By place Greece •
Darius I sends an expedition, under
Artaphernes and
Datis the Mede, across the
Aegean to attack the Athenians and the Eretrians.
Hippias, the aged ex-tyrant of Athens, is on one of the Persian ships in the hope of being restored to power in Athens. • When the Ionian Greeks in
Asia Minor rebelled against
Persia in
499 BC,
Eretria joined
Athens in sending aid to the rebels. As a result, Darius makes a point of punishing Eretria during his invasion of Greece. The city is sacked and burned and its inhabitants are enslaved. He intends the same fate for Athens. •
September 12 – The
Battle of Marathon takes place as a Persian army of more than 20,000 men is advised by Hippias to land in the Bay of
Marathon, where they meet the Athenians supported by the
Plataeans. The Persians are repulsed by 11,500 Greeks under the leadership of
Callimachus and
Miltiades. Some 6,400 Persians are killed at a cost of 192 Athenian dead. Callimachus, the war-archon of Athens, is killed in the battle. After the battle, the Persians return home. • Before the Battle of Marathon, the Athenians send a runner,
Pheidippides, to seek help from
Sparta. However, the Spartans delay sending troops to Marathon because religious requirements (the
Carneia) mean they must wait for the full moon. • The Greek historian
Herodotus, the main source for the
Greco-Persian Wars, mentions Pheidippides as the messenger who runs from
Athens to
Sparta asking for help, and then runs back, a distance of over 240 kilometres each way. After the battle, he runs back to Athens to spread the news and raise the spirits. It is claimed that his last words before collapsing and dying in Athens are "Chairete, nikomen" ("Rejoice, we are victorious"). • Hippias dies at
Lemnos on the journey back to
Sardis after the Persian defeat. •
Cleomenes I is forced to flee
Sparta when his plot against
Demaratus is discovered, but the Spartans allow him to return when he begins gathering an army in the surrounding territories. However, by this time he has become insane, and the Spartans put him in prison. Shortly after, he commits suicide. He is succeeded as King of Sparta by a member of the
Agiad house, his half-brother,
Leonidas.
Europe • Carthaginian navigator
Himilco is the first known explorer from the Mediterranean Sea to reach the northwestern shores of Europe (approximate date).
By topic Architecture • The Athenians begin the building of a temple to
Athena Parthenos (approximate date). • Stelae are once again allowed in Athenian cemeteries, having been banned since
510 BC. == Births ==