69 Beyond the Call of Duty

The marathon, a regular event in the Olympic games, received its name from the Greek plain of Marathon where a battle between the Persian army and the Athenian army was fought in 490 B.C.

Darius’s troops had arrived on Marathon and were preparing to attack Athens. The Athenians were greatly outnumbered by the Persians, so they sent a runner, Pheidippides, to Sparta to request aid against the attackers. Pheidippides ran the 140 miles to Sparta in about 24 hours. After receiving a promise of help from the Spartans, he ran 24 hours to deliver the news to his countrymen, covering the rocky terrain in the battle of Marathon several days later. The Spartans didn’t come to their aid in time, but the Athenians were victorious anyway so the commander of the army wanted to notify the citizens of Athens of the Persians’ defeat. The battle-weary Pheidippides, who had had little time to recover from his 240-mile run of the previous week, agreed once again to be the messenger.

Pheidippides set off on the nearly 25-mile-long trek from Marathon to Athens, running into the Athenian marketplace dead just a few hours later. He managed to gasp “Rejoice, we conquer,” then dropped dead in his tracks from. The marathon footrace was established as an Olympic event in honor of Pheidippides. The official distance for a marathon is 26 miles, 385 yards.

69 超越职责的召唤

马拉松是奥运会的常规项目，其名称来源于希腊的马拉松平原——公元前490年，波斯军队和雅典军队在此交战。

大流士的军队抵达马拉松，准备进攻雅典。雅典人在人数上远逊于波斯人，于是他们派跑者斐迪庇第斯前往斯巴达请求援助。斐迪庇第斯在约24小时内跑完了140英里到斯巴达。在得到斯巴达人的援助承诺后，他又跑了24小时将消息带给同胞，几天后在马拉松战役的岩石地形上奔波。斯巴达人未能及时赶来援助，但雅典人还是取得了胜利，因此军队指挥官想通知雅典市民波斯人战败的消息。上周刚跑完240英里、几乎没有时间恢复的疲惫的斐迪庇第斯，再次同意担任信使。

斐迪庇第斯从马拉松出发，开始了近25英里的跋涉前往雅典，几小时后跑到雅典集市时倒地身亡。他挣扎着说出“欢呼吧，我们胜利了”，然后当场倒地而死。为了纪念斐迪庇第斯，马拉松赛跑成为奥运会项目，其官方距离为26英里385码。