lead it to a land where there was gold in abundance to be won with ease the Greeks of that time believed in the existence of the Eastern realms teaming with gold as firmly as the Europeans of the 16th century believed in Alderado of the rest the Athenians probably thought that the recent victor of Marathon and former officer of Darius was about to lead them on a secret expedition against some wealthy and unprotected cities of treasure in the Persian dominions the armament was voted and equipped and sailed eastward from Attica no one but Matiades knowing its destination until the Greek Isle of Paros was reached when his true object appeared in former years while connected with the Persians as Prince of the Chersines Matiades had been involved in a quarrel with one of the leading men among the Perians who had injured his credit and caused some slights to be put upon him at the court of the Persian satrap Hedarnes the feud had ever since wrangled in the heart of the Athenian chief and he now attacked Paros for the sake of avenging himself on his ancient enemy his pretext as general of the Athenians was that the Perians had aided the armament of Datus with a war galley the Perians pretended to treat about terms of surrender but used the time which they thus gained in repairing the defective parts of the fortifications of their city and they then set the Athenians at the finance so far says Herodotus the accounts of all the Greeks agree but the Perians in after years told also a wild legend how a captive priestess of a Perian temple of the deities of earth promised Matiades to give him the means of capturing Paros how at her bidding the Athenian general went alone at night and forced his way into a holy shrine near the city gate but with what purpose it was not known how a supernatural awe came over him and in his flight he fell and fractured his leg how an oracle afterward forbade the Perians to punish the sacrilegious and traitorous priestess because it was fated that Matiades should come to an ill end and she was only the instrument to lead him to evil such was the tale that Herodotus heard at Paros certain it was that Matiades either dislocated or broke his leg during an unsuccessful siege of the city and returned home in evil plight with his baffled and defeated forces the indignation of the Athenians was proportionate to the hope and excitement which his promises had raised the head of one of the first families in Athens indicted him before the supreme popular tribunal for the capital offense of having deceived the people his guilt was undeniable and the Athenians passed their verdict accordingly but the recollections of Lemnos and Marathon and the side of the fallen general who lay stretched on a couch before them and the sentence was commuted from death to a fine of 50 talents this was paid by his son the afterward illustrious Simon Matiades dying soon after the trial of the injury which he had received at Paros the melancholy end of Matiades after his elevation to such a height of power and glory must often have been recalled to the lines of the ancient Greeks by the sight of one in particular of the memorials of the great battle which he won this was the remarkable statue minutely described by Posanias which the Athenians in the time of Pericles caused to be ewn out of a huge block of marble which it was believed had been provided by Datus to form a trophy of the anticipated history of the Persians Fideas fashioned out of this a colossal image of the goddess Nemesis the deity whose peculiar function was to visit the exuberant prosperity both of nations and individuals with sudden and awful reverses this statue was placed in a temple of the goddess at Romnes about eight miles from Marathon Athens itself contained numerous memorials of her primary great victory Pnenis the cousin of Fideas represented it in fresco on the walls of the painted porch and centuries afterward the figures of Miltiades and Calimacus at the head of the Athenians were conspicuous in the fresco the tutillary deities were exhibited taking part in the fray in the background were seen in the Phoenician galleys and nearer to the spectator the Athenians and the Platians distinguished by their leather helmets were chasing ratted asiatics into the marshes and the sea the battle was sculptured also on the temple of victory in the Acropolis and even now there may be traced on the friees of the figures of the Persian combatants with their lunar shields their curved cemeters their loose trousers and Phrygian Tiaris these and other memorials of Marathon were the produce of the meridian age of Athenian intellectual splendor of the age of Fideas and Pericles for it was not merely by the generation whom the battle liberated from the Pius and the Medes that the transcendent importance of their victory was gratefully recognized through the whole epic of her prosperity through the long Olympiads of her decay through centuries after her fall Athens looked back on the day of Marathon as the brightest of her national existence by a natural blending of patriotic pride with grateful piety the very spirits of the Athenians who fell at Marathon were deified by their countrymen the inhabitants of the district