Tomb of the Athenians

This is the tomb where 92 Athenian heroes are buried. The mighty Persian King Xerxes, irritated at the Greeks' attempts to help free their colonies in Asia Minor from Xerxes' yoke, decides he is going to wipe out these pesky independent city - states forever. Storms and other disasters take their toll amongst his invasion fleet , and Good King Leonidas defended the narrow pass at Thermopylae to the last of his 300 men before being betrayed. This still left a mighty Persian army intent on destroying the very memory of Athens. The Athenians, without any help from the other Greek city states except the Plataeans, turn back the Persian army on the Plain of Marathon some twenty miles from Athens. Though they greatly outnumbered the Athenians many times over, Xerxes and his army slunk away in defeat. The Plain of Marathon thus became a dividing line between East and West, a place where the future history and culture of the entire Western world were determined.