NOT EVERYONE KNOWS THIS…
By John Chaput John Chaput, born and raised in Montreal, eventually morphed into a Westerner. A retired writer and editor. he occupies much of his time as president of the Regina Little Theatre.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATE JOHANSEN
SEPTEMBER 12, 490 BCE Since the 19th century, this has been accepted as
SEPTEMBER 20, 1519
the most probable date of the Battle of Marathon,
Portuguese commander Ferdinand Magellan
in which a thoroughly outnumbered force of 10,000
sets out with a fleet of five ships and 270 men
Athenians drove away an invading Persian army.
westward across the Atlantic Ocean on a hitherto
The battle would also bring forth the legend of
unexplored route to the Spice Islands (now part
Pheidippides, the courier who ran 240 kilometres
of Indonesia). Not everyone knew this at the time,
in two days to Sparta to seek military help for the
but the problem with the route is this little thing
Athenians, then ran back to Marathon, was sent
called South America that gets in the way. Well, no
on another 40-kilometre jaunt to deliver news of
matter; they had two years’ worth of provisions. So,
the victory to Athens, and promptly dropped dead
reaching Brazil, Magellan spent five months trying
when he announced the result. Not everyone knows
to find a way around this mysterious land mass,
this, but the earliest known telling of the story of
hunkering down for winter, and quelling a mutiny.
Pheidippides (by Plutarch) doesn’t appear until five
Finally the fleet made its way to the Pacific Ocean
centuries after the battle. And the story is probably
and the Philippines, where Magellan thought that
hooey. Think about it: If you were desperate for
converting the natives to Christianity would be a
reinforcements or eager to announce a triumph,
good idea. It wasn’t; they killed him. The expedition
wouldn’t you send somebody on horseback? Even in
carried on without Magellan and in September of
490 BCE, there was such a thing as cavalry.
1522 made it back to Spain and achieved the first
(This segment sponsored by Carbon Dating, the service
circumnavigation of the globe. Of the original 270
for couples who want to explore coal mines.)
participants, fewer than 20 completed the voyage.
SIDEONE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
33
