The marathon appeared because a Greek soldier called Philippides ran, from Marathon, about 40 kilometres to Athens to inform the city that the Greek troops had beaten the Persians in the battle. After running that distance and giving the news, Philippides died.
Why did Philippides made such an effort? Simple. Persians' threaten was to rape every woman and kill every child in Athens if they beat the Greeks. If Philippides didn't run to Athens to spread the news, Athenian women would have killed their children and then committed suicide in order to avoid such vexation.
The first modern marathon was in 1896, during the first Modern Olympic Games in Athens. Now the marathon is 42.16 km long.
Heptagrama, the web summed up.
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