Persian Win at Marathon

We know the Greeks won at Marathon.

The Persian expedition set to punish Naxos, Ereteria, and Athens. Let's add Thebes just for the sake of it.

At Ereteria, the locals decided on a siege because no Persian was defeated in a field battle for 300 years unless heavily outnumbered. A local opened up the gates for them, ending the siege.

Let's say at Marathon, the Athenian Left flank and center made holes in their Phalanx when trying to push against the Persians. The first three phalanx lines are compromised and the light Persian infantry plus their cavarly exploit the gaps, killing the more immobile Greeks. The back lines fight on, but they get worn out with the depletion of their front ranks. After an hour, the line collapses and the Persian cavalry start running over

In the end, 3,150 Athenians are captured and another 3K ish are killed. The Persians suffered 1/7 as many losses. They march over to Athens and sack it. An Athenian exile was used as a guide, I'm guessing he stays behind as a puppet? And the Persians crush Thebes, enslaving 3/4 of the able male population and looting.

The Spartan reinforcements arrive close to Athens and defeats Persian scouting force. Seeing the city is occupied by Persians and they were too late, they go home.

Well, the whole invasion force contains 32,000 troops and no siege train. In fact, a TPK on the Persians wouldn't dent their resources manpower or material wise, although the loss of their commanders might be a problem. So what now? They can't possibly hold the whole Greece.

Do they just go home? I mean, they only wanted to add Naxos and Macedonia into their sphere of influence and everything else was a punitive mission.

Did history even change all that much, assuming no ancestors of important people were killed?
 
Ok, let's face it, the sacks probably killed off ancestors of important people.

But if the Persians go home the political situation isn't altered that much.
 
If all of mainland Greece ended up offering the Persians earth and water, independent Greek civilization would still continue on Sicily. Playing the long game, the Persians would probably want to make Syracuse their main western ally as a bulwark against the Carthaginians; provide lots of money for them to hire mercenaries and so on. The trick would be knowing when to stop aiding them, and prevent Syracuse from becoming a dominant city in the Western Med.
 
Well, neither of the quoted timelines have the same POD. Normally I would say, "that's interesting" and move on. But I like the food one.

If all of mainland Greece ended up offering the Persians earth and water, independent Greek civilization would still continue on Sicily. Playing the long game, the Persians would probably want to make Syracuse their main western ally as a bulwark against the Carthaginians; provide lots of money for them to hire mercenaries and so on. The trick would be knowing when to stop aiding them, and prevent Syracuse from becoming a dominant city in the Western Med.

Ah, I see. After this Marathon, mainland Greece would probably offer the token earth and water. Darius, getting his retribution would be satisfied with such an expedition. Syracuse would make a pretty good ally.
 
Top