The Tumulus of the Marathon Warriors with Mt Stavrokoraki in the distance. In the late summer of 490 BC. Greeks under the leadership of Miltiades fought and defeated the much larger army of the Persian Empire under Datis at the start of the Greco-Persian wars. The earth mound or tumulus, 10M high and 50M in diameter, covers the place where the battle reached its climax. A stele with the names of the Greek dead, classed by tribe, was originally erected on the summit of the Tumulus. Funerary games and torch races were organised in honour of the fallen, and the Tumulus remained into Roman times as a place of pilgrimage for Athenian youths.