(dramatic music)
(woman vocalizing)
(simmering, brooding music)
- [Narrator] Founded in the sixth century BC,
the Persian Empire dominates the Middle East.
In 499 BC, Miletus, what was once Miltos,
a Greek city in Ionia under Persian control, rebels.
The uprising spreads to other cities in the region.
The insurgents appeal for help from independent Greeks,
who are nevertheless divided.
Two cities, Athens and Eretria,
help the rebels to seize Sardes,
one of the Persian capitals.
(wind howling)
(grunting)
(heartbeat thumping)
(yelling in foreign language)
(yelling)
(pensive music)
(woman vocalizing)
(determined music)
(clapping)
(Darius chuckling)
(grand, impressive music)
- [Narrator] Darius the Great has inherited
the Persian Empire,
composed of 50 or so eastern kingdoms.
The duty of every king of kings
is to strengthen his borders, then to extend them.
Allying power, strength, and authority,
the Persian campaigns enable the empire to spread out
from present day Iran over six million square kilometers,
a massive portion of the Middle East.
(woman vocalizing)
Most of the subjugated peoples
have accepted Persian domination.
Despite being obliged to pay taxes,
they are free to conserve their own culture,
religion and institutions.
In Darius' eyes, the Ionian Greeks and their allies
deserve to be punished for the capture of Sardes.
(tense music)
Miletus, the seat of the insurrection
will be the first stage in his vengeance.
Darius lay siege to the city on land and by sea.
Miletus, the jewel of Greek civilization is crushed.
(woman screaming)
Its inhabitants are reduced to slavery.
The misfortune suffered by the people of Miletus
fills the rest of Greece with sadness.
Darius takes revenge for the humiliation of Sardes.
From now on, the cities that helped the Ionians
are in his sights:
Eretria and notably Athens.
(thoughtful music)
Athens is seemingly unaware of the punitive campaign
about to bear down on her.
(laughing)
(men laughing)
- Themistocles wasn't born
into one of the most prestigious families of Athens.
Plutarch describes him as without fortune,
but that may be an exaggeration.
His father Neocles certainly worked in commerce,
so it's true that Themistocles
isn't a member of the wealthy, the land owning aristocracy,
and thus doesn't have the same opportunities
as those who were well born.
Yet as a child, his intelligence stood out
and if we are to believe Plutarch,
one of his teachers once told him
"My boy, thou wilt be nothing insignificant,
"but something great of assurety either for good or evil."
- [Narrator] Promoted to the rank of captain
and already admired, Themistocles has a taste for honor.
- [Themistocles] I find Athens more magnificent than ever.
I never tire of contemplating my city.
Other cities are more renowned,
but I was born in Athens.
And duty calls me there.
But I have not always felt such pride.
Many years earlier
a drunken knight cost me my family's esteem.
After this one night too many, my father was categorical.
I was corrupted with vice.
And all I was good for was bringing
shame and dishonor on our family.
My mother pleaded the excesses of youth, but in vain.
His mind was made up.
My father disowned and disinherited me.
(men arguing in foreign language)
I had a mad thirst for fame and a whole host of projects.
I began to devote myself to politics and state affairs.
It became my passion.
Soon people began to seek my counsel.
I arbitrated conflicts between citizens
and my success is now earning me quite a reputation.
People listen to me.
I hold the keys to my own destiny.
- The original political regime in Athens
was a fantastic springboard for Themistocles.
- He was 15 when the city became a democracy.
From then on every citizen plays a part in politics.
In practice, the wealthiest fill the highest positions,
such as archon or strategos.
But their power lies in their charisma and their ability
to win over their fellow citizens
with their ideas and actions.
- Themistocles will grab his chance.
If we are to believe the historian Thucydides,
he's incredibly gifted, smart,
intuitive and quick to solve problems.
He also has a great oratory and improvisation skills.
(pensive music)
The task has fallen to me
of training young hoplite in the military arts.
Starting with making discipline the first of virtues.
If we were Spartans we would already be constant soldiers,
broken into the duty of collective obedience
from our earliest years.
