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Once the men of Athens were mobilized, it was up to Miltiades and the other generals to decide how they would engage the Persians. Some Athenians believed that it was best to wait for the Persians and to fight them in a siege, but Miltiades knew that such a venture was doomed to failure after seeing what happened to Eretria. Miltiades argued that they needed to meet the Persians as soon as they landed their ships on ground that could favor their numerical inferiority. The Athenians chose the plain near a town named Marathon to engage the Persians because that was near where the Persians would come to shore and it was sacred to the Greek demi-god Hercules. <ref>Herodotus, Book VI, 108</ref> The Athenians were able to muster about 10,000 hoplites and were augmented by 1,000 men from their Greek allies in Plataea. Once the Athenians picked the location, they did not directly engage the Persians, who were camped near the shore, but gradually advanced over the course of a few days, felling trees as they went. Once they arrived at would be the battlefield they were protected in their rear and flanks by rugged hills, which made the Persian cavalry useless and pinned them in a bottleneck. <ref> Hammond, pgs. 34-39</ref> With the odds somewhat more favorable, Miltiades was ready to lead his men into battle.
Miltiades next initiated two battlefield strategies that proved to be fatal for the Persians. He focused his best troops on the wings of the Greek line instead of the center, which was where the best troops traditionally fought in battles during this era. Once his troops were lined up, he ordered a nearly one mile charge by charge by his men to engage the Persian line. Although one would think that running to a battle would wind the troops and therefore be counterproductive, in this case it had the result of rendering the Persian archery and cavalry useless. <ref>Hammond, p. 40</ref> When the two armies engaged, the Greek center gave way, but that was part of Miltiades’ ultimate strategy as Herodotus noted:
“The Athenians on one wing and the Plataeans on the other were both victorious. Having got the upper hand, they left the defeated enemy to make their escape, and them drawing the two wings together into a single unit, they turned their attention to the Persians who had broken through in the centre. Here again they were triumphant, chasing the routed enemy, and cutting them down until they came to the sea.” <ref> Herodotus, Book VI, 113</ref>