HEMERODROMI, in Grecian antiquity, were, as the name imports, runners or couriers, who could keep running all day. In a country like Greece, where the roads were few and bad, the Hemerodromi were indispensable for the rapid diffusion of important news. Every Greek state made a point of training a number of these men who could travel great distances in an incredibly short space of time, and at every dangerous crisis were stationed on commanding points to observe and report at head-quarters what it was necessary for the authorities to know. Some interesting information concerning these couriers is given by Herodotus. He dwells at considerable length on the efficiency of those in the service of the Persian kings. The men were called angoroi, and the service angereion. Instances are on record of the extraordinary swiftness of foot attained by the Hemerodromi. A little before the battle of Marathon, Phidippides, a professional courier, was sent to Sparta by the Athenian generals with the news of the impending fight, and arrived there on the second day after leaving Athens—the distance between the two cities being nearly 150 miles. Pliny mentions that Anystis, a Lacedemonian, and Philonides, a courier in the service of Alexander the Great, ran from Sicyon to Elis in one day—a distance of 1200 furlongs. Many other equally wonderful cases are on record in the classics. Among the Romans these couriers were known as Cursores; they travelled sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback. Gibbon commends their swiftness and regularity. It is a well-known fact that running footmen attended the Duke of Marlborough in his wars in the Low Countries and in Germany. (See COURIER.)