The Battle of Marathon

The Greeks gave chase, and as the Persians fled, many were bogged down in the swampy marshes. The fighting was the fiercest by the ships. Plutarch reports that a man named Kainageros fought especially valiantly until his right hand was chopped off by an axe. And so, having lost both of his hands, he decided to hang on by his teeth,. Even in his mutilated state, he fought desperately, like a rabbit-wild beast, until he was finally slain. Such was the ferocity that the Athenians had fought with in defense of their homeland. By the time the rest of the Greeks caught up, only seven ships were able