Marathon, Greece Marathon, Greece Marathon (Demotic Greek: Μαραθώνας, "Marathónas"; Attic/Katharevousa: , "Marathṓn") is a town in Greece and the site of the battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, in which the heavily outnumbered Athenian army defeated the Persians. Legend has it that Pheidippides, a Greek herald at the battle, was sent running from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory, which is how the marathon running race was conceived in modern times. The name "Marathon" () comes from the herb fennel, called "marathon" () or "marathos" () in Ancient Greek, so "Marathon" literally means "a place full of fennels". It is believed
Ancient Greek nouns Ancient Greek nouns In Ancient Greek, all nouns are classified according to grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) and are used in a number (singular, dual, or plural). According to their function in a sentence, their form changes to one of the five cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, or dative). The set of forms that a noun will take for each case and number is determined by the declension that it follows. The five cases of Ancient Greek each have different functions. The Ancient Greek nominative, like the Proto-Indo-European nominative, is used for the subject and for things describing the