Marathon - Alan Lloyd

At Marathon an army of Greek
city states, including Sparta and Athens, met the Persian army of Darius.
This was the key battle of Western civilisation for Athens were defending not
only their independence but their radical new political form, democracy. Alan
Lloyd details the course of Athenian democracy, its religion and culture and
the uneasy alliances with other city-states, such as Sparta. Out of this
historical background Lloyd brings the battle alive with a story-teller's
vitality, evoking the final run of Philippides, the Athenian messenger, who
brought the news of the Greek victory back to Athens, a feat now commemorated
in the modern marathon.