Marathon dying. The account of the run from Marathon to Athens first appears in Plutarch's "On the Glory of Athens" in the 1st century AD, which quotes from Heraclides Ponticus's lost work, giving the runner's name as either Thersipus of Erchius or Eucles. Satirist Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD) first gives an account closest to the modern version of the story, but is writing tongue in cheek, and also names the runner Philippides (not Pheidippides). There is debate about the historical accuracy of this legend. The Greek historian Herodotus, the main source for the Greco-Persian Wars, mentions Philippides as the
Marathon later recognized by the race organizers as the women's winner for that year, as well as 1967 and 1968. The length of an Olympic marathon was not precisely fixed at first, but the marathon races in the first few Olympic Games were about , roughly the distance from Marathon to Athens by the longer, flatter route. The exact length depended on the route established for each venue. The International Olympic Committee agreed in 1907 that the distance for the 1908 London Olympic marathon would be about 25 miles or 40 kilometres. The organisers decided on a course of 26 miles