Marathon Guided Excursion

You will first stop to admire the Marathon Tomb, the final resting place of the 192 soldiers who died in the ancient ‘Battle of Marathon’. Your guide will provide information about this historically significant event, as well as the symbolism of the Olympic Marathon race. Then you will visit the archeological museum of Marathon, where you will admire findings dating back from the Neolithic Era and up to the 2nd century A.C.E.

Marathon Archeological Museum

Founded in 1975, the Museum is located about 4.6 kilometers from the Tumulus of the Athenians in Marathon and exhibits range in time from the Prehistoric era to the late Roman times. The museum collection includes Neolithic and Helladic pottery, finds from the Athenians’ Tumulus and the Trophy monument set up on the battle ground in memory of the Battle of Marathon, grave reliefs, dedicatory inscriptions, boundary stones, steles and impressive statues from the Egyptian sanctuary dedicated to the cult of Isis. This small but organized museum is nestled in a valley which also encompasses the covered Helladic cemeteries in close proximity.

The plain of Marathon, spread out between the Pendeli mountain range and the Euboian Gulf, abounds with archeological finds that attest to this area having been continuously inhabited since Neolithic times. Among others, the archeological sites include the Cave of Pan at Oinoë, the sanctuary dedicated to the Egyptian deities south of the plain, and in the valley along the road leading from the Marathon avenue to the Museum, are the three Helladic cemeteries of Tsepi, Vranas and Arnos, dating from 3200BC to 1200 BC. But the most notable site remains the Tumulus or grave mound of the Athenians at Marathon, which shelters the remains of some 200 Athenians who fell in the famous Battle of Marathon in 490 BC when the Athenians with their allies, the Plateans, defeated the Persians. After the victory, an Athenian soldier ran the 42 kilometers to Athens to announce the victory before dying of exhaustion. The yearly classical Marathon race which starts at the Tumulus commemorates the event.