September 12, 490 BCE: Remembering The Battle of Marathon On The 2,506th Anniversary

Over on the Forbes blog, I have posted a day-by-day reconstruction of the events leading up to and including the famed Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE. I did this with the help of UT-Knoxville Classicist Thomas Rose (also a ASCSA alumnus & fellow marathoner). The battle was the basis for the modern day Marathon race (26 miles from the plain of Marathon to Athens), but the victory of the Athenians and Plataeans over their Persian foes was also a story of David over Goliath. Using the ancient sources and their references to the moon phases, we can now approach a timeline for the battle and reconstruct this instantly mythical struggle for students and interested readers alike.

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Bronze Corinthian helmet of alleged Marathon soldier with his skull. This artifact resides at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, though I have trouble believing this 19th century find at the site is what it is says it is on the card. Those are my hands taking the picture because, well, I was there in April.

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