Alright guys, lets think here real good. First of all, this being the very first of Darius's Histories, I would like to welcome you to this new series! Expect "Darius's Histories" at least once a week.

Today: Did Greece Really Win the Battle of Marathon?

Okay, so we all know the battle of Marathon in 490 BC (During the Achaemenid dynasty and the Greco-Persian wars) where the supposed amazing heroic runner ran nearly 26 miles all the way from the battle site to Athens to inform of victory. Now lets be realistic here, if the Greeks had truely won the battle, isn't it strange that the mesenger ran away from the battle? If they did win you would expect the courier to be normally equipped with a horse to do this for him! Maybe even a few soldiers. It is most likely that the Persians did in fact win the battle of Marathon and the last forces were routing while this messenger escapes and runs to Athens to warn the Athenians that the Persians had won and were approaching. This is all just a discussion opener, I am not saying it's true but use common sense. Unfortunately the Persians either did not write their histories or the majority of it got razed and burnt by their conquerors much later so we have to base all of our information on the enemies of the Persians. It's obviously going to be biased! It has been stated many times through many sources that Herodotus exagerrated in the mass numbers of the Persians reaching 200,000-500,000 in some cases.

As usual, be kind and ethical in the discussion below. Let me know what you think of these series and any reccomendations for topics next week!