What do we know about Pheidippides and his relation to the modern marathon?

1. What do we know about Pheidippides and his relation to the modern marathon?

2. According to Whittaker • Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens after the Athenian victory against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. • Pheidippides run was important because the Persians who escaped from Marathon were sailing around to Athens. • Pheidippides died on delivering the news of victory.

3. According to Whittaker

4. Whittaker’s ability to know • He wrote 2500 years after the event • Does not cite any sources • Degree in science but doesn’t appear to have any expertise in history let alone ancient Greek history

5. Whittaker’s motivation & audience • Useless Facts – entertaining trivia • “The Origin of the Marathon”

6. Whittaker - error • Describes the distance between Marathon and Athens as 42km. • The route from Marathon to Athens run at the first modern Olympics was only 40km.

7. Other Sources - Herodotus • Herodotus does mention Pheidippides accomplishing a great run. • But in Herodotus’ account, Pheidippides run is before the battle of Marathon, not after it. • And Pheidippides runs from Athens to Sparta and back (to seek Spartan help against the Persians) not from Marathon to Athens.

8. According to Herodotus

9. Other Sources - Herodotus “But the Athenians with all possible speed marched away to the defence of their city, and succeeded in reaching Athens before the appearance of the barbarians... The barbarian fleet arrived, and lay to off Phalerum, which was at that time the haven of Athens; but after resting awhile upon their oars, they departed and sailed away to Asia." (Herodotus, Book VI)

10. Conflict between Whittaker & Herodotus • Whittaker describes Pheidippides running from Marathon to Athens after the Battle of Marathon. • Herodotus describes a journey undertaken by Pheidippides from Athens to Sparta before the Battle of Marathon. • Neither source mentions the journey described in the other source.

11. Herodotus - reliability • “For myself, my duty is to report all that is said; but I am not obliged to believe it all alike – a remark which may be understood to apply to my whole History.” (Herodotus, 7. 152) • : “... according to the account which he [Pheidippides] gave to the Athenians on his return... [he] fell in with the god Pan, who called him by his name...”

12. Other sources support Whittaker • Plutarch (runner from Marathon to Athens who dies on finishing) • Lucian • Browning

13. Browning - reliability • Date: no closer to the events than Whittaker • Poet – motivation is not necessarily to determine historical truth

14. Lucian - reliability • Date – lived and wrote in the second century CE • Satirist and rhetorician

15. Herodotus vs. Plutarch • Herodotus had a much greater ability to know; spoke to participants • Plutarch wrote in the first and second centuries CE. Did have access to older sources. Still, much room for misunderstanding.

16. Conclusion “The romantic story about the runner who came from Marathon to say that the Athenians had been victorious and died from exhaustion, is untrue. It originates in a combination of two stories: Pheidippides' athletic achievement and the swift Athenian march from Marathon to the harbor. The famous legend can be found in Plutarch of Chaeronea, The Glory of Athens.” JonaLendering