Tom Holland

So when he dies, he doesn't mention any of his tragedies.

He just said,

You know, I was at Marathon.

I fought against the long-haired Mede.

That was the one thing that he was proud of.

So the Athenians do manage to capture some of the Persian ships to kind of burn them, but the mass of the fleet does manage to pull away.

And so this is a problem for the Athenians because the question now is, well, where is it going to be heading?

You know, Athens effectively stands defenseless.

And

There's an even more alarming question.

What about all that cavalry that had embarked and sailed off?

And then even as they're kind of, you know, worrying about these questions, something very, very alarming happens, which is that up on the heights of Mount Pentelecon, the mountain that stands between Marathon and Athens.

There's a flashing from a mirror or a shield.

And it's clearly a prearranged signal that is being delivered from someone in Athens, a traitor in Athens, signaling out to the Persian admirals.

And nobody knows who it is.

Nobody will ever know who it is.

But it is evident that there is potential treachery afoot.

And so the Athenian generals say, well, we cannot pause here.

We can't rest on our laurels.

We've got to get moving.