Herodotus says nothing about a run from Marathon to Athens.

490 BC · 1896 · apart: 2386 years

His runner Pheidippides runs from Athens to Sparta for help, about 240 km in two days. The messenger dying with the word 'Victory!' came later and is likely a romantic invention.

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The event

• Battle of Marathon490 BC · Marathon. Athenian and Plataean hoplites under Miltiades defeated the Persian force Darius I had landed in Attica. The first major Greek victory over Persia boosted Athenian prestige and inspired the legend of the runner behind the modern marathon.

5th century BC · 19th century

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