Athens Marathon Beach

General information

Marathon Athens: This region is a well-known site, since it is the place where the famous battle of Marathon between the Greeks and the Persian army took place in 490 BC. The story says that after the bloody battle, a messenger named Pheidippides ran the 42 km that divided Marathon from Athens to announce the victory of the Greeks, and died from exhaustion right after spreading the news. This story is what started the marathon foot race in witch today runners follow the same Pheidippides route.

At 8 km from the town of Marathon you will find the Lake Marathon, which is faced with a huge Pentelic marble dam (50m high and stretching for 300m), the same marble used to build the Parthenon. This lake used to be the unique water source of Athens until 1956. The beautiful ruins of the Doric Temple of Nemesis (435 BC), goddess of retribution as well as the 6th century small temple of Themis , goddess of justice and law, are located nearby. The Archaeological Museum of Marathonas will keep you into the archaeological mood. This interesting region also has some little rocky inlets with clean and nice water, very agreeable to visit, as well as the big and beautiful beach of Schinias.