Pheidippides is the legendary Greek messenger associated with the origin story of the marathon.
According to the familiar version of the story, Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens after the Greek victory over the Persians in 490 BC. He announced the victory and then collapsed and died. The modern race takes its name from Marathon, the battlefield near the Greek coast.
Ancient sources do not present exactly this single story. Herodotus describes a courier named Pheidippides running from Athens to Sparta before the battle to request help, a journey of roughly 240 kilometers. The Marathon-to-Athens episode became prominent in later retellings and helped inspire the modern event.
Pheidippides is therefore a literary and historical tradition rather than a verified modern race result. Leonidas, Miltiades, and Themistocles were other notable Greek figures, but they are not the messenger linked to the marathon’s name.