Marathon Stele, (sculpture).

Marathon Stele, (sculpture).

Unknown (Greek), sculptor.

Marathon Stele, (sculpture).

Stele for Pheidippides, Marathon Stone, (sculpture).

Marathon Stone, (sculpture).

ca. 350 B.C. Relocated 1923. Dedicated Nov. 22, 1923.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: marble.

Sculpture: approx. 4 ft. x 3 ft. x 10 in. (1,850 lbs.).

The stele contains four ornamental flower carvings on the upper center.

Object -- Flower

History -- Greece

Homage -- Pheidippides

On loan to Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5th Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, New York 10028

Lent by City University of New York, City College of New York, Convent Avenue at 138th Street, New York, New York 10031

Formerly located City College, Lewisohn Stadium, New York, New York 10031 1923-1973.

Formerly located Athens, Greece until 1923.

The Marathon Stone, or Stele, is a monument to the memory of Pheidippides, the greek soldier-athlete who ran the 26 miles from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce to the Athenians that their army had defeated the Persians, saving the Greek civilization. Pheidippides is considered the father of the Olympic Marathon. After delivering his message, Pheidippides died and this stone was placed on the spot where he died. An inscription bearing the names of two brothers, Elpines and Eunikos, sons of Elpinikos of the township of Probalint is still legible. The monument came to the college in 1923 through a former president of the college, Dr. John Huston Finley, who discovered it while walking from Marathon to Athens over the exact route taken by Pheidippides. After negotiations with the Greek Government, the stone was presented to the college for its new Lewisohn stadium. In 1973 when Lewisohn stadium was demolished, the stone was crated and stored in the basement of the engineering building to await relocation. The sculpture has been on long term loan since 1994 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is installed in the Mary & Michael Jaharis Gallery. For addtional information see article in City College Alumnus (Spring 1989): pg. 12-13.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York, New York survey, 1993.

City College of New York, 2005.

City College Alumnus (Spring 1989): pg. 13.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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