Atlas of Battles

battle, landmark, ancient

Battle of Marathon

Battle of Marathon was a battle fought on 12 September 490 BC at Marathon, in what is now Greece. It was part of the Greco-Persian Wars, which ran from 499 BC to 449 BC. The recorded result: Athenian victory.

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Scene of the Battle of Marathon
Scene of the Battle of Marathon. John Steeple Davis, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought12 September 490 BC
WhereMarathon, Greece38.118N, 23.978E
OutcomeAthenian victory
BelligerentsAthens; PlataeaagainstAchaemenid Empire
Part ofGreco-Persian WarsFirst Persian invasion of Greece

Where it sits in the Greco-Persian Wars

Siege of Naxos, 499 BCSiege of Eretria, 490 BCSiege of Naxos, 490 BCSiege of Lindos, 490 BCBattle of Marathon, 490 BCBattle of Artemisium, 480 BCSiege of Olynthus, 480 BCSiege of Potidaea, 480 BCBattle of Thermopylae, 480 BCBattle of Salamis, 480 BCBattle of Mycale, 479 BCSiege of Sestos, 479 BCSiege of Potidaea, 479 BCBattle of Plataea, 479 BCSiege of Byzantium, 478 BC499 BC478 BCBattle of Marathon, 490 BC
16 placed engagements of the Greco-Persian Wars in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date12 September 490 BC
PlaceMarathon, Greece
38.118N, 23.978E
KindBattle, ancient
Strength10,000–11,000 menModern estimates:25,000 infantry; 1,000 cavalry (unengaged); >100,000 armed oarsmen and sailors (reserve); 600 triremes; >50 horse-carriers; >200 supply ships
Commanders
  • Miltiades
  • Callimachus (polemarch)
  • Aristides
  • Xanthippus (father of Pericles)
  • Themistocles
  • Arimnestus
  • Datis
  • Artaphernes (nephew of Darius I)
  • Hippias (tyrant)
Battle of MarathonBattle of MarathonSiege of the AcropolisSiege of the AcropolisSiege of AthensSiege of the AcropolisSiege of AthensSiege of the AcropolisSiege of the AcropolisSiege of AthensKalamataChalkidaTripoliErmoupoliLamia100 km38.118N, 23.978E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of Marathon
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 25 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of Marathon today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2023-07-14. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2023.

The recorded site stands at about 9 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 0 to 586 m, 586 m of relief, steep country and today it is 33% tree cover, 17% water, 14% grassland.

tree cover: 33%water: 17%grassland: 14%shrubland: 13%cropland: 12%built-up: 11%tree cover 33%water 17%grassland 14%shrubland 13%cropland 12%
west to east, 10.0 km0 to 437 mnorth to south, 10.0 km1 to 263 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Battle of Marathon is one of 102 engagements of the 5th century BC in the atlas and one of 529 in present-day Greece.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q31900, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Marathon, revision 1384284800, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.