We would train nonstop, urged on by a heroic vision of fate,
death and combat being the finest of deaths.
But Athenians are not Spartans.
Am I persuasive enough, I hope so.
My future grandeur depends on my ability to command.
I will continue in my aim, despite only having
a handful of citizen soldiers, far from a professional army.
But how can one not admire men
who keep in top physical condition
and equip themselves at their own expense?
The important thing is that they know how to take up arms
when danger threatens.
These young Athenians seem sensitive to the common good.
But how they struggle to obey.
They still believe that collectively obeying orders
is tantamount to loss of freedom.
Do we Athenians not laud individual potential?
I have certainly benefited from mine.
- Miltiades is strategos, one of the 10 generals
who command Athens' forces.
But as the Persians draw near,
Miltiades is especially valued and trusted.
Unlike most Athenians, he knows the Persians.
He has in the past
campaigned with King Darius' Persian army.
- A few years earlier, he administered a province
under Persian rule.
An experience that proves useful
because he knows how they fight.
But the Athenian troops look so weak
compared to Darius' powerful army.
To resist a Persian invasion, the Greeks will need
to put aside their divisions and unite.
- Can Miltiades and Athens persuade other Greeks
to fight with them?
Greece is made up of more than 100 quarreling states.
But they have a common language and a shared religion.
When a common enemy appears
they can sometimes work as allies against the danger.
(thoughtful music)
- [Narrator] Darius launches a war
to subjugate the whole of Greece.
On land, the Persians seize Greek cities
one after the other.
After the Ionian coast, it's the turn of Hellespont,
Cherronesos and Thrace to be subjugated.
Everywhere ambassadors demand the land and the water
as a sign of allegiance.
As far as Macedonia, Greek cities accept submission.
General Datis is well advised by Hippias.
A Greek in the service of a Persian.
What a strange arrangement,
unless one goes back to the past.
Hippias was the last tyrant of Athens,
the heir of a power that was taken by force
and exercise to excess.
His ousting signaled the end of 49 years of tyranny.
Sick of arbitrary executions,
the Athenians helped by the Spartans,
stood up for their freedom.
The people seized power
and installed a new regime, democracy.
- [Narrator] Hippias advises General Datis to take advantage
of Persian naval superiority.
He should embark as many horsemen,
archers and spear carriers as possible.
The Greeks only know how to fight on foot
and in hand to hand combat
and are impeded by their heavy equipment.
With arrows reigning down and charged by the cavalry,
they cannot resist.
The Athenians do not have the military expertise
of the Spartans.
- [Narrator] Darius takes Hippias' advice
and decides to seek glory on the seas
with 600 ships carrying the finest Persian warriors
including 50,000 soldiers from the four corners
of the empire.
(tense music)
(men grunting)
- [Narrator] On land, the king of kings
reinforces his positions while he begins
to display his authority on the sea.
Soon nearly the whole Aegean Sea is under his control
as one by one the Greek Islands fall into Persian hands.
- [Narrator] All of Asia is bearing swords
and marching to the orders of the king of kings.
Nobody can resist wave after wave of Persian troops.
And Athens sees the danger looming.
- [Themistocles] My mind is made up, I agree with Miltiades
and disagree with those who are so stricken with terror
that they have forgotten their own values.
We can stand up to the Persians.
(suspenseful music)
Spurred on by Miltiades' words,
I train relentlessly, convinced there is no middle ground
between freedom and slavery.
And the freedom of sovereign authority
for the people is something I'm attached to.
So what if one must fight to defend it
as long as the outcome is glorious?
I will not dishonor the sacred arms.
I will not abandon my comrade wherever I am.
I will fight for the sake of principles.
I will not let my homeland be weakened,
but I will, even greater and stronger,
uphold our established laws.
And if anybody seeks to overturn them,
I will not allow it.
(suspenseful music)
- [Narrator] The Persian fleet reaches the Eretrian coast.
A week later, the city capitulates to the Persians.
On entering the city they pillage and set fire
to the temples in revenge for the great fire of Sardes.
