: Ha, I think that the UESC named it for the former reason and Bungie the
: latter, though it's worth mentioning that Alexander Seropian himself
: was(is?) a running enthusiast, so the truth is that it's probably a bit of
: both.
: The Greeks were outnumbered though still won, but their initial beating of
: the Persians wasn't enough to keep them from returning and sacking Athens
: as the Pfhor did Tau Ceti.
: Historically though the original Battle of Marathon could be considered a
: watershed moment for the Greeks in their history and formative for
: Western/European identity in that it proved that the seemingly unstoppable
: Persians could be beaten in the field and that the Greeks could hope to
: win the war, as they eventually did. This perhaps allowed for the
: flourishing of the ancient Greek culture which still underlies many of our
: notions, language, and sensibilities to this day. In this sense the Battle
: of Tau Ceti/Marathon would be similar in heralding the rise of a new human
: civilization, which happened with the collapse of the Pfhor Empire.
: So yes I think the Pfhor would definitely have to be the Persians in that
: allegory, but Alexander the Great was born about 150 years after the
: Battle of Marathon. I suppose he could be analogous to Durandal in a
: symbolic sense but whether or not Bungie intended as much I don't know. I
: think he's such an interesting character though that he's symbolically
: analogous to a lot of historical figures and fictional characters and
: *that* I think was intentional if you look at all the references strewn
: through the games...
The reference to the Battle of Marathon in the first game's manual mentions to be like the Greeks in that battle and charge into the fray like 90's FPS encourage you to do.
Unfortunately, it only seems to work on lower difficulties because certain areas in all three games where they expect you to do that are balanced in the way that you need to play carefully instead as the intended method just results in having your ass kicked.
Several Halo levels on Legendary spring to mind, as does trying to beat Halo 2 on said difficulty. (you can't. not even Cairo Station)
