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Why did Athens send a runner?
Pheidippides (530–490 BC), an Athenian herald or hemerodrome (translated as “day-long runner”), was sent by Athens to Sparta , requesting help when the Persians landed at Marathon, Greece . I think, the answer is that humans can survive long distances while horses cannot always.
Why did the Athenian generals send their fastest runner to Sparta?
4. Inferential Why did the Athenian generals send Pheidippides to Sparta? (They needed to get word to Sparta as soon as possible to ask for their military help in fighting the Persians, and Pheidippides was their fastest runner.)
Why did the Athenians not send a messenger on horseback to Sparta?
Answer: Prior to the battle of Marathon, the Athenians sent a runner to ask for aid from the Spartans. Why not send a much faster horseman? Over long distances, humans are just about as fast and more reliable than a single horse, they also handle rough terrain better.
Who did Athens send to Sparta to ask for help?
Communication between Athens and Ionia in this period is, however, first firmly attested in the other direction, not to Ionia but from it. In 499 the Milesian tyrant Aristagoras arrived in Athens and Sparta (and perhaps at other places too, such as Argos) asking for help.
Why did they send a runner from Marathon?
The traditional story relates that Pheidippides (530–490 BC), an Athenian herald, or hemerodrome (translated as “day-runner”, “courier”, “professional-running courier” or “day-long runner”), was sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon, Greece.
Who led the Spartans?
Leonidas
The Greek forces, mostly Spartan, were led by Leonidas. After three days of holding their own against the Persian king Xerxes I and his vast southward-advancing army, the Greeks were betrayed, and the Persians were able to outflank them.
Who won the Persian Wars?
Though the outcome of battles seemed to tip in Persia’s favor (such as the famed battle at Thermopylae where a limited number of Spartans managed to wage an impressive stand against the Persians), the Greeks won the war. There are two factors that helped the Greeks defeat the Persian Empire.
Why did the Athenians ask the Spartans for help?
The tale of the runner at Marathon is a bit confused. The tradition that a man ran the distance from the battlefield to Athens to announce the victory is derived from a very late source that did not pretend to be a historical work.
Why did Marathon runner not use a horse?
Factor in that a professional runner has far more stamina than a horse, and can cover large distances quicker. So the short answer is a horse riden hard in those days in those conditions would likely result in a broken leg for the horse. Either that, or it would have collapsed from exhaustion.