And force the inhabitants into slavery,
following Darius' orders.
The threat of a landing weighs down on Athens
and the whole of Attica.
- Hippias chooses Marathon, 40 kilometers north of Athens,
because it's so near to Eretria.
There's a bay big enough to contain the Persian fleet.
And Marathon is also a plain, closed off to the south
by Mount Pentelikon and the one place
within the territory of Athens that favors a cavalry charge.
You would have to know the terrain
to choose such a battlefield.
And that's where the complicity of the turncoat Hippias
plays a determining role.
(tense music) (men yelling)
- [Narrator] While the landing at Marathon
is being prepared, back in Persepolis
Darius and Xerxes admire the skills of the immortals,
the crack troops who make up the king's guard.
(men yelling) (swords clanking)
Darius sent some of these immortals
to provide backup for General Datis' campaign in Greece.
They are all born and bred Persians,
men used to the fiercest battles
and completely devoted to their sovereign.
- [Narrator] Rumors spread about the atrocities committed
in cities that have fallen into Persian hands.
Faced with danger and warned of the pillage and burning
the Persians have left in their wake,
Athens grows worried.
- I need to reassure Athenians
the Persians will not enslave our homeland
before we have sown disorder amongst their ranks.
- It seems impossible for Athens to defend itself alone.
She has fewer than 10,000 hoplites
ready to face an enemy number four or five times more men.
- Persia has already taken a terrible revenge
on the Ionian Greeks who revolted earlier in the 490s.
Many Greek states will now be too scared to resist.
But Athens has allies
from a brave little neighboring state, Plataiai.
And above all, Athens hopes for help from Sparta.
Sparta's hoplites are seen as the best soldiers in Greece.
They're true specialists, trained, deeply disciplined,
frighteningly brave and often accompanied
by loyal allies from neighboring states.
- Can Athens and Sparta join forces
to face foreign invasion?
That's the question citizens will ask
at the next convening of the ecclesia,
before a surprise visit.
(crowd murmuring)
- [Narrator] Darius has sent one of his emissaries
and an interpreter.
(speaking in foreign language)
We do not want this last chance to avoid combat.
Nor do the Spartans find to believe the rumors.
Only Sparta and Athens will dare to brave the advancing tide
of Persian troops and obstinately refuse submission.
(yelling)
(thudding)
- [Narrator] Darius' fleet
expects to avenge the king of kings.
Has he not been asking one of his officers
to remind him at every meal since the capture of Sardes,
sire remember the Athenians.
When the Persians want to capture an island,
they round up its inhabitants as if with a net,
so there can be no escape.
They hold hands, forming a long line north to south
and sweep the whole island on a massive scale manhunt.
- Pheidippides was a professional herald,
known as a hemerodrome.
Etymologically it means man able to run a whole day.
It said he ran the 240 kilometers
that separate Athens and Sparta in 36 hours.
Many people doubted this sporting achievement for years
until a Greek, Yiannis Kouros, won the first
Athens to Sparta race in 1983 in just under 22 hours,
far below the supposed 36 hours of Pheidippides.
Moreover, Pheidippides' performance
seems all the more likely given that
hemerodromes used to train like genuine athletes.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Meanwhile Datis, Hippias and their naval troops
fervently continue their invasion plan.
Observers note an army of 1000 faces
reflecting the multicultural nature
of the king of Persia's subject peoples.
Crack horsemen, uncountable infantry men
and an impressive fleet spread fear.
At full sail, Datis and Hippias
are bearing down on Marathon.
- Persian strategy isn't easy to reconstruct.
It may have evolved.
They will land their cavalry at Marathon
but they will reembark it
before the hand to hand combat begins.
Here you can see the effects of a change of plan,
perhaps on Hippias' advice.
By landing at Marathon,
the Persians will draw the soldiers of Athens
40 kilometers from their city.
They will then head back out to sea
and sail around Attica to the Port of Phaleron
just to the south of the city.
Athens will then be defenseless and the partisans of Hippias
will open the city gates.
(panting)
(whispering)
(panting)
- [Narrator] The Athenians were in dire straights.
