And there the war should have ended. But Athens had gotten the attention of the Persians, who were angry. They wanted the Athens to be punished for the role it played in the destruction of Sardis. So in 490 BC, the Persians attacked Athens. The Persians were met by one of their former soldiers, Miltiades, who was captured in one of the wars. He had been an outstanding soldier in the Persian army, but he disliked King Darius I. Unlike other Athenians, he knew the Persian army and knew how they attacked. The two armies met at Marathon in Attica, and the Athenians defeated the invading. This battle, the battle of Marathon (490 BC), is one of the most important battles in Greek history. Had the Athenians lost, the Persians would have controlled Greece.

For the Athenians, the battle at Marathon was one of their greatest victories. From the Battle of Marathon onward, the Athenians began to think of themselves as the center of Greek and Greece power. They thought they were the most powerful people in Greece.

The Persians, however, weren't done. After all, the Persians controlled almost the entire world: Asia Minor, Lydia, Judah, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. While Marathon stands as one of the greatest of Greek military victories, the Persian government, however, had its own problems. It wasn't until Xerxes (486-465 BC) became king, that the Persians really got down to business and attacked the Athens again. This time the Persians were determined to win. In 481 BC, Xerxes gathered together an army of 150,000 men and a navy of 600 ships, he was determined that all of Greece would be conquered by his army.