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When the Athenian line was ready, according to one source, the simple signal to advance was given by Miltiades: "At them".[45] Herodotus implies the Athenians ran the whole distance to the Persian lines, shouting their ululating war cry, "Ελελευ! Ελελευ!" ("Eleleu! Eleleu!").[72] It is doubtful that the Athenians ran the whole distance; in full armour this would be very difficult.[78] More likely, they marched until they reached the limit of the archers' effectiveness, the "beaten zone", (roughly 200 meters), and then broke into a run towards their enemy.[78] Herodotus suggests that this was the first time a Greek army ran into battle in this way; this was probably because it was the first time that a Greek army had faced an enemy composed primarily of missile troops.[78]
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