of Marathon paid religious rights to them and orators solemnly invoked them in their most impassioned adurations before the assembled men of Athens nothing was omitted that could keep alive the remembrance of a deed which at first taught the Athenian people to know its own strength by measuring it with the power which had subdued the greater part of the known world a consciousness thus awakened fixed its character its station and its destiny it was the spring of its later great actions and the ambitious enterprises it was not indeed by one defeat however signal that the pride of Persia could be broken and her dreams of universal empire dispelled 10 years afterward she renewed her attempts upon Europe on a grander scale of enterprise and was repulsed by Greece with greater and reiterated loss larger forces and heavier slaughter than had been seen at Marathon signalized the conflicts of Greeks and Persians at Artemisium, Salamis Plataea and the Eurimidon but mighty and momentous as these battles were they ranked not with Marathon in importance they originated no new impulse they turned back no current of fate they were merely confirmatory of the already existing bias which Marathon had created the day of Marathon is the critical epic in the history of the two nations it broke forever the spell of Persian invincibility which had previously paralyzed men's minds it generated among the Greeks the spirit which beat back Xerxes and afterward let on Xenophon, Agisselos and Alexander in terrible retaliation through their Asiatic campaigns it secured for mankind the intellectual treasures of Athens the growth of free institutions the liberal enlightenment of the western world and the gradual ascendancy for many ages of the great principles of European civilization and of section 36 and of the battle of Marathon section 37 of the great events volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the great events by famous historians, volume 1 edited by Charles F. Horn Roseter Johnson and John Rudd Invasion of Greece by Persians under Xerxes Defense of Thermopylae BC 480 by Herodotus Part 1 The Invasion of Greece by Xerxes is the subject of the great history written in 9 books by Herodotus His object is to show the preeminence of Greece whose fleets and armies defeated the forces of the Persians after these latter had triumphed over the most powerful nations of the earth Xerxes collected a vast army from all parts of the empire the Phoenicians furnished him with an enormous fleet and he made a bridge of a double line of boats to the east of the city and cut a canal through the peninsula of Mount Athos he reached Sardis in the autumn of BC 481 and the next year his army crossed the bridge of boats taking seven days and seven nights for the transit the number of his fighting men was over two millions and a half his ships of war were twelve hundred and seven hours and supplies at the narrow pass of Thermopylae in the northeast of Greece this immense army was checked for a while by the heroic Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans who however perished in their attempt to prevent the Persians attack on Athens which city was almost entirely destroyed by the invaders the sea fight of Salamis was won by the Greeks with enormous odds and in the battle of Placia BC 479 the defeat of the Persians by the Greek land forces was made more complete by the death of Mardonius the most renowned general of Xerces the Greeks when they arrived at the Ismiths consulted on the message they had received from Alexander in what way and in what places they should prosecute the war the opinion which prevailed was that they should defend the pass at Thermopylae for it appeared to be narrower than that into Thessaly and at the same time nearer to their own territories for the path by which the Greeks who were taken at Thermopylae were afterwards surprised they knew nothing of till on their arrival at Thermopylae they were informed of it by the Trichinians they accordingly resolved to guard this pass and not suffer the barbarian to enter Greece and that the naval force should sail to Artemisium in the territory of Histiaeotus for these places are near one another so that they could hear what happened to each other these spots are thus situated in the first place Artemisium is contracted from a wide space of the Thracian sea into a narrow frith which lies between the island of Scyetus and the continent of Magnesia from the narrow frith begins the coast of Euboea called Artemisium and in it is a temple of Diana but the entrance into Greece through Trachis in the narrowest part is no more than half a plethora in width however the narrowest part of the country is not in this spot before and behind Thermopylae for near Alpeni which is behind there is only a single carriage road and before by the river Phoenix near the city of Antela is another single carriage road on the western side of Thermopylae is an inaccessible and precipitous mountain stretching to Mount Doeta and on the eastern side of the way is the sea and a morass in this passage there are hot baths which the inhabitants call Hytri and above these is an altar to Hercules a wall had been built in this pass and formally there