In the plain of Marathon in 490 BC, 2,500 years ago, a battle took place that not only marks the most critical moment in the history of the Persian Wars - as it shattered for the Greeks the myth of the invincibility of the Persians. It is a decisive event for the entire Western civilization. As John Stuart Mill said, 'the battle of Marathon was, even for British history, more important than the battle of Hastings.' In "The Battle of Marathon," Richard A. Billows begins his narrative with a rich and detailed overview of the ancient Greek world before Marathon, vividly recreates the atmosphere of the era, and follows step by step the dramatic events of the day of the battle, a battle that, had it had a different outcome, the classical Greek civilization would probably not have flourished - and its vast influence on Western civilization would not have existed. If the Athenians, against all odds, had not defeated the Persians at Marathon... But how did this reversal happen? Billows examines, among other things, the concept of 'excellence' for the Greeks and sheds light on the characteristics of the robust and democratic Athens of Cleisthenes' era, the city that, for the first time in history, was able to form an army composed of heavily armed citizen-soldiers, capable of crushing the lightly armed Persian infantry, despite its numerical superiority. The protagonists of the events include the Athenian general Miltiades, the first to fully utilize a fully equipped hoplite phalanx, the inspirer of the innovative strategy that secured the Greeks' victory against the army of the Persian king Darius. [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]