Who Was Pheidippides and What Did He Do?

“Who Was Pheidippides and what did he do?”

That was the only question that all of my students answered correctly in my 25 years of teaching. The reason all of my students remembered him was due to experiential learning. I had the students go out to the track and run/walk a mile. While they were on their way they were to think about what was important to them, and how far they would push themselves in order to protect those things that were most dear to them. For Pheidippides he is credited for saving freedom and democracy for the Greek City-States. After they were done, I had them write in their journals what they thought about.

This activity was based on the legend of Pheidippides and not the historical figure. In the legend, Pheidippides fought in the battle, then ran from the site of the battle at Marathon to Athens to alert the Athenians to their victory over the Persians and to guard the city until the return of the army. Along the way he ran into Pan, who had promised to support the Athenian cause if the honored him correctly. (This may have been caused by a state of delusion that is common amongst ultra-long distance runners.) As he entered the city, he exclaimed “Nike! Nike! Nenikekiam” (“Victory! Victory! Rejoice, we conquer!”). Then in exhaustion, he collapsed and died from overexertion.

What Pheidippides actually did in 490 BCE was even more impressive. Pheidippides was a hemerodromos, or the Greek translation would be a day-long runner. His first task was to run from Athens to Sparta. After running 150 miles in 2 days, he then had to convince the Spartans to help and that their aid would be mutually beneficial to stop Darius and the Persians. saying “Men of Sparta, the Athenians beseech you to hasten to their aide, and not allow that state, which is the most ancient in all of Greece, to be enslaved by the barbarians.”. (Xerxes was Darius’s son and also led a campaign to conquer Greece). As it turns out, the Spartans could not leave until the moon was full and their military would be 6 days late for the battle at Marathon, but would make it in time to defend Athens.

Pheidippides then had to run back to Athens to let them know of the delay. Apparently it is possible to sleep and run at the same time, I have never experienced it considering dreaming of running seems tiring. In which time the Persians had decided to split their forces and attack on multiple fronts. The Athenians got wind of this plan and send Pheidippides to Marathon and send their forces to attack while the Persians had their guard down which allowed them to overcome the 6:1 man advantage of the Persians. So in 5 days, Pheidippides had run 326 miles, convinced the Spartans to join their cause, eventually, and send new plans to the front line to attack. Another runner made the trip from Marathon to Athens to alert them of their victory and to embellish his hero status, they included that final run and his demise because it looks better if he died for the cause.

Running through the day and night for 326 miles over rough terrain is an amazing feat. The hemerodromos ran naked and barefoot and were more highly regarded than the runners at the Olympic Games. A modern twist to the tribute was when the marathon run, then 26 miles, was ran in England, the race was extended .2 miles so that Queen Elizabeth could have a better and safer view of the finish of the race. I guess if you run 26 miles, .2 may not seem like that much, or maybe it is, but not compared to the feats of the heroic Pheidippides.