were gates in it the Phocians built it through fear when the Thessalians came from Thesprotia to settle in the Aeolian territory which they now possess apprehending that the Thessalians would attempt to subdue them the Phocians took this precaution at the same time they diverted the hot water into the entrance that the place might be broken into clefts having recourse to every contrivance to prevent the Thessalians from making inroads into their country now this old wall had been built a long time and the greater part of it had already fallen through age but they determined to rebuild it and in that place to repel the barbarian from Greece very near this road there was a village called Alpany from this the Greeks expected to obtain provisions accordingly these situations appeared suitable for the Greeks for they having weighed everything beforehand and considered that the barbarians would neither be able to use their numbers nor their cavalry they resolved to await the invader of Greece as soon as they were informed that the Persians were in Piaria breaking up from the Isthmus some of them proceeded by land to Thermopylae and others by sea to Artemisium the Greeks therefore being appointed in two divisions hastened to meet the enemy but at the same time the Delphians alarmed for themselves and for Greece consulted the oracle and the answer given them was that they should pray to the winds for that they would be powerful allies to Greece the Delphians having received the oracle first of all communicated the answer to those Greeks who were zealous to be free and as they very much dreaded the barbarians by giving that message they acquired a claim to everlasting gratitude after that the Delphians erected an altar to the winds at Thea an enclosure consecrated to Thea daughter of Cephasus from whom this district derives its name and conciliated them with sacrifices and the Delphians in obedience to that oracle to this day propitiate the winds the naval force of Xerces setting out from the city of Therma advanced with ten of the fastest sailing ships straight to Scythus where there were three Grecian ships keeping a lookout a Trozenian an Aegeanitan and an Athenian these seeing the ships of the barbarians at a distance but took themselves to flight the Trozenian ship which Praxonus commanded the barbarians pursued and soon captured and then having led the handsomest of the marines to the prow of the ship they slew him deeming it a good omen that the first Greek they had taken was also very handsome the name of the man that was slain was Leon and perhaps he in some measure reaped the fruits of his name the Aegeanitan ship which Isonides commanded gave them some trouble Pythias, son of Iskinus being a marine on board a man who on this day displayed the most consummate valor who when the ship was taken continued fighting until he was entirely cut to pieces but when having fallen he was not dead but still breathed the Persians who served on board the ships were very anxious to save him alive on account of his valor healing his wounds with mirror and binding them with bandages of flaxen cloth and when they returned to their own camp they showed him with admiration to the whole army and treated him well but the others whom they took in this ship they treated as slaves thus then two of the ships were taken but the other which Formus an Athenian commanded in its flight ran ashore at the mouth of the Pythias and the barbarians got possession of the ship but not of the men for as soon as the Athenians had run the ship aground they leaped out and proceeded through Thessaly reached Athens the Greeks who were stationed at Artemisium were informed of this event by signal-flags from Skyathus and being informed of it and very much alarmed they retired from Artemisium to Calcas intending to defend the Euripus and leaving scouts on the heights of Euboea over the ten barbarian ships three approached the sunken rock called Mimex between Skyathus and Magnesia then the barbarians when they had erected on the rock a stone column which they had brought with them set out from Therma now that every obstacle had been removed and sailed forward with all their ships having waited eleven days after the king's departure from Therma Pammon a Skyrian pointed out to them this hidden rock which was almost directly in their course the barbarians sailing all day reached Cepias and Magnesia and the shore that lies between the city of Castania and the coast of Cepias as far as this place and Thermopole the army had suffered no loss and the numbers were at that time as I find by calculations of the following amount of those in ships from Asia amounting to one thousand two hundred and seven originally the whole number of the several nations was two hundred forty one thousand four hundred men allowing two hundred to each ship and on these ships thirty persians meads and sake served as marines and to the native crews of each this father number amounts to thirty six thousand two hundred and ten to this and the former number I add those that were on the Penteconters supposing eighty men on the average to be on board of each three thousand of these vessels were assembled therefore the men on board them must have