谁发明了马拉松？

Ask most people about the origins2 of the marathon （a race of 26.2 miles’longrun）， you may hear about how Pheidippides， an ancient3 Greek courier4， ran 26miles from the town of Marathon to Athens to herald5 the Greek victory6， and thendied there. The Greeks started a “marathon”to the ancient Olympic Games inmemory of it.

But the true history is different. Here’s how the race got its name—and whyeverything you’ve ever heard about the sport may be wrong.

Ancient origins

First， the facts： There was an ancient Greek named Pheidippides， and he didwork as a courier during the war against the Persians in 490 B.C. According to theancient historian Herodotus， the courier did make a long run. But Pheidippides wasnot heralding victory in the Battle of Marathon—he was trying to round up troops7 tohelp fight back the Persians. Herodotus writes that the courier ran 153 miles backand forth8 between Athens and Sparta over 36 hours. It worked and the Athenianswon， beating back the Persians. But Pheidippides is not recorded as heralding newsof the victory or dying after that. Other people said it might be Eukles who did it.

The story of Pheidippides seems to start more than a thousand years later in the19th century， when Robert Browning wrote a popular poem in which the courier ranto Athens， heralded the Greek victory and died. However， none of these meninspired9 a race at the ancient Olympics.

问大多数人马拉松（一场26.2 英里长的赛跑）的起源，你可能会听说古希腊信使斐迪庇第斯是如何从马拉松镇跑26 英里到雅典，宣告希腊的胜利，然后在那里去世的。（剩余2308字）