When we say the word “marathon ”, the image of poor Filipides immediately comes to mind. throwing the lung before the Athenians after the famous battle against the Persians. There is no doubt that he performed quite a heroic deed, whether he covered the 40 km of the official version or the 240 km attributed to him by Herodotus. But even before the Greeks, there were fans of foot sports, both for religious reasons, such as the Egyptian pharaohs who made ceremonial races (not too long, yes), and for love of the sport itself.
And it is in this last group, that of sports lovers, where we find the oldest known case of an ultramarathon record. And it has enough merit, because the protagonist is a king. He is the second monarch of the III Dynasty of Ur, also known as the Neo-Sumerian period or "Sumerian Renaissance", and his name is Shulgi (2094-2047 BC). It seems that, in addition to being a great general, a builder of ziggurats and a legislator, he was a man who kept himself in very good physical shape, which is funny since modern artists almost always represent him with Michelin beer.
Shulgi before the ziggurat of Ur
A prayer-poem has been preserved, written in his honor, in which he defines himself as a great practitioner of the sport with phrases such as:“ I am a powerful man who enjoys the use of his legs ”, or “I, the fast runner, called my strength and to test my speed, my heart took me on a journey back to Nippur ”. The poem even describes the king wrapping “a sash around his loins ” and waving his arms like “a dove running away from a snake ”And his legs like“ the Anzu bird looking up over the mountains ”, which makes us think of the use of running techniques already in such a remote time. Then, the verses narrate how the king makes a journey from the city of Nippur to Ur. The distance between the two is about 160 km . We do not know the time at which he left Nippur, but apparently he reached Ur before darkness fell. There he complimented the god Nannar, bathed, dined and slept, leaving again early in the morning for Nippur in heavy rain and gusty wind. Obviously, the race was not cross-country, but on the roads of the time. Although we do not know the time at which he left Nippur at the beginning of the feat, it has been calculated that he could have covered those 320 km in a total time of about 30 hours (adding both paths).
Not bad at all for a king. Unfortunately for him, although the Sumerians enjoyed beer, including the black variety, Guinness had not yet been founded.
Contributed by Joshua BedwyR author of In a Dark Blue World Image:deviantART