by Anthony Ayiomamitis
Schinias Beach at Ancient Marathon is the location of the first great battle between the Athenians and the Persians and which occurred in 490 BC. Commonly referred to as the "Battle of Marathon" and under the command of King Darius I, the Persian army's first attempted invasion of Greece was at the cape of Marathon roughly 40 km northeast of Athens. Commanded by Miltiades, a request was made to the Spartans for support in repelling back the Persian forces and which was ultimately denied due to a Spartan holiday and which would last until the full moon rose. Given no other choice, Miltiades and his far outnumbered Athenian army aided by the Plataeans successfully turned back Darius and his invading forces. The news was transitted to local Athenians with the help of a runner, Pheidippides (530-490 BC), and who collapsed and died upon his arrival and exclamation of "Νενικήκαμεν" ("We won"). Ten years later and under the direction of King Darius' son Xerxes, a second Persian invasion attempt was made but this time at Thermopylae ("The battle of the 300").
Technical Details:
Date: May 27, 2010 @ 20:43:07 UT+3
Location: Schinias Beach, Ancient Marathon, Greece
Equipment: LZOS MC 3M-5CA 500/f8, Canon EOS 5D Mk I, UV Filter (72 mm)
Exposure: 1 x 1/15 sec, ISO 400, RAW Image Format, 4368 x 2912 image size, Manual Mode
Further details are available here.