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.
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