Editing Marathon (section)

===Origin===
[[File:Phidippides.jpg|thumb|[[Luc-Olivier Merson]]'s 1869 painting depicting the runner announcing the victory at the [[Battle of Marathon]] to the people of [[Athens]]]]

The name ''Marathon'' comes from the legend of [[Pheidippides]], the Greek messenger. The legend states that while he was taking part in the [[Battle of Marathon]], which took place in August or September 490 BC,<ref>{{cite web|title=Astronomers Unravel Marathon Mystery|url=http://www.skyandtelescope.com/press-releases/astronomers-unravel-marathon-mystery-2/|website=Sky & Telescope|access-date=21 March 2017|date=19 July 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211130116/http://www.skyandtelescope.com/press-releases/astronomers-unravel-marathon-mystery-2/|archive-date=11 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> he witnessed a Persian vessel changing its course towards [[Athens]] as the battle was near a victorious end for the Greek army. He interpreted this as an attempt by the defeated [[Persians]] to rush into the city to claim a false victory or simply raid,<ref name=galloway>{{cite web |url = http://www.jeffgalloway.com/retreats/athens.html |title=Retreats&nbsp;— Athens |publisher=Jeffgalloway.com |access-date=22 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601183948/http://jeffgalloway.com/retreats/athens.html |archive-date= 1 June 2009 }}</ref> hence claiming their authority over Greek land. It was said that he ran the entire distance to Athens without stopping, discarding his weapons and even clothes to lose as much weight as possible, and burst into the [[Athenian Assembly|assembly]], exclaiming "we have won!", before collapsing and dying.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/faq10.html |title=Ancient Olympics FAQ 10 |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=22 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720020404/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/faq10.html |archive-date=20 July 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The account of the run from Marathon to Athens first appeared in [[Plutarch]]'s ''On the Glory of Athens'' in the first century AD, which quoted from [[Heraclides Ponticus]]'s lost work, giving the runner's name as either Thersipus of Erchius or Eucles.<ref>Moralia 347C</ref> Satirist [[Lucian of Samosata]] gave one of the earliest accounts similar to the modern version of the story, but its historical veracity is disputed based on its tongue-in-cheek writing and the runner being referred to as Philippides and not Pheidippides.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Myth of Pheidippides and the Marathon |url=http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/sports/2010/april/Myth-of-Pheidippides-and-the-Marathon.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106143318/http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/sports/2010/april/Myth-of-Pheidippides-and-the-Marathon.html |archive-date=6 November 2018 |access-date=7 May 2019 |website=findingdulcinea.com|date=4 November 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:essays:a-slip-of-the-tongue-in-salutation#section3|title=A slip of the tongue in salutation, Chapter 3; The Works of Lucian of Samosata. Translated by Fowler, H.W. and F.G.; Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1905|website=The Lucian of Samosata Project}}; {{cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0516%3Asection%3D3|title=The Greek original of the text of Chapter 3|website=Lucian, Pro lapsu inter salutandum @ perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

There is debate about the historical accuracy of this legend.<ref name=Prologue>{{cite web |url=http://www.marathonguide.com/history/olympicmarathons/prologue.cfm |title=Prologue: The Legend |publisher=Marathonguide.com |access-date=22 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416112356/http://www.marathonguide.com/history/olympicmarathons/prologue.cfm |archive-date=16 April 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Holland, Tom (2007) ''Persian Fire'', Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, {{ISBN|0307386988}}.</ref> The Greek historian [[Herodotus]], the main source for the [[Greco-Persian Wars]], mentioned Philippides as the messenger who ran from [[Athens]] to [[Sparta]] asking for help, and then ran back, a distance of over {{convert|240|km|mi}} each way.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coolrunning.co.nz/articles/2002a007.html#appendix |title=The Great Marathon Myth |publisher=Cool Running New Zealand |last=Kemp |first=Ian |date=27 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204100836/http://www.coolrunning.co.nz/articles/2002a007.html |archive-date=4 December 2016}}</ref> 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 Athens, marched quickly back from the battle to Athens, arriving the same day.<ref>Herodotus, ''The Histories'' Herodotus makes no mention of a runner following the battle runner, and such a runner is mentioned only in much later sources, Nowadays the story of the "Marathon runner" is generally rejected as a fiction, possibly arising from confusion with the runner sent to Sparta before the battle. (Penguin Books: New York, 1977) p. 425.</ref>

{{wikisource|Pheidippides}}
In 1879, [[Robert Browning]] wrote the poem ''Pheidippides''. Browning's poem, his composite story, became part of late 19th-century popular culture and was accepted as a historical legend.<ref name="pheidip">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/oct-26-truth-about-pheidippides-and-early-years-marathon-history|title=The Truth about Pheidippides and the Early Years of Marathon History|last=Burfoot|first=Amby|date=26 October 2010|magazine=Runner's World|access-date=25 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225062715/http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/oct-26-truth-about-pheidippides-and-early-years-marathon-history|archive-date=25 December 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Mount Pentelicus]] stands between Marathon and Athens, which means that Philippides would have had to run around the mountain, either to the north or to the south. The latter and more obvious route is followed by the modern Marathon-Athens highway ([[Greek National Road 83|EO83]]–[[Greek National Road 54|EO54]]), which follows the lay of the land southwards from Marathon Bay and along the coast, then takes a gentle but protracted climb westwards towards the eastern approach to Athens, between the foothills of Mounts [[Hymettus]] and [[Penteli, Greece|Penteli]], and then gently downhill to Athens proper. As it existed when the Olympics were revived in 1896, this route was approximately {{convert|40|km|mi}} long. It was the approximate distance originally used for marathon races. However, there have been suggestions that Philippides might have followed another route: a westward climb along the eastern and northern slopes of Mount Penteli to the [[Dionysos, Greece|pass of Dionysos]], and then a straight southward downhill path to Athens. This route is slightly shorter, {{convert|35|km|mi}}, but includes a very steep climb over the first {{convert|5|km|mi}}.
[[File:Soldat_Marathon_Cortot_Louvre_LP243.jpg|thumb|''The Soldier of Marathon Announcing the Victory'' (1834) by [[Jean-Pierre Cortot]]; [[Louvre]], Paris]]