been two hundred and forty thousand this then was the naval force from Asia being five hundred and seventeen thousand six hundred and ten of infantry there were seventeen hundred thousand and of cavalry eighty thousand these I add the Arabians who drove camels and the Libyans who drove chariots reckoning the number of twenty thousand men accordingly the numbers on board the ships and on the land added together make up two millions three hundred and seventeen thousand six hundred and ten this then is the force which has been mentioned was assembled from Asia itself exclusive of the servants that followed and the provision ships and the men that were on board them but the force brought from Europe must still be added to this whole number that has been summed up we speak by guess now the Grecians from Thrace and the islands contiguous to Thrace furnished one hundred and twenty ships these ships give an amount of twenty four thousand men of land forces which were furnished by Thracians Paonians and the Iordi the Botians the Chalcidian race Grigi Macedonians Perhibae Aeneines Dolopians Magnesians and Achaeans together with those who inhabit the Maritime parts of Thrace of these nations I suppose that there were three hundred thousand men so that these myriads added to those from Asia make a total of two millions six hundred and forty one thousand six hundred and ten fighting men I think that the servants who followed them and with those on board the provision ships and other vessels that sailed with the fleet were not fewer than the fighting men but more numerous but supposing them to be an equal in number to the fighting men they make up the former number of myriads thus Xerces son of Darius led five millions two hundred and eighty three thousand twenty men to Cepheus and Thermopylae this then was the number of the whole force of Xerces but of women who made bread and concubines and eunuchs no one could mention the number with accuracy nor of draft cattle and other beasts of burden nor of indian dogs that followed could anyone mention the number they were so many therefore I am not astonished that the streams of some rivers failed but rather it is a wonder to me how provisions held out for so many myriads for I find by calculation if each man had a chenix of wheat daily and no more one hundred and ten thousand three hundred and forty medibni must have been consumed every day and I have not reckoned the food for the women, eunuchs beasts of burden and dogs of these myriads of men not one of them for beauty and stature was more entitled than Xerces himself to possess the supreme command when the fleet having set out sailed and reached the shore of Magnesia that lies between the city of Castania and the coast of Cepheus the foremost of the ships took up their station close to land others behind rode at anchor the beach not being extensive enough with their prowess toward the sea and ate deep thus they passed the night but at daybreak after serene and tranquil weather the sea began to swell and a heavy storm with a violent gale from the east which those who inhabit these parts call a hellen-spontane burst upon them as many of them then as perceived the gale increasing and who were able to do so from their position anticipated the storm by hauling their ships on shore and both they and their ships escaped but such of the ships as the storm caught at sea it carried away some to the parts called Ipni Eurpelean others to the beach some were dashed on Cape Cepheus itself some were wrecked at Malibu away and others at Castania the storm was indeed irresistible the barbarians when the wind had rolled and the waves had subsided having hauled down their ships sailed along the continent and having double the promontory of Magnesia stood directly into the bay leading to Begasse there is a spot in this bay of Magnesia where it is said Hercules was abandoned by Jason and his companions when he had been sent from the Argo for water as they were sailing to Colchis in Asia for the Golden Fleece and from there they purposed to put out to sea after they had taken in water from this circumstance the name of Affete was given to the place in this place then the fleet of Xerces was moored fifteen of these ships to sea some time after the rest and somehow saw the ships of the Greeks at Artemisium the barbarians thought that they were their own and sailing on fell among their enemies they were commanded by Sandoses son of Pharmaceus governor of Saimi of Iolia he being one of the royal judges had been formally condemned by King Darius who had detected him in the following offense to be crucified Sandoses gave an unjust sentence for a bribe but while he was actually hanging on the cross Darius considering within himself found that the services he had rendered to the royal family were greater than his faults Darius therefore having discovered this and perceiving that he himself had acted with more expedition than wisdom released him having thus escaped being put to death by Darius he survived but now sailing down among the Grecians he was not to escape a second time for when the Greeks saw them sailing toward them perceiving the mistake that they had committed they bored down upon them and