Marathon

 

The marathon is a long-distance race with an official distance of 42,195 kilometers (approximately 26 miles 385 yards), usually run as a road race. The event was instituted in commemoration of the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens, who reported the victory. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions.

The marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896, though the distance did not become standardized until 1921. More than 800 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.

The name Marath on comes from the legend of Philippides (or Pheidippides), the Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of the Marathon to

Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon (in which he had just fought), which took place in August or September, 490 BC. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and bursting into the assembly, exclaiming "we have won!", before collapsing and dying. The account of the run from Marathon to Athens first appears in

Plutarch's On the Glory of Athens in the 1st century AD, which quotes from Heraclides Ponticus's lost work, giving the runner's name as either Thersipus of Erchius or Eucles. Satirist Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD) first gives an account closest to the modern version of the story but is writing tongue in cheek and also names the runner Philippides (not Pheidippides).

There is debate about the historical accuracy of this legend. The Greek historian Herodotus, the main source for the Greco-Persian Wars, mentions Philippides as the messenger who ran from Athens to Sparta asking for help, and then ran back, a distance of over 240 kilometers (150 mi) each way. In some Herodotus manuscripts, the name of the runner between Athens and Sparta is given as Philippides. 

Herodotus makes no mention of a messenger sent from Marathon to Athens and relates that the main part of the Athenian army, having fought and won the grueling battle, and fearing a naval raid by the Persian fleet against an undefended thens, marched quickly back from the battle to Athens, arriving the same day.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon