The birthplace of the modern-day sporting event called marathon is ideally a place called “Marathon” in Greece. The Legend that gives rise to the sport is the legend of Philippines, the messenger. It is with this legendary tale that I started my post archive.

The tale of Pheidippides is shrouded amongst myths and contextual history. The story starts when the Athens high command learns about the upcoming Persian invasion, quick calculation are made and details about the opposition army are scouted thoroughly. The place where Athenians will fight Persians is decided, Marathon!

Details reveal a staggering 60,000 impending Persian soldiers on the shores, Athenians only 10,000. They needed help, a military state was sought for help. Sparta was the biggest military state and an ally of Athens, the only problem being Sparta was 150-miles away from Athens.

Before I reveal, what happened next, I must explain what hemerodromos means. A messenger was a post-man in the ancient Greece who delivered messages on foot. A hemerodromos was a military person who did day-long runs and what today we call as Ultra marathons. The duty was sacred and named after the messenger god “Hermes”. There were multiple hemerodromii but Pheidippides was, arguably, the best of them.

Pheidippides was called upon by the then military general, Militades, and given a mammoth task to run to Sparta and request for assistance. Pheidippides ran the distance in two days! A huge achievement! Unfortunately, the records never mention the exact time and place of start and end, but they do inspire modern day sporting events such as “Spartathlon” to mimic the exact run Pheidippides took.

What happens is Sparta? The request is accepted, happy ending? No. The Spartan laws prohibited them from fighting until the moon was full. That would be six days from the time of his plea and too late for the assistance to be of any use.

Here is the birthplace of magic and perseverance beyond human limits, Pheidippides did the unthinkable, after a power-nap and some food he ran 150-miles back to Athens to deliver the news and help the general Militades prepare accordingly for the battle.

Yes, the army marched to battle the Persians without the situation being any different from before, or was it different? The phenomenon of sleep running has been commonly experienced by the Ultra-marathoners and Pheidippides was running without proper rest, the dire situation at Athens and no help coming from Sparta produced a legend on its way to Athens. The god “Pan” appeared in front of Pheidippides to offer him help in return of faith and devotion. This encounter was explained by Pheidippides when he reached Athens alive after the devastating “300-mile marathon”.

The armies battled hard, 1:6 ratio with Persians outnumbering the Athenians, Militades made an extremely bold decision. The decision to fight offensively and aggressively, a gamble which paid off and instilled fear in the Persians. It is said that the god “Pan” fought with the Athenians and instilled “Panic” in the Persians. Pheidippides fought too and if he had failed to deliver the timely message of Spartans not being able to help, the battle would have been lost.

A runner was sent from Marathon to Athens, a 25-mile run, unclear on his identity but the runner was a hemerodromos to deliver the message of victory. The runner collapsed in the hallway of the council shouting, “Rejoice, We won!” and died. An act considered to be extremely noble by the ancient Greeks. This noble run and the final conclusion was forever decorated by the Greeks and developed into a sport which is a worldwide phenomenon now, The Marathon!