Description of Greece (Books V–VI: Elis I, Elis II) — Pausanias
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ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΟΥ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΠΕΡΙΗΓΗΣΙΣ
Translation/edition: A. R. Shilleto (1886)
Language: English
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## Description of Greece


## Book V — Elis I

[5.1] Those Greeks, who say that the Peloponnese is divided into five parts and no more, are obliged to admit that the people of Elis as well as the Arcadians dwell in the division of the Arcadians, and that the second division is Achaia, and that the Dorians have the remaining three. The indigenous races that inhabit the Peloponnese are Arcadians and Achæans. And the Achæans were driven out of their own land by the Dorians, but did not however evacuate the Peloponnese, but dispossessed the Ionians that lived in what was then called Ægialus, but is now called after them Achaia. The Arcadians on the other hand have always up to this day remained in Arcadia. But the other parts of the Peloponnese are peopled by strangers. The latest importation were the present Corinthians, who were introduced into the Peloponnese some 217 years ago by the Roman Emperor. And the Dryopes came into the Peloponnese from Mount Parnassus, the Dorians from Mount Œta.
[5.1] We know that the people of Elis originally came from Calydon and other parts of Ætolia. And the oldest information I have found about them is as follows. The first king in this land was they say Aethlius, the son of Zeus by Protogenea the daughter of Deucalion, and the father of Endymion. The Moon was they say enamoured of this Endymion, and had by him 50 daughters. But a more probable account is that Endymion married Asterodia, others say Chromia the daughter of Itonus the son of Amphictyon, others say Hyperippe the daughter of Arcas, and had three sons, Pæon and Epeus and Ætolus, and one daughter Eurycyde. Endymion also made his sons contend in running at Olympia for the kingdom, and Epeus won, so the people over whom he ruled were first called Epeans. And of his brothers Ætolus they say remained at home, but Pæon vexed at his loss went as far away as possible, and the region beyond the river Axius was called Pæonia after him. As to the death of Endymion different accounts are given by the Heracleotæ at Miletus and by the people of Elis, but the latter show the sepulchre of Endymion, while the former say that he retired to Mount Latmus, where is his shrine. And Epeus married Anaxiroe, the daughter of Coronus, by whom he had a daughter Hyrmina, but no male offspring. And these were the events of his reign. Œnomaus the son of Alxion, (or the son of Ares, as poets have sung, which is the prevalent tradition), being ruler of the country called Pisæa, was deposed from his rule by Pelops the Lydian, who had crossed over from Asia Minor. And after his death Pelops occupied Pisæa and Olympia, slicing off from the territory of Epeus what bordered upon Pisæa. And Pelops (so the people of Elis say) was the first in the Peloponnese to build a temple to Hermes and sacrifice to him, thus turning away the wrath of the god for the murder of Myrtilus.
[5.1] And Ætolus, the king after Epeus, had to flee from the Peloponnese, because the sons of Apis indicted him for the involuntary murder of their father. For Apis the son of Jason, a native of Pallantium in Arcadia, was killed by Ætolus’ driving over him in his chariot at the funeral games in memory of Azan. So Ætolus the son of Endymion fled to the mainland, to the neighbourhood of the river Achelous, which was called Ætolia after him. And the kingdom of the Epeans was reigned over by Eleus, the son of Eurycyde, the daughter of Endymion and (if we may believe the tradition) Poseidon. And the people in his dominions now changed their names from Epeans to Eleans.
[5.1] And Eleus had a son called Augeas. And those who want to exalt him change his father’s name, and say that he was the son of Helius (the Sun-god). The oxen and goats of this Augeas were so numerous that most of the country could not be cultivated for their dung. Hercules therefore, whether for a part of Elis or some other reward, was persuaded by him to clear the country of this dung. And he effected this by turning the river Menius on to it. But Augeas, because the work had been effected by ingenuity rather than toil, refused to give Hercules his reward, and turned out of doors the eldest of his sons Phyleus, because he told him he was not acting with justice to a benefactor. He also made several preparations to defend himself against Hercules, should he come into Elis with an army, and entered into an alliance with Amarynceus and the sons of Actor. Now Amarynceus had an especial acquaintance with military matters, and his father Pyttius was a Thessalian by extraction, and had come from thence to Elis. And to Amarynceus Augeas gave a share of his power at Elis; and Actor and his sons also, who were natives of Elis, shared in the administration of the kingdom. The father of Actor was Phorbas the son of Lapithus, and his mother was Hyrmina, the daughter of Epeus, and Actor built and called after her the town of Hyrmina in Elis.
