“WITH YOU IT RESTS, CALLIMACHUS, EITHER TO BRING ATHENS TO SLAVERY, OR, BY SECURING HER FREEDOM, TO BE REMEMBERED BY ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS”– GENERAL MILTIADES Fought in 490 BCE, the Battle of Marathon was the culmination of a huge invasion by Darius I of Persia to subjugate the whole of Greece. The Persians had already conquered Macedonia, as well as many Aegean islands; the city-state of Athens, with its embryo democracy, was the next to be attacked.
On the plains of Marathon, 8-10,000 Greek soldiers faced a Persian army some 20-60,000 strong. Ten Athenian generals debated on their course of action. One of them, Miltiades, called for a bold attack, but several generals disagreed. Miltiades then turned to Callimachus, an Athenian official who was allowed to vote with the generals,…