Battle at the start of the Persian Wars Sept 490 BC in which the Athenians and their allies from Plateae defeated the Persian king Darius' invasion force, on the Plain of Marathon about 40 km/25 mi northeast of Athens.
The Greeks, a combined force of about 10,000 Athenians under Miltiades supplemented by allied Plataeans, were encamped overlooking the plain, about a mile away from the Persian force which was some five to six times their strength. Taking advantage of the fact that the Persians had their backs to the sea, the Greek strengthened their wings and attacked. The Persians held off the Greek attack on their center, but Miltiades then wheeled round the Greek wings, crushing the Persian flanks and putting pressure on their center. The Persians were driven back into the sea and although most managed to re-embark into their ships, about 6,000 lay dead on the field, while Greek losses were under 200.
The victory at Marathon was an enormous boost to Greek morale which was to be of great value when the Persians mounted a much more threatening invasion 10 years later.
The battle has been immortalised by the race named for it in memory of the runner, Pheidippides, who reputedly ran to Sparta from Athens to appeal for aid before the battle. He covered the distance of 200 km/125 mi in a day but the Spartans failed to provide any assistance. A more recent legend, that he ran from Athens to Marathon (a distance of about 40 km/25 mi) to fight in the battle, then ran back with the news of the victory before dropping dead, actually gives rise to the name of the modern race but is considered spurious by scholars.