[5.2] Now in the campaign against Augeas Hercules had no opportunity to win laurels, for as the sons of Actor were in their prime for daring and vigour of youth, the allied forces of Hercules were constantly routed by them, until the Corinthians announced a truce during the Isthmian games, and the sons of Actor went to see the games, and Hercules lay in ambush for them and slew them at Cleonæ. And the perpetrator of the deed being unknown, Moline the mother of the lads took the greatest pains to discover their murderer. And when she discovered who it was, then the people of Elis claimed compensation for the murder from the Argives, for Hercules dwelt in Argolis at Tiryns. And as the Argives refused to give up Hercules, they next begged hard of the Corinthians, that all Argolis should be scratched from the Isthmian games. But being unsuccessful in this also, they say Moline put a curse upon the citizens if they went to the Isthmian games. And these curses of Moline are observed up to this day, and all the athletes at Elis make a practice of never going to the Isthmian contest. And there are two different traditions about this. One of them states that Cypselus the tyrant at Corinth offered a golden statue to Zeus at Olympia, but, Cypselus dying before his name was inscribed on the votive offering, the Corinthians asked the people of Elis to allow them to inscribe publicly the name of Corinth on the votive offering, and the people of Elis refusing they were angry with them, and forbade them to contend at the Isthmian games. But how would the Corinthians have been admitted at the contests at Olympia, if they had excluded the people of Elis from the Isthmian games? But the other tradition states that Prolaus, a man of much repute among the people of Elis, and Lysippe his wife had two sons Philanthus and Lampus, and they went to the Isthmian games, the one intending to compete in the pancratium among the boys, the other in wrestling, and before the games came on they were strangled or killed in some way by their rivals: and that was why Lysippe imposed her curses on the people of Elis, if they would not of their own accord cease to attend the Isthmian games. This tradition too is easily shewn to be a silly one. For Timon a native of Elis had victories in the pentathlum in all the other Greek contests, and there is an effigy of him at Olympia, and some elegiac verses which enumerate the various crowns that he carried off as victor, and the reason why he did not participate in the Isthmian contest. This is one couplet. “Our hero was prevented coming to the land of Sisyphus by the strife that arose in consequence of the sad fate of the sons of Molione.” Let this suffice on the matter.
[5.3] To resume, Hercules afterwards captured and sacked Elis, having got together an army of Argives Thebans and Arcadians: and the people of Elis were assisted by the men of Pylos in Elis and by the men of Pisa. And the men of Pylos were punished by Hercules, and he intended marching against Pisa, but was stopped by the following oracle from Delphi,
“Dear to the Father is Pisa, Pytho has entrusted it to me.”
This oracle was the salvation of Pisa. And to Phyleus Hercules gave up Elis and other places, not so much willingly as standing in awe of Phyleus, to whom he also granted the captives and forgave Augeas. And the women of Elis, as their land was stripped of young men through the war, are said to have prayed to Athene that they might conceive directly they married, and their prayer was granted, and they erected a temple to Athene under the title of Mother. And both the women and men being excessively delighted with their union called the place where they first met Bady (sweet), and also gave the same name in their national dialect to the river flowing there.
[5.3] And when Phyleus, after setting things in order in Elis, returned to Dulichium, Augeas died being already advanced in age, and was succeeded in the kingdom of Elis by his son Agasthenes, and by Amphimachus, and Thalpius. For the sons of Actor married two sisters, the daughters of Dexamenus who was king at Olenus, and the one had by Theronice Amphimachus, and the other Eurytus had by Theræphone Thalpius. Not that Amarynceus or Diores his son remained all their lives in a private capacity. As we know from Homer in his catalogue of the men of Elis, all their fleet was 40 sail, and half of them were under Amphimachus and Thalpius, and of the remaining half ten were under Diores the son of Amarynceus, and ten under Polyxenus the son of Agasthenes. And Polyxenus coming back safe from Troy had a son Amphimachus, (he gave his son this name I fancy from his friendship to Amphimachus the son of Cteatus who perished at Ilium), and he had a son Eleus, and it was when Eleus was king at Elis that the Dorian host mustered under the sons of Aristomachus with a view to return to the Peloponnese. This oracle came to the kings, that they must make a man with three eyes leader of the return. And as they were in great doubt what the oracle could mean, a muleteer chanced to pass by, whose mule was blind of one eye. And Cresphontes conjecturing that the oracle referred to this man, the Dorians invited him to be their leader. And he urged them to return to the Peloponnese in ships, and not force their way through the isthmus with a land force. This was his advice, and at the same time he piloted the fleet from Naupactus to Molycrium, and they in return for his services agreed to give him at his request the kingdom of Elis. And the man’s name was Oxylus, he was the son of Hæmon, the son of Thoas, who in conjunction with the sons of Atreus had overturned the kingdom of Priam; and between Thoas and Ætolus the son of Endymion there are six generations. And the Heraclidæ were in other respects kinsmen to the kings in Ætolia, besides the fact that the sisters of Thoas were mothers by Hercules of Andræmon and Hyllus. And Oxylus had to flee from Ætolia in consequence of an accident, in throwing a quoit (they say) he missed his aim and unintentionally killed his brother Thermius, or according to some accounts Alcidocus the son of Scopius.
