Greek Victories at Marathon and Salamis
On the above vase-painting from the late Classical period, a youthful Greek advances against a bearded Persian cavalryman. At Marathon, in 490 BC, the Greeks defeated a Persian army five times its number from an empire a hundred times its size. The Greeks suffered 192 dead, while killing 6,400 of the Persian horde whose western advance was stopped for the first time.
We understand the need to be prepared for war, but sometimes we forget how much we owe to ancient Greek soldiers. We should remember the hardships they and their families endured. Without the Greek victories at Marathon and Salamis who knows what kind of religious and political values we’d be living under and fighting for today? So it’s not simply ancient Greek ideals that have made our culture what it is, but the shedding of Greek blood in opposition to totalitarianism as well.
The battle between the open and the closed society is still very much a part of our world. It’s the flowering of the fruit of Greek culture that today’s madmen and terrorists hate.
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