The marathon as an agonistic discipline is an invention of the modern age. Longer foot races than the dólichos (max. 24 stadia = c. 4∙6 km) were not known to antiquity. Just as the dólichos was originally run in the context of the training of messengers (hēmerodrómoi; dromokḗrykes), the marathon was ultimately part of (military) communication.
The ancient tradition regarding the narration of the unique marathon after the Persian battle (490 BC) is scant: according to Plutarch (Mor. 347c) an Athenian hoplite in armour ( hoplitai ) ran from the battlefield at Marathon to A…