First Marathon Was a Warmer Run
The first marathon -- a 26-mile, 385-yard run by battlefield messenger Pheidippides from the plains of Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. -- may have occurred in August heat instead of the comparative cool of September in Greece, astronomers reported this week.
Accounts date the battle at Sept. 12 of that year, based on calculations made by 19th century scholar August Boeckh. But astronomers at Texas State University concluded Boeckh failed to take into account the difference between the Athenian and Spartan calendars.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. July 28, 2004 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday July 28, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 54 words Type of Material: Correction
Marathon distance -- A news brief in Saturday’s Section A about the date of the first marathon in 490 BC gave the distance as 26 miles, 385 yards. That is the distance of the modern Olympic marathon. The distance of the first run from the plains of Marathon to Athens was about 25 miles.
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