What is "pheidippides"

Pheidippides (, more correctly given as Philippides, by Herodotus and Plutarch, since Pheidippides, 'sparing a horse', is a jocular name for a character in a play by Aristophanes) is the central figure in a story that was the inspiration for a modern sporting event, the marathon race. Pheidippides is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a military victory against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.