[5.4] There is also another tradition about Oxylus, that he suspected the sons of Aristomachus of an unwillingness to give him the kingdom of Elis, as it was fertile and well cultivated everywhere, and this was why he led the Dorians through Arcadia and not through Elis. And when Oxylus hastened to take the kingdom of Elis without contention Dius would not permit him, but challenged him not to a contention with all their forces, but to a single combat between two soldiers one from each side. And both agreed to this. And the men selected for this single combat were Degmenus a bowman of Elis, and Pyræchmes on the Ætolian side a famous slinger. And as Pyræchmes was victorious Oxylus got the kingdom, and he allowed the ancient Epeans to remain there, but introduced Ætolians as colonists with them, and gave them also a share in the land. And to Dius he gave various honours, and observed the rights of all the heroes according to old precedents, and introduced sacrificial offerings to Augeas which have continued to our day. It is said that he also persuaded the men in the villages, who were at no great distance from the walls, to come into the city, and thus increased the population of Elis and made it more powerful in other respects. And an oracle came to him from Delphi to associate with him as colonist a descendant of Pelops, and he made diligent search, and discovered Agorius the son of Damasius, the son of Penthilus, the son of Orestes, and invited him from Helice in Achaia and with him a few Achæans. And they say Oxylus had a wife called Pieria, but they record nothing further about her. And the sons of Oxylus were they say Ætolus and Laias. And Ætolus dying in his father’s lifetime, his parents buried him and erected a sepulchre to him by the gate, which leads to Olympia and the temple of Zeus. And they buried him there in accordance with the oracle, which said that his dead body was to be neither in nor out of the city. And annually still the master of the gymnasium offers victims to Ætolus.
[5.4] Oxylus was succeeded in the kingdom by his son Laias. I could not find that his sons reigned, so I purposely pass them over, for it has not been my desire in this narrative to descend to private personages. But some time afterwards Iphitus, who was of the same family as Oxylus, and a contemporary of Lycurgus the Lacedæmonian legislator, revived the contest at Olympia, and renewed the public gathering there, and established a truce as long as the games lasted. Why the meetings at Olympia had been discontinued I shall narrate when I come to Olympia. And as Greece at this time was nearly ruined by civil wars and by the pestilence, Iphitus bethought him to ask of the god at Delphi a remission from these ills. And they say he was ordered by the Pythian Priestess to join the people of Elis in restoring the Olympian games. Iphitus also persuaded the people of Elis to sacrifice to Hercules, for before this they had an idea that Hercules was hostile to them. And the inscription at Olympia says that Iphitus was the son of Hæmon, but most of the Greeks say he was the son of Praxonides and not of Hæmon. But the ancient records of the people of Elis trace him up to a father of the same name as himself viz. Iphitus.
[5.4] The people of Elis took part in the Trojan war, and also in the battles against the Persians when they invaded Greece. And to pass over their frequent disputes with the people of Pisa and the Arcadians in respect to the re-establishment of the games at Olympia, they joined the Lacedæmonians not without reluctance in invading Attica, and not long after they fought against the Lacedæmonians, having formed an alliance with the Mantineans the Argives and the Athenians. And on the occasion of Agis making an incursion into Elis, when Xenias played the traitor, the people of Elis were victorious at Olympia, and routed the Lacedæmonians, and drove them from the precincts of the temple: and some time afterwards the war came to an end on the conditions which I have mentioned before in my account of the Lacedæmonians. And when Philip, the son of Amyntas, could not keep his hands off Greece, the people of Elis, worn out with intestine factions, joined the Macedonians, but not to the point of fighting against the Greeks at Chæronea. But they participated in the attack of Philip upon the Lacedæmonians by reason of their ancient hatred to them. But after the death of Alexander they joined the Greeks in fighting against Antipater and the Macedonians.
