Marathon 490 B.C.

Today, a “marathon” is a long race—possibly of 26 miles or so but often different. Or it may be a long session of doing something—nearly anything. ” But originally the word was the name of a small Greek village and applied to the plain nearby—a plain noteworthy for being a good place where hundreds of Persian ships could offload thousands of Persian troops and let them get organized, before proceeding the distance to Athens and burning the city in revenge for the Athenians supporting a rebellion against Darius I.…