easily took them King Xerces encamped in the Trichinian territory and the Greeks in the past this spot was called by most of the Greeks Thermopylae but by the inhabitants and neighbors Pylae both parties then encamped in these places the one was in possession of all the parts toward the north as far as Trachis and the others of the parts which stretched toward the south and meridian of this continent the following were the Greeks versions in this position of Spartans 300 heavy armed men of Tegens and Martiniens 1000 half of each from Orcomenius in Arcadia 120 and from the rest of Arcadia 1000 there were so many Arcadians from Corinth 400 from Flius and from Mycenae Edi these came from Peloponnesus from Boetia of Thespians 700 and of Thebans 400 in addition to these the Opuntian Locrians being invited came with all their forces and 1000 Phocians for the Greeks themselves arrived as forerunners of the others and that the rest of the allies might be daily expected that the sea was protected by them being guarded by the Athenians the Aegeanicia and others who were appointed to the naval service and that they had nothing to fear for that it was not a God who invaded Greece but a man and that there never was and never would be any mortal who had not evil mixed with his prosperity and his very birth and to the greatest of them the greatest reverses happen that it must therefore needs be that he who is marching against us being immortal will be disappointed in his expectation they having heard this marched with assistance to Trachas these nations had separated generals for their several cities but the one most admired who commanded the whole army was a Lacedaemonian Leonidus son of Anaxandrides son of Leon son of Eucratides son of Anaxander son of Eurikates son of Polydorus son of Alcaminis son of Telaklus son of Arcalus son of Agassilus son of Dorisis son of Echistratus son of Aegis son of Eurastnes son of Aristodemus son of Aristomachus son of Cleodeus son of Hylas son of Hercules who had unexpectedly succeeded to the throne of Sparta for as he had two elder brothers Cleomenes and Dorius he was far from any thought of the kingdom however Cleomenes having died without male issue and Dorius being no longer alive having ended his days in Sicily the kingdom thus evolved upon Leonidus both because he was older than Cleombrotus for he was the youngest son of Anaxandrides and also because he had married the daughter of Cleomenes he then marched to Thermopylae having chosen the 300 men allowed by law and such as had children on his march he took with him the Thebans whose numbers I have already reckoned and whom Leotina days son of Euromachus commanded for this reason Leonidus was anxious to take with him the Thebans alone of all the Greeks because they were strongly accused of favoring the Medes to summon them to the war wishing to know whether they would send their forces with him war would openly renounce the alliance of the Grecians but they though otherwise minded sent assistance the Spartans sent these troops first with Leonidus in order that the rest of the allies seeing them might take the field and might not go over to the Medes if they had heard but afterward for the Carnian festival was then an obstacle to them they purposed when they had kept the feast to leave a garrison in Sparta and to march immediately with their whole strength the rest of the Confederates likewise intended to act in the same manner for the Olympic games occurred at the same period as these events as they did not therefore suppose that the engagement to Athernopylae would soon be decided they dispatched an advance guard the Greeks at Thermopylae when the Persians came near the pass being alarmed consulted about a retreat accordingly it seemed best to the other Peloponnesians to retire to Peloponnesis and guard the Isthmus but Leonidus perceiving the Phocians and Locrians were very indignant at this proposition determined to stay there and to dispatch messengers to the cities desiring them to come to their assistance they being too few to repel the army of the Medes while they were deliberating on these matters Xersi sent a scout on horseback to see how many they were and what they were doing for while he was still in Thessaly he had heard that a small army had been assembled at that spot and as to their leaders that they were Lacedaemonians and Leonidus who was of the race of Hercules when the horsemen rode up to the camp he reconnoitored and saw not indeed the whole camp for it was not possible that they should be seen who were posted within the wall which having rebuilt they were now guarding but he had a clear view of those on the outside whose arms were piled in front of the wall at this time the Lacedaemonians happened to be posted outside and some of them and he saw performing gymnastic exercises and others combing their hair on beholding this he was astonished and ascertained their number and having informed himself of everything accurately he rode back at his leisure for no one pursued him and he met with general contempt on his return he gave an account to Xerces of all that he had seen when Xerces heard this he could not comprehend the truth that the Grecians were preparing to be