The Battle of Marathon [[electronic resource] /] / Peter Krentz ; foreword by Donald Kagan and Dennis Showalter

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910463122603321
• Autore: Krentz Peter
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New Haven ; ; London, : Yale University Press, c2010
• ISBN: 1-299-46371-1; 0-300-16880-2
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (251 p.)
• Collana: The Yale library of military history
• Disciplina: 938/.03
• Soggetti: Marathon, Battle of, Greece, 490 B.C; Electronic books.; Greece History Persian Wars, 500-449 B.C
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [195]-224) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Foreword -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Chronology -- Introduction -- 1. Athens' Alliance with Darius -- 2. Athens' Victories Over the Boeotians and Chalcidians -- 3. The Ionian Revolt -- 4. Darius and the Greeks of Europe -- 5. The Armies Arrive at Marathon -- 6. The Plain of Marathon -- 7. When Marathon Became a Magic Word -- 8. After the Fighting -- 9. What If ? -- Appendix A. Important Ancient Sources on Marathon -- Appendix B. The Date of the Battle -- Notes -- Bibliographical Notes -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: How did the city-state of Athens defeat the invaders from Persia, the first world empire, on the plain of Marathon in 490 BCE? Clever scholars skeptical of our earliest surviving source, Herodotus, have produced one ingenious theory after another. In this stimulating new book, bound to provoke controversy, Peter Krentz argues that Herodotus was right after all. Beginning his analysis with the Athenians' first formal contact with the Persians in 507 BCE, Krentz weaves together ancient evidence with travelers' descriptions, archaeological discoveries, geological surveys, and the experiences of modern reenactors and soldiers to tell his story.Krentz argues that before Marathon the Athenian army fought in a much less organized way than the standard view of the hoplite phalanx suggests: as an irregularly armed mob ; rather than a disciplined formation of identically equipped infantry. At Marathon the Athenians equipped all their fighters, including archers and horsemen, as hoplites for the first time. Because their equipment weighed only half as much as is usually thought, the Athenians and their Plataean allies could charge almost a mile at a run, as Herodotus says they did. Krentz improves on this account in Herodotus by showing why the Athenians wanted to do such a risky thing.