Many might not know it but I'm really digging ancient battles. Want a Vietnam/Iraq/Afghanistan style bodycount for this fight? Herodotus counted 192 Athenian dead. And 6,400 Persians. Unlike us the Athenians actually won both the bodycount and the battle!

An army that had never lost marched out of Persia to erase Athens from the map.

It stopped 26 miles short.

Darius sent roughly 25,000 men.

Athens fielded about 10,000, plus a thousand Plataeans who didn't have to show up and came anyway.

No Sparta......they were "busy with… pic.twitter.com/RHjH9Qu8Tv

— Joseph Pickett 🇺🇸 (@Pastpassport) August 15, 2026