slain and to slay to the utmost of their power but as they appeared to behave in a ridiculous manner he sent for Demiritus son of Ariston who was then in the camp and when he was to come into his presence Xerces questioned him as to each particular wishing to understand what the Lacedaemonians were doing Demiratus said you before heard me when we were setting out against Greece speak of these men and when you heard you treated me with ridicule though I told you in what way I foresaw these matters would issue for it is my chief aim oh king to adhere to the truth in your presence hear it therefore once more these men have to fight with us for the past and are now preparing themselves to do so for such is their custom when they are going to hazard their lives then they dress their heads but be assured if you conquer these men and those that remain in Sparta there is no other nation in the world that will dare to raise its hand against you oh king for you are now to engage with the noblest kingdom among the Greeks and with the most valiant men what was said seemed incredible to Xerces and he asked again how being so few a number they could contend with his army he answered oh king deal with me as with a liar if these things do not turn out as I say but saying this he did not convince Xerces he therefore let four days pass constantly expecting that they would be taking themselves to flight but on the fifth day they had not retreated but appear to him to stay through arrogance and rashness he being enraged sent them meaties and cesians against them with orders to take them alive and bring them into his presence when the meaties bored down impetuously upon the Greeks well others followed to the charge and were not repulsed though they suffered greatly but they made it evident to every one and not least of all to the king himself that they were indeed many men but few soldiers the engagement lasted through the day end of part one end of section 37 section 38 of the great events volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the great events by famous historians volume 1 edited by Charles F. Horn Rositer Johnson and John Rudd Invasion of Greece by Persians on Xerces Defense of Thermopylae BC 480 by Herodotus part 2 when the meaties were roughly handled they thereupon retired and the Persians whom the king called immortal and whom Hydarnes commanded taking their place advanced to the attack thinking that they indeed would easily settle the business but when they engaged with the Grecians they succeeded no better than the meatic troops but just the same as they fought in a narrow space and used shorter spears than the Greeks they were unable to avail themselves of their numbers the Lacedaemonians fought memorably in other respects showing that they knew how to fight with the men who knew not and whenever they turned their backs they retreated in close order but the barbarians seeing them retreat followed with a shout and a clamor then they being overtaken wheeled round so as to front the barbarians and having faced about overthrew an inconceivable number of the Persians and then some few of the Spartans themselves fell so that when the Persians were unable to gain anything in their attempt on the past by attacking in troops and in every possible manner they retired it is said that during these battle the king who witnessed them thrice sprang from his throne being alarmed for his army thus they strove at that time on the following day the barbarians fought with no better success for considering that the Greeks were few in number and expecting that they were covered with wounds and would not be able to raise their heads against them anymore they renewed the contest to build in companies and according to their several nations and each fought in turn except only the Phocians they were stationed at the mountain to guard the pathway when therefore the Persians found nothing different from what they had seen on the preceding day they retired while the king was in doubt what course to take in the present state of affairs a feelties son of Yerdemus an audience of him expecting that he should receive a great reward from the king and informed him of the path which leads over the mountain to Thermopylae and by that means caused the destruction of those Greeks who were stationed there but afterwards fearing the Lassimodonians he fled to Thessaly and when he fled a price was set on his head by the Pylegory but sometime after he went down to Antiqua and was killed by Athenides the Trokinian another account is given that Onetes son of Phanagoras a Chiristian and Cordalis of Antiqua were the persons who gave this information to the king and conducted the Persians round the mountains but to me this is by no means credible for in the first place we may draw the inference from this circumstance that the Pylegory of the Grecians set a price on his head not of Onetes and Cordalis but of Opheliaetes the Trokinian having surely ascertained the exact truth and in the next place we know that Opheliaetes fled on that account Onetes indeed though he was not a Malian might be acquainted with this path if he had been conversant with the country but it was Opheliaetes who conducted them round