Screenshot
Screenshot
The name “Marathon” for the long-distance race derives from the ancient Greek town of Marathon, located in Attica, Greece.
The modern marathon race, introduced at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, was named after this location to commemorate the battle and the associated legend of a messenger — most famously Pheidippides — who reportedly ran 26.2 miles from the battlefield to Athens to announce the Greek victory.