Battle of MarathonObjectives:

You should know the key character and what happened at the battle of Marathon.You should understand how a newspaper report is laid out.You should be able to recount a historical event through different perspectives

Athens & Sparta

What can you re-call?

• The Persian King (King Darius) decided he wanted to take over Greece.

• It often attacked Greek colonies

• Athens often sent soldiers to help them.

• The Greeks were unable to stop the Persian armies when they decided to attack.

Persia

Who might the Athenians ask for help?

Spartans were highly regarded as epic warriors

Sparta and Athens decided to join together to fight the Persians.

Battle Commences!• In 492 BC, King Darius of Persia ordered the

Greeks to obey him.• In 490 BC he travelled with his army to fight

at the Bay of Marathon – this fight is known as the Battle of Marathon.

Pheidippides• As soon as the

Athenians realised the Persians were coming to attack Greece, they sent a fast runner called Pheidippides, to run all the way to Sparta to ask for help

But the Spartans were celebrating a religious festival and would not come until the next full

moon.

One of the Athenian officers had a clever plan. A plan that had never been used before. Would it work?

The Athenians attacked! They came from the sides! The Persians could not believe it! They got confused, they broke the ranks and gave the Athenians

the chance to get behind them.

But then.....

The Persian army was defeated!

The Persians fled to their ships and left. They lost more than 6000 men. The Athenians only lost 192. The Spartans were amazed that the small Athenian army could defeat that enormous and powerful Persian army.

• After staying to help defeat the Persians, Pheidippides was told to run to Athens (26 miles away) and tell the people all about the victory.

• When he arrived he fell to the ground and said: ‘Nike’ (that means we won) but died of exhaustion after delivering the news.

Task

• To create a newspaper article to telling an eyewitness account of the Battle of Marathon.

• This can be from the perspective of an Athenian, a Spartan or a Persian.

Newspaper Article

• What do you already know about news reporting?• What key features should a newspaper article have?