the mountain by the path and I charge him as the guilty person Xerces since he was pleased with what the Opheliaetes promised to perform being exceedingly delighted immediately dispatched Hydarnes and the troops that Hydarnes commanded and he started from the camp about the hour of lamp lighting the native Malians discovered this pathway and having discovered it conducted the Thessalians by it against the Phocians at the time when the Phocians having fortified the pass by a wall were under shelter from attack from that time it appeared to have been of no service to the Malians this path is situated as follows it begins from the river Isopis which flows through the cleft the same name is given both to the mountain and to the path an Opie and this an Opie extends along the ridge of the mountain and ends near Alpinus which is the first city of the Locrians toward the Malians and by the rock called Melanpegas and by the seats of the Circopes and there the path is the narrowest along this path the situate versions having crossed the Isopis marched all night having on their right the mountains of the Opiecians and on their left those of the Trukinians morning appeared and they were on the summit of the mountain at this part of the mountain as I have already mentioned a thousand heavy armed Phocians kept guard to defend their own country and to secure the pathway guarded by those before mentioned and the Phocians had voluntarily promised Leonidas to guard the path across the mountain the Phocians discovered them after they had ascended in the following manner for the Persian ascended without being observed as the whole mountain was covered with oaks there was a perfect calm and as was likely a considerable rustling taking place from the leaves strewn underfoot the Phocians sprang up and put on their arms and immediately the barbarians made their appearance but when they saw men clad in armor they were astonished for expecting to find nothing to oppose them they fell in with an army thereupon, Hydarnes fearing lest the Phocians might be last demonians asked a feelties of what nation the troops were and being accurately informed he drew up the persians for battle the Phocians when they were hit by many and thick falling arrows fled to the summit of the mountain supposing that they had come expressly to attack them and prepare to perish such was their determination but the persians with the feelties and Hydarnes took no notice of the Phocians but marched down the mountain with all speed to those of the Greeks who were at Thermopylae the augur megastius having inspected the sacrifices first made known the death that would befall them in the morning certain deserters afterward came and brought intelligence of the circuit the persians were taking these brought the news while it was yet night and thirdly the scouts running down from the heights as soon as they dawned brought the same intelligence upon this the Greeks held a consultation and their opinions were divided some would not hear of abandoning their post and others opposed that view after this when the assembly broke up some of them departed and being dispersed betook themselves to their several cities but others of them prepared to remain there in the city of Leonidus it is said that Leonidus himself sent them away being anxious that they should not perish but that he and the Spartans who were there could not honorably desert the post which they originally came to defend for my own part I am rather inclined to think that Leonidus when he perceived that the allies were averse and unwilling to share the danger with them they then withdraw but that he considered it dishonorable for himself to depart on the other hand by remaining there great renown would be left for him and the prosperity of Sparta would not be obliterated for it had been announced to the Spartans by the Pythian when they consulted the oracle concerning this war as soon as it commenced that either Lassa Damon must be overthrown by the barbarians or their king perish the answer she gave in hexameter verses to this effect to you, a inhabitants of spacious Lassa Damon either your vast glorious city shall be destroyed by men sprung from Perseus or if not so the confines of Lassa Damon shall mourn a king deceased of the race of Hercules for neither shall the strength nor of lions withstand him with force opposed to force for he has the strength of Jove and I say he shall not be restrained before he has certainly obtained one of these for his share I think therefore that Leonidas considering these things and being desirous to acquire glory for the Spartans alone sent away the allies rather than that those who went away differed in opinion and went away in such an unbecoming manner the following in no small degree strengthens my conviction on this point for not only did he send away the others but it is certain that Leonidas also sent away the auger who followed the army Magistius the Arcanian who was said to have been originally descended from Melampus the same who announced from an inspection of the victims what was about to befall them in order that he might not perish with them he however, though dismissed did not himself depart but sent away his son