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Primary sourceArtifact490 BC

Soros (Tumulus of Marathon)

490 BC

The burial mound raised for the 192 Athenian dead after they defeated the Persian expedition sent by Darius I at the Battle of Marathon.

This mound marks the Athenian dead from their victory over the Persian expedition sent to Greece by Darius I.

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A large grassy, dome-shaped earth mound rises under a cloudy sky, with a reddish dirt path winding up one side. In the foreground are pale stone paving slabs, a small young tree, and green lawn, with trees at the right edge.
Soros, burial mound of the Athenians at Marathon, 490 BC. Agios Panteleimon, Greece.

About this source

What it is

The Soros is a burial mound at Marathon, Greece, housing the ashes of 192 Athenians who died in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. It is located at Agios Panteleimon and still dominates the plain where the battle took place.

Why it matters

This mound was raised immediately after the Athenians and their allies, the Plataeans, defeated the Persian invasion force sent by Darius I. According to Herodotus, the much larger Persian army suffered heavy losses while the Greeks lost far fewer men. The mound is an unusual monument for its time, possibly meant to evoke the heroic burial practices described in Homer, and stands as a lasting marker of this turning point against Darius's empire.

Look closer

  • Why might the Athenians have chosen this unusual burial style instead of their normal practice?
  • What does the survival of this mound for over two thousand years tell us about its importance to the Greeks?
  • What does this monument leave out about the Persian side of the story?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Darius the Great on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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