I mean… He didn’t, more than likely he never really existed. That interpretation of the legend is a misconception that was popularized in 1879 by Robert Browning who claims he ran from athens to sparta, back to athens, fought at marathon, and then ran back to Athens where he died.
In reality the first mention of a runner having to do with the battle was made by Herodotus (aka the father of lies) who claimed Pheidippides ran from athens to sparta in two days… Only stopping to have a quick chat with some gods.
Around 500 years later Plutarch claimed a runner named Thersippus or Eukles ran from marathon to Athens to deliver news of victory.
100 years after that Lucian of Samosata claimed that Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to announce victory and then died.
Over 1500 years later Browing would conflate all the stories into one legend about Pheidippides.
So, the earliest source for the story comes 40 years after it supposedly happened, and from a person who was famous for for spinning up some pretty tall tales.
That’s because the legend is most likely a mix of fictional accounts. The one you are thinking of is the story recounted by Lucian of Samosata around 600 years after the events and is a romanticized retelling of a story by Plutarch from a 100 years before.
The one the person who responded to you claiming that he ran like 500km is an even more fictional account from 1874. From an author that combined stories from 3 different more contemporary but still likely fictional accounts.
So honestly you are more correct than the vast majority of the people on this thread.
Everyone is ignorant in some way though, you cannot know it all.
The full story is that before the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides ran around 240 km to Sparta to ask for aid in the upcoming battle and then back to bring their message. He then fought a probably exhaustive battle and then ran to Athens (if I am not mistaken) to tell them of the victory, adding ~ 42 km more.
So in total he ran around 524 km. Not sure in what time exactly, but I assume he wasn’t tardy. Then he died of exhaustion.
By the way, the run to Sparta is, since a few RAF officers did it after WW2, now also a race and your name gets put on a slab of rock somewhere.
Yes a bit more actually. I answered in more detail to another comment in this thread. Also like another comment said the reporting on it all is a bit nebulous, too.
The wikipedia article is a little ambiguous on this.
Pheidippides is said to have run approximately 240 kilometres (150 mi) from Athens to Sparta (and back to Athens)
My first interpretation was that the run from Athens to Sparta was 240km, and additionally he ran back to Athens which would be an extra 240km. Which would actually seem correct, as osm’s route is about 217km one way.
That’s a claim made by Herodotus, though in his telling he really only claims he ran to sparta from Athens in two days and made his way back at some point. He was also famous even in his own day to make up stories and greatly exaggerate for dramatic effect, and his story is from 40 years after the events occurred.
In reality, it really doesn’t make sense for one runner to do the whole trek. Ancient greece was famous for having a relay system of runners to deliver important news, similar to the pony express, but without the ponies. It would have been a lot faster and more secure to use the relay system instead of having a random unheard of dude do the whole run.
Doubt that many people do. He ran 480 km, participated in the battle of Marathon and then ran ~42 km after and died.
I mean… He didn’t, more than likely he never really existed. That interpretation of the legend is a misconception that was popularized in 1879 by Robert Browning who claims he ran from athens to sparta, back to athens, fought at marathon, and then ran back to Athens where he died.
In reality the first mention of a runner having to do with the battle was made by Herodotus (aka the father of lies) who claimed Pheidippides ran from athens to sparta in two days… Only stopping to have a quick chat with some gods.
Around 500 years later Plutarch claimed a runner named Thersippus or Eukles ran from marathon to Athens to deliver news of victory.
100 years after that Lucian of Samosata claimed that Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to announce victory and then died.
Over 1500 years later Browing would conflate all the stories into one legend about Pheidippides.
So, the earliest source for the story comes 40 years after it supposedly happened, and from a person who was famous for for spinning up some pretty tall tales.
Man, fuck Herodotus. That guy’s full of shit and has been taken too seriously for too long.
Yeah… Even contemporary writers would constantly criticize him for mixing fantasy into his writing for entertainment purposes.
My ignorance is being displayed here, I only vaguely remembered the story as him running the ~42km and then dying from exhaustion.
That’s because the legend is most likely a mix of fictional accounts. The one you are thinking of is the story recounted by Lucian of Samosata around 600 years after the events and is a romanticized retelling of a story by Plutarch from a 100 years before.
The one the person who responded to you claiming that he ran like 500km is an even more fictional account from 1874. From an author that combined stories from 3 different more contemporary but still likely fictional accounts.
So honestly you are more correct than the vast majority of the people on this thread.
Everyone is ignorant in some way though, you cannot know it all.
The full story is that before the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides ran around 240 km to Sparta to ask for aid in the upcoming battle and then back to bring their message. He then fought a probably exhaustive battle and then ran to Athens (if I am not mistaken) to tell them of the victory, adding ~ 42 km more.
So in total he ran around 524 km. Not sure in what time exactly, but I assume he wasn’t tardy. Then he died of exhaustion.
By the way, the run to Sparta is, since a few RAF officers did it after WW2, now also a race and your name gets put on a slab of rock somewhere.
That’s a fictional retelling popularized by Robert Browning in the late 1800s of three different accounts from more contemporary authors.
Ran 480 km?
Nah, that misconception was popularized in the late 1800s and is basically a tall tale based on several other tall tales.
Yes a bit more actually. I answered in more detail to another comment in this thread. Also like another comment said the reporting on it all is a bit nebulous, too.
The wikipedia article is a little ambiguous on this.
My first interpretation was that the run from Athens to Sparta was 240km, and additionally he ran back to Athens which would be an extra 240km. Which would actually seem correct, as osm’s route is about 217km one way.
That’s a claim made by Herodotus, though in his telling he really only claims he ran to sparta from Athens in two days and made his way back at some point. He was also famous even in his own day to make up stories and greatly exaggerate for dramatic effect, and his story is from 40 years after the events occurred.
In reality, it really doesn’t make sense for one runner to do the whole trek. Ancient greece was famous for having a relay system of runners to deliver important news, similar to the pony express, but without the ponies. It would have been a lot faster and more secure to use the relay system instead of having a random unheard of dude do the whole run.
Damn