who served with him in the expedition being his only child the allies that were dismissed accordingly departed and obeyed Leonidas but only the Thespians and the Thebans remained with the Lacedemonians the Thebans indeed remained unwillingly and against their inclination for Leonidas detained them treating them as hostages but the Thespians willingly for they refused to go away and abandon Leonidas and those with them but remained and died with them Demophilus, son of Diodromus commanded them Xerces after he had poured out libations at sunrise and waited a short time began his attack about the time of full market for he had been so instructed by Ephialtes for the descent from the mountain is more direct and the distance much shorter than the circuit and descent the barbarians therefore with Xerces advanced and the Greeks with Leonidas marching out as if for certain death before into the wide part of the defile for the fortification of the wall had protected them and they on the preceding days having taken up their position in the narrow part fought there but now engaging outside the narrows great numbers of the barbarians fell for the officers of the companies from behind having scourges flogged every man constantly urging them forward in consequence many of them falling into the sea perished and many more were trampled alive under foot by one another and no regard was paid to any that perished for the Greeks knowing that death awaited them at the hands of those who were going round the mountain being desperate and regardless of their own lives displayed the most possible valor against the barbarians already were most of their avalanche broken and they had begun to dispatch the Persians with their swords in this part of the struggle fell Leonidas fighting valiantly and with him other eminent Spartans whose names seeing they were deserving men I have ascertained indeed I have ascertained the names of the whole 300 on the side of the Persians also many other eminent men fell on this occasion and among them two sons of Darius Abracomis and Hyperanthes born to Darius of Fratiguna daughter of Artenes but Artenes was brother to King Darius and son of Histastapies son of Arsemys he when he gave his daughter to Darius gave him also his property and she was his only child accordingly two brothers of Xerces fell at this spot fighting for the body of Leonidas and there was a violent struggle between the Persians and Lacedaemonians until at last the Greeks rescued it by their valor and four times repulsed the enemy thus the contest continued until those with apheliades came up when the Greeks heard that they were approaching from this time the battle was altered for they retreated to the narrow part of the way and passing beyond the wall came and took up their position on the rising ground all in a compact body with the exception of the Thebans the rising ground is at the entrance where the stone lion now stands to the memory of Leonidas on this spot while they defended themselves with swords such as had them still remaining and with hands and teeth the barbarians overwhelmed them with missiles some of them attacking them in front having thrown down the wall and others surrounding and attacking them on every side though the Lacedaemonians and Thespians behaved in this manner yet Dionyses a Spartan is said to have been the bravest man they relate that he made the following remark before they engaged with the Medes the Trokinians say that when the barbarians let fly their arrows they would obscure the sun by the multitude of their shafts so great was their number but he not at all alarmed at this said holding in contempt the number of the Medes that their Trokinian friend told them everything to their advantage since if the Medes obscure the sun they would then have to fight in the shade and not in the sun this and other sayings of the same kind they relate that Dionyses the Lacedaemonian left as memorials next to him two Lacedaemonian brothers Alpheus and Maron sons of Orisifantis are said to have distinguished themselves most and of the Thespians he obtained the greatest glory whose name was Dithorambus son of Hermatides in honor of the slain who were buried on the spot where they fell and of those who died before they who were dismissed by Leonidas went away the following inscription has been engraved over them 4000 from Peloponnesus once fought on this spot with 300 myriads this inscription was made for all and for the Spartans in particular stranger, go tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here obedient to their commands this was for the Lacedaemonians and for the prophet the following this is the monument of the illustrious Megisteus whom once the Medes having passed the river Spurchius slew a prophet who at the time well knowing the impending fate would not abandon the leaders of Sparta the Amphicteons are the persons who honored them with these inscriptions and columns with the exception of the inscription to the prophet that of the prophet Megisteus Simonides son of Leo Pripes caused to be engraved from personal friendship end of section 38 end of the great events by famous historians volume 1 edited by Charles F. Horn Rosa Tudjonsen and John Rudd