Herodotus mentions that Pheidippides was visited by the god Pan on his way to Sparta ( or perhaps on his return journey ).

It was conceived by Michel Bréal, a friend of Pierre de Coubertin, based on the legend of Pheidippides.

His son, Pheidippides, subsequently yields to threats by Strepsiades and reluctantly returns with him to the Thinkery, where they encounter the personified arguments Superior and Inferior, associates of Socrates.

It was directed by Michael Moore ; with Alexander MacGillivray as Strepsiades, Lucy Preston as Pheidippides and Topher Collins as Socrates.

Pheidippides, according to an account by Greek historian Herodotus in The Persian Wars, arrived in Sparta the day after he departed.

Herodotus wrote: " On the occasion of which we speak when Pheidippides was sent by the Athenian generals, and, according to his own account, saw Pan on his journey, he reached Sparta on the very next day after quitting the city of Athens.

According to Herodotus, an Athenian runner named Pheidippides was sent to run from Athens to Sparta to ask for assistance before the battle.

* The Greek historian Herodotus, the main source for the Greco-Persian Wars, mentions Pheidippides as the messenger who runs from Athens to Sparta asking for help, and then runs back, a distance of over 240 kilometres each way.

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.

Herodotus, writing about 30 to 40 years after the events he describes, did, according to Miller ( 2006 ) in fact base his version of the battle on eyewitness accounts, so it seems altogether likely that Pheidippides was an actual historical figure, although the same source claims the classical author didn't ever in fact mention a Marathon-Athens runner in any of his writings.

At the same time, Athens's greatest runner, Pheidippides ( or Philippides in some accounts ) had been sent to Sparta to request that the Spartan army march to the aid of Athens.

The most famous legend associated with Marathon is that of the runner Pheidippides / Philippides bringing news to Athens of the battle, which is described below.

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

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

Pheidippides considers him the cleverest of poets ( 1377 ), he particularly enjoys his depiction of incest in Aiolus and he quotes from Alcestis in defense of his right to beat his father ( 1415 ).

The traditional story relates that Pheidippides ( 530 BC – 490 BC ), an Athenian herald or hemerodrome ( translated as " day-runner " ( Kyle 2007 ), courier ( Larcher 1806 ), " professional-running courier " ( Sears 2003 ) or " day-long runner " ( Miller 2006 )), was sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon, Greece.

" It seems likely that in the 500 years between Herodotus's time and Plutarch's, the story of Pheidippides had become muddled with that of the Battle of Marathon ( particularly the story of the Athenian forces making the march from Marathon to Athens in order to intercept the Persian ships headed there ), and some fanciful writer had invented the story of the run from Marathon to Athens.

He played a number of other characters on screen, including Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Glaucus of Pompeii ; Goliath, the bane of the barbarians ( actually called " Emiliano " in the Italian version ); Tatar hero Hadji Murad ; Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome ( opposite Gordon Scott as his twin brother Remus ); Pheidippides, the famous war-time messenger of the Battle of Marathon ; pirate and self-proclaimed governor of Jamaica, Captain Henry Morgan ; and Karim, the fabled Thief of Baghdad.

Linguistically, the association of horse ownership with social status extends back at least as far as ancient Greece, where many aristocratic names incorporated the Greek word for horse, like Hipparchus and Xanthippe ; the character Pheidippides in Aristophanes ' Clouds has his grandfather's name with hipp-inserted to sound more aristocratic.

Strepsiades likes his poetry but Pheidippides thinks it is full of smoke ( line 1366 ).

Robert Browning gave a version of the traditional story in his 1879 poem Pheidippides.

* In 1991, Yiannis Kouros starred as Pheidippides in the movie The Story of the Marathon: A Hero's Journey, which chronicles the history of marathon running.

Pheidippides arrived during the festival of Carneia, a sacrosanct period of peace, and was informed that the Spartan army could not march to war until the full moon rose ; Athens could not expect reinforcement for at least ten days.

Strepsiades was barbecuing meat for relatives at this festival when a bladder exploded like lightning ( line 408 ) and he once bought a toy cart for Pheidippides during the festivities ( 864 ).

The event was to commemorate the Greek soldier Pheidippides who, according to several legends, ran from the Battle of Marathon to either Athens or Sparta.

Although historically inaccurate, the legend of the Greek messenger Pheidippides running to Athens with news of the victory became the inspiration for this athletic event, introduced at the 1896 Athens Olympics, and originally run between Marathon and Athens.

Pheidippides at first agrees to do as he's asked then changes his mind when he learns that his father wants to enroll him in The Thinkery, a school for nerds and intellectual bums that no self-respecting, athletic young man dares to be seen with.

Superior Argument sides with Justice and the gods, offering to prepare Pheidippides for an earnest life of discipline, typical of men who respect the old ways ; Inferior Argument, denying the existence of Justice, offers to prepare him for a life of ease and pleasure, typical of men who know how to talk their way out of trouble.

Superior Argument accepts his inevitable defeat, Inferior Argument leads Pheidippides into the Thinkery for a life-changing education and Strepsiades goes home happy.

He bred pheasants ( or horses ) that Pheidippides wouldn't trade his self-respect for ( line 109 ).

Pheidippides ' run to Sparta to bring aid has other legends associated with it.

Pan asked why the Athenians did not honor him and the awed Pheidippides promised that they would do so from then on.

Pheidippides, the first marathoner, ran from Athens to Sparta in less than 36 hours.

In the play, Socrates teaches young Pheidippides how to formulate arguments to justify beating his own father.

* Before the Battle of Marathon, the Athenians send a runner, Pheidippides, to seek help from Sparta.

Some street names include Parthenon Drive, Kronos Drive, Hercules Place, and Pheidippides Place.

The play begins with Strepsiades suddenly sitting up in bed while his son, Pheidippides, remains blissfully asleep in the bed next to him.

Pheidippides however will not be persuaded and Strepsiades decides to enroll himself in The Thinkery in spite of his advanced age.

A new Pheidippides emerges, startlingly transformed into the pale nerd and intellectual bum that he had once feared to become.

Pheidippides emerges coolly and insolently debates with his father a father's right to beat his son and a son's right to beat his father.

* The Oxford University Dramatic Society staged it in the original Greek in 1905, with C. W. Mercer as Strepsiades and Compton Mackenzie as Pheidippides.