The Histories by Herodotus - 7 - The Battle of Marathon
Book Six
Quote
"Athens' position is more precarious now than it ever has been before, throughout its history. There are two alternatives: submission to the Persians ... or victory, in which case we might well become the leading city in Greece."
Notes
- Histiaeus goes back to Miletus, but they got to liking things better with him (their old tyrant) gone. They don't want him back so they chase him away.
- Persia gathers its army to attack Miletus and bring it back into its control. Miletus teams up with the Ionians to attack back.
- The Milesian commander, Dionysius, gives a rousing speech to motivate the men: "Men of Ionia, our affairs are balanced on a razor's edge. We can remain free or we can becomes slaves." But after enduring some of the sufferings of war, their morale starts to drop. They figure that anything would be better than their current misery, so they give themselves up to defeat. Though Dionysius escapes and becomes a pirate.
- Histiaeus hears about the Milesians' defeat and tries to come back and take over again. But this time he gets caught by the Persians who suspect him of being part of the rebellion to from the start. So they kill him.
- After their victory, Persia decides to move further into Greece. They capture more cities. Many people in these cities betray themselves to the Persians. Athens starts growing nervous.
- Darius has his eyes on Athens, remembering the battle they had in the previous book. They plan an attack against the Athenians at Marathon.
- Athens sends a runner, Philippides, to run to Sparta and ask for their help. Sparta agrees to help, but they'll have to wait until the moon is full. For some reason.
- Athens has a system where if their commanders are divided on an issue, a man chosen as the War Archon can cast a vote and break the tie. The War Archon is chosen randomly from among the men to cast this deciding vote.
- In this case, some of the commanders believe they are far too outnumbered and that they should surrender. Other commanders want to stand their ground and fight. One of these commanders is Miltiades, and he speaks to the War Archon in private to convince him to vote for war: "The future of Athens lies in your hands. You can either cast us down into slavery or win us our freedom — and thereby ensure that you will be remembered as long as there are people alive on the earth."
- Even though they have less men, the Athenians defeat the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. The Persians run from the battlefield and try to get to the city of Athens, which is currently undefended, and take it. But the Athenians beat them there and chase them away.
- Sparta finally arrives, but they're too late for the battle. They are surprised and impressed at Athens for their huge victory.
Thoughts
What an epic battle for freedom and democracy against tyranny and slavery. It's quite possibly the first one that was ever written down, and an emblem for similar wars going into the future.
Athens doesn't have a king. In war they have a group of commanders who make decisions collectively. And, in this case where they were evenly split, the one who makes the final decision is a just a regular soldier, chosen by lot. And they only just recently were being ruled by the tyrant Histiaeus. They know what tyranny is like and they don't want to go back.
Persia is the massive invading empire, swallowing up and enslaving every city and people in its path. Although, Herodotus is not portraying them as evil. It isn't his aim to write this story as a piece of progaganda. His depiction of the Persians is balanced and at many times really positive. But for the Athenians, they are the most dangerous threat.
Is this battle of democracy versus tyranny the driving reason for Herodotus to write The Histories? It is a major theme his work is remembered for. But throughout the book Herodotus is clear that he is not in a position to know the importance of one story over another. He includes them all knowing that over time maybe some stories will become insignificant while others will rise to great importance. Maybe the themes that have emerged from Herodotus say more about his readers than they do about him.