In Brief

Marathon! It is a word, a city, an idea, a unique history but also a symbol of democracy, a flame that disseminates the values of the athletic ideal to every corner of the world. Grandeur, blood and glory at Marathon plain, where in a hot summer morning of August 490 B.C, two civilizations, two Cosmo-theories so striking different, collided in an epic battle that meant to change not only the fate of the ancient world but also the Western world as we know it today! It was the domination of the Hoplite phalanx against a much bigger army as well as that of Strategy vs numerical superiority. The ideals of the newly established Athenian Democracy, the same ones that the Western civilization of nowadays is consisted of, wouldn’t even have been born if the Athenians had fail to prevail that day on the battlefield. Visit the actual location, the burial tomb of the Athenians, the museum and travel back in time in that defining historical day.

Travel back in time to that glorious day at Marathon plain, where the crucial battle of Marathon was waged in August/September 490 BC. It is one of the most famous military engagements and earliest recorded battles in history, fought between the mighty Persian Empire and the city-state of Athens. During that battle the heavily outnumbered hoplite warriors of the Athenian army supported only by Plataea – a nearby small town with 1.000 hoplites; a gesture which did much to steady the nerves of the Athenians, and won unending Athenian gratitude to Plataea - defeated the Persians lead by King Darrius, during his first- out of the three- attempts to invade Greece. The battle was a defining moment for the young Athenian democracy, showing what can be achieved with unity and self-belief; indeed, the battle effectively marks the beginning of a "golden age" for Athens. That was the beacon that has changed a big part in the history of mankind, considering the rise of classic Hellenism over the next two thousand years. This was also applicable to Greece as a whole; "their victory endowed the Greeks with a faith in their destiny that was to endure for three centuries, during which western culture was born".

A 9m-high tumulus or burial mound (Greek Τύμβος, timvos, i.e. tomb), was erected at the site of the battle in memory for the 192 Athenian dead and still remains a feature of the coastal plain. There were originally 10 columns on top of the burial mound to represent the 10 tribes of Attica. Herodotus records that 6,400 Persian bodies were counted on the battlefield, and the Plataeans  lost 11.  The tomb was discovered in early 1884 by Heinrich Schliemann. The battle is perhaps now more famous as the inspiration for the marathon race. Although thought to be historically inaccurate, the legend of the Greek messenger Phidippides running to Athens with news of the victory became the inspiration for this athletic event, introduced at the 1896 Athens Olympics, and originally run between Marathon and Athens.

Marathon Dam

By1924, Athens was mainly supplied with water from the water sources of Parnitha and the underground aquifer. However, the boom of the population of Athens,after the Asia Minor disaster in 1922created new needs intensifying the problem.For this reason,in 1925they began to build the first modern water supply projects in the Capital region.This year an agreement was signed between the Greek government, the American Society OULEN(ULEN and Company)and Bank of Athens for the financing and construction of the capital water supply projects from Parnitha basin. The first major project was the construction of the dam of Marathon, which will “solve” the curse, setting the stage for combating drought that plagued the centuries Attica. It is a gravity dam constructed between 1925 and 1929 by Ulen & Co. from New York and has created Lake Marathon. The dam would serve as the primary water supply for Athens until 1959, when water was pumped from YlikI Lake. The dam is a 54 m (177 ft.) tall, 285 m (935 ft.) long gravity dam with a crest width of 4.5 m (15 ft.) and base width of 28 m (92 ft.).