Some Observations on the Persian Wars. 1.—The Campaign of Marathon

Abstract

It may seem bold to re-open the question (or questions) of the campaign of Marathon so soon after the publication of the monumental chapters of Busolt, of Hauvette, of Macan. But the labours of these scholars at once invite and facilitate farther discussion. They focus many scattered arguments, contribute new suggestions, put the humbler student abreast of recent researches, and show him where his own conclusions differ from accepted views. How much I owe to them will be obvious without particular references.The theory here put forward, although independently reached, is not altogether new—perhaps no theory of Marathon could be—but I was not aware, until it was written, how closely certain of its main features had been anticipated by Busolt in a work published twenty years ago (Die Lakedaimonier pp. 355–369). That eminent historian has, however, since then twice changed his views, so that it may be useful to recall his readers to what I still consider to be his best solution of the problem. Perhaps the discussions of the interval have reinforced it in some respects. On one important point I find myself in agreement with Professor J. B. Bury's article on the Battle of Marathon in the Classical Review, March 1896, and even where we disagree, we must often have asked much the same questions.