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THE PLAIN OF MARATHON. * 



[FROM THE PAPERS OF THE LATE COLONEL SQUIRE.] 



Marathon, multarum magnarumque virtutum testis. — P. Mela. 



In the year subsequent to the failure of Mardonius, a considerable 

 force was assembled by order of the Persian monarch, and embarked 

 from the province of Cilicia in Asia Minor. Thence the fleet coasted 

 along the shores of that country as far as Samos ; and crossing, the 

 iEgsean sea, it passed through the islands between Ionia and Greece. 

 After the Persians had taken possession of Euboea, where they were 

 delayed seven days by the opposition of the inhabitants of Eretria, 

 the army was re-embarked, and a landing immediately effected in 

 the plain of Marathon, on the opposite shores of Attica. 



There was every reason to induce the Persians to make their 

 descent near Marathon. Along the whole extent of the Attic coast, 

 from the frontiers of Boeotia to the bay of Phalerum, there was no 

 other spot but Marathon, which at once united the advantages of 

 safe anchorage, and a plain sufficiently large to contain great 

 numbers, and to afford room for cavalry to act. The shore in this 

 part forms a fine bay of very gradual soundings, of a good anchoring 

 ground, and protected in some degree by the land of Euboea from the 

 sudden and boisterous storms of the Archipelago. The extent of 

 the shore is upwards of seven miles, presenting a shelving, sandy 

 beach, free from rocks and shoals, and well calculated for debarkation. 

 The land bordering on the bay is an uninterrupted plain, about two 

 miles and a half in width, and bounded by rocky, difficult heights 



* Reference to the plan of the Field of Marathon. Length of base, a b, 3080 yards; 

 D. marsh; B. Brauron; M.Marathon; S. C. the villages of Sefeeree and Bey; L. salt 

 lake ; T. tumulus ; H. wood of pine trees ; P. mountain of Pan. 



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