The Ingratitude of Athens
Miltiades descended from the heights, assembled the army with reinforced flanks and a weakened center, and advanced. Once within Persian archery range, Miltiades ordered his men to charge at a full run. They rapidly closed the distance, and smashed into the more lightly armed Persians. The Athenians’ reinforced flanks pushed back their opposition, then wheeled inwards to attack the Persian center. It panicked, broke, and fled in a rout to the beached ships. It was a stunning victory: the Athenians and their allies lost about 200, the Persians 6400.
Miltiades returned to Athens in glory, but it did not last. He felt Athens’s ingratitude the following year, when he led a strong expedition against some Greek islands that had supported the Persians. He bungled it badly, and suffered a severe leg wound while at it. His defeat seemed so absurd, that the Athenians figured he must have lost on purpose. The people whom he had so recently saved tried him for treason. He was convicted and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to a heavy fine. He was sent to prison, where he died when his leg wound became infected. The Athenians’ ingratitude towards their savior shocked contemporaries.