73-Year-Old Greek Runner Completes Authentic Marathon Dressed as Hoplite

[Jon Freitag]

This news item passed along to me from a Greek friend.

At 73 years old, Idomeneas Avramakis, a runner from Heraklion, Crete, made a striking impression during Sunday's Authentic Marathon in Athens (42.195 km). He ran barefoot, clad in full Spartan armor, capturing everyone's attention and successfully crossing the finish line after 8 hours and 50 minutes.

Idomeneas Avramakis' story is truly inspiring. Many years ago, he faced a serious health crisis that drastically changed his life. He was in a coma for a month, but when he awoke, his entire outlook on life and nature had transformed. Since then, he has never missed an Authentic Marathon and has participated in several international events as well.

[Imperial Dave]

Is it just me or does he look a little bit like Oliver Reed...?

[skb777]

Isn't there a film in the pipeworks about Marathon that will be entirely in Ancient Greek?

[Nick Harbud]

Clearly, he was fed up with waiting for a bus...

 

[Imperial Dave]

Or he got lost...

[Keraunos]

Isn't there a film in the pipeworks about Marathon that will be entirely in Ancient Greek?

What about the Persian characters?

[skb777]

Isn't there a film in the pipeworks about Marathon that will be entirely in Ancient Greek?

What about the Persian characters?

They speak Old Persian

https://greekcitytimes.com/2025/05/13/greeks-to-produce-film-on-the-battle-of-marathon-in-ancient-greek/

[stevenneate]

Idomeneas is a true Greek hero! Surely a front rank veteran?

[Jim Webster]

Isn't there a film in the pipeworks about Marathon that will be entirely in Ancient Greek?

What about the Persian characters?

It's an interesting idea

They speak Old Persian

https://greekcitytimes.com/2025/05/13/greeks-to-produce-film-on-the-battle-of-marathon-in-ancient-greek/

[Old Sarum]

I read Sanskrit and Old Iranian at Oxford. Old Iranian consisted of Avestan and Old Persian. Avestan was mostly Zoroastrian religious texts and had its own alphabet which looked a bit like Arabic, which I had to learn. Old Persian was in cuneiform, which was fortunately transliterated, and was about smiting enemies and flaying rebels, so ideal for this new film!

These Persian languages also had what was called a daevic vocabulary, where similar Sanskrit words took on a perjorative meaning – so 'deva' (god) became 'daeva' (demon), or the verb 'to walk' became 'to scuttle', for example.