The 42.19 kilometer Marathon
On the plan was a visit to the plain at Marathon. I once saw a picture of the tumulus of dead Athenians at Marathon in a book and it stuck me that such a relic of the past was still there to see. This was my chance to see it. (I thought the photograph was in J B Bury’s History of Greece but I have just checked and it is not.)
We set out from the Hotel Adrian at 8.15 a.m. Tony, the driver, appeared right on time as we took the air in the front of the hotel. Off we went, north and east through Athens and then the hinterland. We arrived at Marathon, the site of the battle before the ticket office opened at 9.00 a.m., though the gate was open, so we wandered until the attendant came and we handed over some euros. We were not only first, we were alone on a fine, early fall day. See Wikipedia for background
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon%2C_Greece
At the site there are three things: a relief map showing the configuration of the battle, the mound, and one statue of a Greek warrior.
The all weather map, shows how tight the space was between the mountains and the sea.
The Athenian tumulus with its 192 warriors. It is an Athenian War Memorial.
The statue of an Athenian warrior with a helmet, spear, and sandals but naked otherwise
Nearby are four other things. The tumulus of the Plataeans who were allied to the Athenians. It is in a field behind a fence. This snap was from the car, parked at an awkward angle on a narrow road.
The Temple of Nemesis, built from the marble the Persians had brought to build a victory monument from. The Athenians found it and used it to built a temple to their victory instead. I did not know this until I saw it. Our driver, the indispensable Tony, told us about it and took us there. This site is not fully open, so this is about all we could snap was the vista. Wow!
The Marathon Museum, which contains artifacts found in the area, not specifically related to the battle.
A thousand year old Christian burial ground. It is sheltered in a hanger with elevated walkways over the dig. In fact, we saw two of these one on the grounds of the Marathon Museum and another on the way there.
A car was necessary to do all these four, and a driver who knew what was there and the wheres was also necessary to find them. I was glad I had decided to hire the car and driver.