The Repulse of Persia and the AtJienian Empire 169 Unable to lure the Greeks from their advantageous position The battle after several days' waiting, the Persians at length attempted to (490 bx.)^'^ march along the road to Athens, at the same time endeavoring to cover their exposed line of march with a sufficient force thrown out in battle array. Miltiades was familiar with the ."Cif/" -f'i,. 'W Hie.SchneJcler- FiG. 84. Mound raised as a Monument to the Fallen Greeks at Marathon ' • The mound is nearly fifty feet high. Excavations undertaken in 1890 dis- closed beneath it the bodies of the one hundred and ninety-two Athenian citizens who fell in the battle. Some of their weapons and the funeral vases buried with them were also recovered Persian custom of massing troops in the center. He there- fore massed his own troops on both wings, leaving his center weak. It was a battle between bow and spear. The Athenians undauntedly faced the storm of Persian arrows, ^ and then both wings pushed boldly forward to the line of shields behind which the Persian archers were kneeling. In the meantime the Persian center had forced back the Greeks, while the two Greek wings See page 96 and Fig, 5 1
