The History of the Olympic Marathon
The story of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae is not the only fascinating story to come out of the Greco-Persian War in Greece. There is also the story of Philippides, legendary hero of another battle, the Battle of Marathon, which was of course the inspiration in modern times for the Olympic Marathon.
That’s right, Dustin Hoffman wasn’t the original Marathon Man. Philippides had him beat by about 2500 years.
The Story of Marathon
The legend goes, in various forms, that in 490 BC, during the battle of Marathon the Greeks again wer outnumbered by the invading Persian army, the Athenians dispatched their messenger, Philippides, to Sparta with request for help in the battle. Philippides ran flat out over the shortest, mountainous route. He reached Sparta the very next day and delivered the message. The Spartans agreed that they would send aid, but would have to wait for the full moon because of religious law. So Philippides turned around and ran back to the city of Marathon. In two days, he covered by foot over 150 miles (over 241 km) to Sparta and back.
However, the Athenian army at Marathon managed to turn the tide on the Persian army and won the battle. So Philippides, after delivering his Spartan message and then fighting in the battle at Marathon, was sent out again to the city of Athens to bear the message of victory on his fleet feet. He ran nonstop the 26 miles (42 km) from Marathon to Athens. When he reached his destination, he had time to utter only one word, “Nenikékamen”, which means “We were victorious!” before falling over dead on the spot.
The History Behind the Legend
There is indeed some historical evidence to confirm the first part of the story. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing only about 50 years later, did indeed mention a runner named Pheidippides running by foot from Marathon to Sparta bearing the entreating message, and making the journey in two days, about a day each way.
The second part of the story, however, doesn’t fare so well in history. It wasn’t until about 500 years later that we find the first written record of the run from Marathon to Athens appears, as historian Plutarch mentions in an essay, though he names the runner as Thersippus or Eukles. 100 years later the story shows up again bearing the name of Philippides in the work of a historian named Lucian.
In 1896, when the first modern Olympic Games were held, it was decided that the story of the run of Philippides would provide excellent inspiration for an event of tribute to Ancient Greece. And so the olympic marathon run was born, the first year covering a distance of 40.8 km. Today, a distance of 42.195 km is the official distance.
An annual ultramarathon race called the Spartathalon was officially begun in 1983, covering the 150 miles (250 km) Philippides covered from Marathon to Sparta. Originally run in 1982 by five Brittish RAF officers to see if 250 km could really be run in a day and a half, they set it up the following year as an official annual event. The current record for the run is 20 hrs 25 min, held by native Greek Yiannis Kouros, who set the record in the first official Spartathalon in 1983.
In 1960, the story of Philippides came to the silver screen in the sword and sandals epic ‘The Giant of Marathon’ staring Steve Reeves of Hercules fame. The movie was of course, pretty liberal with the historical character of Philippides.
In today’s age of automobiles and airplanes, 150 miles round trip may not seem too impressively far, more like about 50 bucks in gas. However, next time you’re trying to motivate yourself to take an extra lap around the block, think about running flat out from Philadelphia to Washington, DC– without Gatorade.