The alliance of Greek cities against foreign dominion
was still in a more embryonic form.
A mere 9,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plataeans
stand to face the biggest army in the world.
(Miltiades speaking in foreign language)
(pensive music)
50,000 Persian troops, including 5,000 cavalrymen,
set foot on the soil of Marathon
and pitched their formidable camp in less than a day.
- [Themistocles] In Athens, it's all we can think about,
the army of Darius the Great has landed.
We hear it's only a day's march from the city
and with the memory of the sacking of Melitus,
and the massacre and enslaving of its inhabitants
still fresh, many Athenians are gripped with fear
and beseeching the gods.
Without divine intervention
they believe it's impossible to escape the enemy.
(speaking in foreign language)
I do not agree.
For the very first time in its history,
Athens is faced with its own destiny and must fight.
The Athenians have heard me.
The citizen soldiers are heading to Marathon.
A handful of men against a myriad of invaders
intent on resisting.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] After a day's march,
all of the Athenian hoplites reach Marathon.
They will soon be joined by their trusty allies,
the Plataeans.
together they plan on blocking the Persian advance
by making use of the local terrain.
- To have a good look at their enemy,
at first, the Athenians take a defensive position,
about 1 and 1/2 kilometers away.
This lets them block the Persian advance
towards the city of Athens.
And for a while they can still hope,
though with less and less confidence
that help will arrive from Sparta.
- [Narrator] For five days, Persians and Greeks face off,
neither of them taking the offensive.
Everything is going to Hippias' plan
to have the Athenians believe the danger is at Marathon
and to let them assemble there.
The Athenians are still hoping for Spartan help
and suspect nothing of what's going on behind their backs.
The city of Athens is currently defenseless.
Datis and Hippias are finally ready for action.
It's time to order the Persian cavalry back onto the ships
so it can see through its true objective, to seize Athens.
- [Narrator] Miltiades is in a mind to engage them in battle
without further ado.
But the generals are divided.
Of the 10 strategos, five want to go into combat,
while five believe they're unable to fight the Persians
and prefer to wait for the Spartans.
- [Themistocles] If we succumb to the power of the Persians,
our punishment is decided.
If we are victorious, our city will become
the most important in all Greece.
Callimachus is convinced.
Naturally Miltiades has been given command of operations.
He's the most resolute.
He knows we're alone
and is no longer counting on Spartan help.
His only concern is the obvious disproportion
of the present forces and how to compensate for it.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Miltiades spreads out the Greek front line.
He puts his crack troops in the center
and gives their command to Themistocles.
Then he concentrates the rest of his men on the flanks.
Greek phalanxes excel at head on attack.
But are vulnerable on the flanks.
They need to strengthen their lateral phalanxes
to force the enemy flanks into retreat
and make possible a pincer movement
that will surround the Persian center,
which contains their best troops, the immortals.
(tense tones)
(speaking in foreign language)
(army yelling)
(arrows clanking)
(body thudding)
(yelling)
- [Themistocles] 6,400 Persians have perished.
Only 192 Athenians and 11 Plataeans
have fallen on the field of battle.
But the majority of the fleet has evaded us.
- [Narrator] Meanwhile, the escaped Persian fleet
is in fact sailing towards Athens.
The Persians have such a reserve of men,
that their loses are insignificant.
And defeat at Marathon without consequence.
- [Themistocles] We have no time to patch up our wounded
and recover from the fatigue of combat.
Under Miltiades' orders we advance as one
at a forced march to Athens.
(tense dramatic music)
(yelling)
- [Themistocles] Alone, Athens has withstood
the Persian invader considered invincible.
2,000 Spartans would arrive two days later.
Too late for battle, but on time to salute our valor.
Our city will earn great prestige from this victory.
And be held up as a symbol of resistance to oppression.
For here, at Marathon, a handful of men
have just beaten a multitude of enemies.
- [Narrator] History has been made.
It's likely that the Persian empire won't stop there.
That challenge is to come.
Will Athens be able to rise to it?
(dramatic music)
(woman vocalizing)