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The Soldier of Marathon Announcing the Victory (1834) by Jean-Pierre Cortot; Louvre, Paris. The Greek historian Herodotus was the first person to write about an Athenian runner named Pheidippides participating in the First Persian War. His account is as follows: [10] Before they left the city, the Athenian generals sent off a message to Sparta ...
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 kilometres (c. 26 mi 385 yd), [1] usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, with ...
Later, in popular imagination, these two events were conflated, leading to a legendary but inaccurate version of events. This myth has Pheidippides running from Marathon to Athens after the battle, to announce the Greek victory with the word "nenikēkamen!" (Attic: νενικήκαμεν; we've won!), whereupon he promptly died of exhaustion.
The legend of the ancient run — the run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides to announce victory at the Battle of Marathon to either Athens — had become more culturally prominent in late 19th-century Europe. Robert Browning's 1879 poem "Pheidippides" had brought the story to wider attention, as had an 1890 archeological dig of the Marathon ...
Legend has it that Pheidippides, a Greek herald at the battle, was sent running from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory, which is how the marathon running race was conceived in modern times. [n 1] Today it is part of East Attica regional unit, in the outskirts of Athens and a popular resort town and center of agriculture.
The first marathon was perhaps a 25 mile run by Pheidippides, a Greek soldier who ran to Athens from the town of Marathon, Greece to deliver news of a battle victory over the Persians in 490 B.C. According to this belief, he dropped dead of exhaustion shortly after arriving in Athens . [ 1 ]
The Spartathlon is based on the run of Pheidippides, [1] who ran from Athens to Sparta before the Battle of Marathon in a day and a half to seek aid against the Persians. Five Royal Air Force officers attempted the course in 1982 and the competition was started the next year. [2]
[14] In 1896, at the first modern Olympics, the very first modern-day marathon was run. To honor the history of Greek running, Greece chose a course that would mimic the route run by Athenian army. The route started at a bridge in the town of Marathon and ended in the Olympic stadium. Another event in the ancient Olympic Games was the pentathlon.