[5.5] And in process of time Aristotimus, the son of Damaretus, the son of Etymon, obtained the sovereignty at Elis, partly through the assistance of Antigonus the son of Demetrius, who was king of the Macedonians. But when he had reigned only six months, Chilon and Hellanicus and Lampis and Cylon rose up against him and deposed him; and Cylon slew him with his own hand when he had fled as suppliant to the altar of Zeus Soter. These are the chief wars the people of Elis took part in, just to glance at them briefly in the present portion of my work.
[5.5] Among the wonders of Elis are the flax, which grows here alone and in no other part of Greece, and also the fact that, though over the borders mares bear foals to he-asses, it is never so in Elis. And this phenomenon is they say the result of a curse. The flax in Elis in respect of thinness is not inferior to the flax of the Hebrews, but is not as yellow.
[5.5] And as you go from the district of Elis there is a place by the sea called Samicum, and beyond it on the right is the district called Triphylia, and the city Lepreus in it. The people of Lepreus think they belong properly to Arcadia, but it is manifest they were from time immemorial subject to Elis. For the victors at Olympia that came from Lepreus were pronounced by the herald men of Elis. And Aristophanes has described Lepreus as a city in Elis. One way to Lepreus from Samicum is by leaving the river Aniger on the left, and a second is from Olympia, and a third from Elis, and the longest of them is only a day’s journey. The city got its name they say from Lepreus the son of Pyrgeus its founder. There is a tradition that Lepreus had an eating contest with Hercules, each killed an ox at the same time and cooked it for dinner, and (as he had betted) he was quite a match for Hercules in eating. But he had the hardihood afterwards to challenge Hercules to a contest in arms. And they say he was killed in that contest and buried at Phigalia, however his sepulchre there is not shewn. And I have heard some who claim that their city was founded by Leprea the daughter of Pyrgeus. Others say that the inhabitants of this region were the first lepers, and that the city got its name from this misfortune of its inhabitants. And the people of Lepreus say that in their city they once had a temple of Leucæan Zeus, and the tomb of Lycurgus the son of Aleus, and also the tomb of Caucon. The last had they say as a design over it a man with a lyre. But in my time there is no remarkable tomb there, nor any temple of the gods except one of Demeter: built of unbaked brick, and containing no statue. And not far from the city Lepreus is a spring called Arene: it got this name according to tradition from the wife of Aphareus.
[5.5] And as you return to Samicum, and go through it, the river Aniger has its outlet to the sea. The flow of this river is often impeded by violent winds: for they blow the sand from the shore into it and dam up the flow of the river. Whenever then this sand becomes soaked with water, (outside by the sea inside by the river), it becomes a very dangerous place for carts and carriages and even for an active man to ford. This river Aniger rises in the Arcadian mountain Lapithus, and the water has an unpleasant smell from its source. Before receiving its tributary the Acidas it is too fetid to have any fish whatever, and after its confluence with the Acidas, though it has fish that come into its waters from that tributary, they are no longer eatable, which they are when caught in the Acidas. That the ancient name of the river Acidas was Iardanus I should not myself have conjectured, but I was so informed by an Ephesian. The unpleasant smell of the Aniger comes I believe from the soil through which the river flows, as is certainly the case with those rivers beyond Ionia, whose exhalations are deadly to man. Some of the Greeks say that Chiron, others that Pylenor the Centaur, was wounded by Hercules, and fled and washed his sore in this river, and that it was from the Hydra’s poison (in which Hercules’ arrow had been dipped) that the Aniger got its unpleasant smell. Others refer this condition of the river to Melampus the son of Amythaon, and to the fact that the purifications of the daughters of Prœtus were thrown into it.
[5.5] There is at Samicum a cave, not far from the river, called the cave of the Nymphs of the Aniger. Whoever goes into it suffering from either black or white leprosy, must first of all pray to these Nymphs and promise sacrifice to them, and afterwards wipe clean the diseased parts of his body. If he next swims across the river he leaves in the water his foul disease, and comes out of the river sound and with his skin uniformly clear.
[5.6] On the high road, after crossing the Aniger in the direction of Olympia, there is at no great distance on the right an eminence, and on it a town called Samia above Samicum. This town¹ they say was made into a sort of offensive fortress against the Arcadians by Polysperchon, an Ætolian.
[5.6] As to the ruins of Arene, none either of the Messenians or people of Elis could give me a clear account. As their explanations are different those who like to conjecture are at liberty to do so. The most credible account seems to me that of those who think that the ancient name of Samicum earlier than the time of the heroes was Arene. And these quote the lines in the Iliad.
“There is a river Minyeïus,
That flows into the sea near to Arene.”
Iliad, xi 722, 723.
