Pheidippides

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Statue of Pheidippides at Marathon

Pheidippides (ancient Greek: Φειδιππίδης), also called Thersippos , Eucles and Philippides , was, according to Herodotus, an Athenian messenger who ran to Sparta before the battle of Marathon with an - ultimately in vain - request for help. This 245 km run is the model for the modern Spartathlon run .

In much later traditions from Plutarch and Lukian of Samosata , the name was transferred to the legendary messenger who was born after the battle in 490 BC. He ran to Athens and died of exhaustion on the Areopagus after he had conveyed the news of the victory over the Persians . This fabulous run of about 42 km is the model for the modern marathon .

Herodotus tradition (5th century BC)

At the end of August 490 BC, the armed forces of the Achaemenid Empire under Darius I landed on the Greek mainland at Marathon with the intention of subjugating the city-states of Greece . The Athenian ruler Miltiades therefore sent a messenger named Pheidippides to Sparta with a request for help. Such a runner was called Hemerodromos (ἡμεροδρόμος) in ancient Greece .

The messenger is said to have covered the distance of approx. 245 km in less than two days. The Spartians informed him, however, that they were not allowed to interrupt their ongoing Karneia festival (according to an oracle) and that they would not be able to provide military assistance to the Athenians until at least six days. Thus the Athenians were on their own in the battle of Marathon .

Plutarch and Lukian (1st and 2nd centuries AD)

More than 500 years later, Plutarch, citing a lost work by Herakleides Pontikos, tells of a messenger who ran to Athens after the battle of Marathon, and names him Thersippus or Eucles. Lukian took up this story a century later and gives the name of the runner "Philippides", which contributed to the merging of this legendary figure with the historically guaranteed Pheidippides.

The texts of these two relatively late authors are the only records of the marathon runner . However, they are less evidence of the historicity of the marathon runner, but rather give rise to doubts about its historicity. Therefore, the question of the historicity of the marathon runner with z. T. different reasons today mostly answered negatively.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herodotus 6: 105-106.
  2. ↑ Plutarch, On the Glory of the Athenians, 347 C.
  3. ↑ Lukian, protective speech for a mistake made in greeting 3.

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Pheidippides
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eucles; Thersippus; Philippides
BRIEF DESCRIPTION fabulous messenger who became the model for the modern marathon
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 490 BC Chr.
Place of death Athens