A few years after the supposed feat of Pheidippides, another long-distance runner was called upon to perform a similar act of physical prowess. After the defeat of the Persians at the battle of Plataea in 479 BCE, a local man called Euchidas ran from Plataea (a city located in central Greece) to Delphi to bring the sacred fire from the temple of Apollo. When he got there, he purified himself with water, crowned himself with laurel, and then raced back to Plataea, where he arrived just before sunset, having covered a distance of 113 miles (182 km) in 15 hours. He greeted his fellow citizens, gave them the fire, and then collapsed and died.