If the
Persian King would provide the soldiers, the Phoenicians would
guarantee to deliver the necessary ships to carry them to
Europe. It was the year 492 before the birth of Christ, and
Asia made ready to destroy the rising power of Europe.
As a final warning the King of Persia sent messengers
to the Greeks asking for ``earth and water'' as a token of their
submission. The Greeks promptly threw the messengers into
the nearest well where they would find both ``earth and water''
in large abundance and thereafter of course peace was impossible.
But the Gods of High Olympus watched over their children
and when the Phoenician fleet carrying the Persian troops
was near Mount Athos, the Storm-God blew his cheeks until
he almost burst the veins of his brow, and the fleet was destroyed
by a terrible hurricane and the Persians were all
drowned.
Two years later they returned. This time they sailed
straight across the AEgean Sea and landed near the village of
Marathon. As soon as the Athenians heard this they sent
their army of ten thousand men to guard the hills that
surrounded the Marathonian plain. At the same time they
despatched a fast runner to Sparta to ask for help. But Sparta
was envious of the fame of Athens and refused to come to her
assistance. The other Greek cities followed her example with
the exception of tiny Plataea which sent a thousand men.
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