Page "Marathon, Greece" Paragraph 1

Marathon's name ( Μαραθών ) comes from the herb fennel, called marathos ( μάραθος ) in Greek, so Marathon literally means " a place with fennels ".

The name of the athletic long-distance endurance race, the " marathon ", comes from the legend of a Greek runner, who was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been miraculously defeated in the Battle of Marathon.

It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping, but moments after proclaiming his message " Nenīkēkamen " (" We have won!

") to the city, he collapsed from exhaustion.

The account of the run near Marathon to Athens first appears in Plutarch's On the Glory of Athens in the 1st century AD, which quotes from Heraclides Ponticus ' lost work, giving the runner's name as either Thersipus of Erchius or Eucles.

Lucian of Samosata ( 2nd century AD ) also gives the story but names the runner Philippides ( not Pheidippides ).

The Greek historian Herodotus, the main source for the Greco-Persian Wars, mentions Pheidippides as the messenger who ran from Athens to Sparta asking for help.

In some manuscripts of Herodotus the name of the runner between Athens and Sparta is given as Philippides.