Two classical archaeologists from Aarhus University, Leif Erik Vaag and Kim Jessen, joined several thousand other runners on 31 October to mark the origins of the marathon run. This year it is 2,500 years since a Greek messenger ran from Marathon to Athens to bring the Athenians the news that an outnumbered Greek army had beaten the Persians at the Battle of Marathon on 11 September 490 BC. This heroic achievement is what inspired the marathon, which was run for the first time at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.