Notes

The Athenian Articles
A Sprinting Success!
Yesterday, at the crack of dawn, on the sand covered beach of Marathon, as the night sky evaporated into dust, Miltiades the general ordered his 10,000 Athenian soldiers to sprint, in full armor, across the vast beach of Marathon, to come face to face with around 25,000 Persian men, whilst not trying to run out of breath before doing so. Miraculously, by the grace of the gods, we emerged victorious!
What Caused The Battle?
The Athenian army, with the additional support of the Eretrians, burned down the city of Sardis, to flex our muscles a little bit in the face of Darius. Inevitably, in doing so, Persia swore to destroy Athens, and in the end, all of Greece. Darius was so utterly infuriated that he ordered his servant, every time Darius had lunch, to remind him, “Don’t forget the Athenians.”
How The Battle Took Place
5 days ago. The Persians had just finished unloading their troops onto the beach of Marathon, and the Athenian army didn’t want the Persians to get any closer to Athens, so they decided to meet the Persian army at Marathon. As the Athenian army was heavily outnumbered, Phidippides was tasked to sprint to Sparta, and ask for any assistance from their army. Unfortunately, after sprinting the whole way, the Spartans replied with a no. A Spartan religious festival was in progress, and they couldn’t just simply go out to fight, that would be a bad omen. Afterwards, Phidippides ran back to Marathon, to deliver the tragic news. There was a stalemate, a stalemate that lasted for 4 days before any of the two sides made a move. The Athenians were lasting just fine, food and water were more than enough. However, the Persians were in a predicament. They had not brought enough food or water to sustain such a large army for an extended period of time. Then, on the midnight of the fourth day, Darius had hatched a plan. He would load his cavalry onto his ships, and sail around of the army, and finally, attack Athens without having to lift a finger.

In the morning, Miltiades woke up to find the Persian cavalry being loaded onto several ships. He knew he had to think fast. Miltiades, after thinking for a while, thought up a plan. He would first skin his phalanxes, a phalanx is a way of troop organization, where it’s a square of hoplites, 8 men by 11 men.
Miltiades decided to skin this in the center of the line of troops, to prevent the immense Persian army to surround them, and instead, for the Athenian army to surround the Persians. Finally, on the flanks, there were a few normal phalanxes, just for extra support. This was a risky move, but somehow, the army managed to pull it off.

When the Athenian army was in bowshot, they broke into a run, and then, after crossing the beach of Marathon, surrounded the helpless, light-armored Persian army, and annihilated them.