• notaviking@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The story is way more insane, the Greek messenger, Pheidippides, did two runs, a round trip from Athens to Sparta and back, like 480km through mountains in two days, then (during the battle of Marathon) his final run from Marathon to Athens (40km), the one he is famous for, saying "Nike! " meaning Greek “we won!” before collapsing and dying.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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      2 months ago

      480km through mountains in two days

      Lol, my man was running 10 kilometers per hour for 48 hours straight?

      Like with anything in Ancient Greek history, the numbers they quote are typically meaningless. The amount of exaggeration or straight up lying they did back then would make kim jong il blush.

      • deft@lemmy.wtf
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        2 months ago

        I’m sure they’re lying but running an average of 10 kilometers per hour over 48 hours isn’t insane

        Usain Bolt’s top speed is 44 kilometers per hour. Maybe the dude wasn’t that fast or running top speed the whole time but his job was running a lot I’m sure he was fast as fuck.

        So maybe it averaged out and it was only exaggerated a little bit?