And these ruins of Arene are very near the Aniger. One might have doubted about Samicum having been called Arene, only the Arcadians admit that the ancient name of the river Aniger was Minyeïus. And one would feel sure that the river Neda near the sea was the boundary between Elis and Messenia at the time of the return of the Heraclidæ to the Peloponnese.
[5.6] And leaving the Aniger, and passing through a district generally sandy and full of wild pine-trees, somewhat back to the left you will see the ruins of Scillus. Scillus was one of the towns of Triphylia: and in the war between the people of Elis and Pisa the people of Scillus openly allied themselves to the people of Pisa, and in return the men of Elis dispossessed them from Scillus. But the Lacedæmonians afterwards sliced Scillus from Elis, and gave it to Xenophon (the son of Gryllus), who was at that time exiled from Athens. He was banished by the Athenians for joining Cyrus (who hated their democracy) against the king of the Persians (who was their friend): for when Cyrus was at Sardis he gave Lysander, the son of Aristocritus, and the Lacedæmonians some money for their fleet. This is why Xenophon was banished, and he lived at Scillus and built a temple and grove to Ephesian Artemis. And Scillus affords good hunting of wild animals, as wild boars and deer. And the river Selinus flows through the district. And the antiquarians of Elis say that the people of Elis recovered Scillus, and that Xenophon was tried in the Olympian council for receiving Scillus from the Lacedæmonians, but was acquitted and allowed to continue there scot free. And at some little distance from the temple they show a tomb, and there is an effigy on the tomb in Pentelican marble, which the people of the place say is Xenophon.
[5.6] On the road to Olympia from Scillus, before crossing the Alpheus, is a mountain lofty and precipitous which is called Typæum. From this mountain it is the custom to hurl all women of Elis who are detected as competitors in the Olympian contests, or who merely cross the Alpheus on forbidden days. Not that any one ever yet was so detected except Callipatira, whose name according to some traditions was Pherenice. She after the death of her husband dressed herself up like an athlete, and brought her son as a combatant to Olympia. And Pisirodus her son having been victorious, Callipatira in leaping over the fence which parted the athletes from the spectators, exposed her person, and though her sex was detected they let her go without punishment out of respect to her father and brothers and son, who had all been victors at Olympia, but they passed a law that henceforth all athletes should come to the contests naked.
[5.7] And when you have got to Olympia immediately you see the river Alpheus, a full and very pleasant river, and no less than seven notable rivers are tributaries to it. For through Megalopolis the Helisson flows into it, and the Brentheates from the district of Megalopolis, and the Gortynius near Gortyna where is a temple of Æsculapius, and from Melæneæ between the districts of Megalopolis and Heræa the Buphagus, and the Ladon from the district of the Clitorians, and the river Erymanthus from the mountain of the same name. All these flow into the Alpheus from Arcadia, and the Cladeus from Elis also contributes its stream. And the source of the Alpheus is in Arcadia and not in Elis. And there are several traditions about the Alpheus, as that he was a hunter and enamoured of Arethusa, and that she hunted with him. And as Arethusa was unwilling to marry him, she crossed over they say to an island near Syracuse, called Ortygia, and there became a spring: just as Alpheus in consequence of his love was changed into a river. This is the tradition about the Alpheus and the Ortygia. As to the river going under the sea and coming up in another place, there is no reason why I should discredit that, as I know that the god at Delphi admitted it, seeing that when he sent Archias the Corinthian to establish a colony at Syracuse, these were some of the words he used, “Ortygia lies in the cloudy sea above Trinacria, where the mouth of the Alpheus mixes and flows with the springs of the broad Arethusa.” From this circumstance of their union, and not any love passages, I imagine the traditions about the two rivers originated. And all the Greeks or Egyptians, that have penetrated into Ethiopia beyond Syene, and as far as the Ethiopian city of Meroe, say that the Nile enters into a marsh, and flows through it as if it were earth, and eventually through lower Ethiopia into Egypt to Pharos, where it has its outlet at the sea. And in the land of the Hebrews I know that the river Jordan flows through the lake of Tiberias, and into what is called the Dead Sea, by which it is absorbed. The Dead Sea has properties unlike any other water: living bodies can float in it without swimming, whereas dead bodies go to the bottom. And it has no fish, for from their evident danger they take refuge in water more congenial to them. And there is a river in Ionia similar to the Alpheus, its source is in the mountain Mycale, and it flows under the sea, and comes up again at Branchidæ at the harbour called Panormus. All this is correctly stated.
[5.7] In regard to the Olympian Games those who are in possession of the most ancient archives of the people of Elis say that Cronos was the first king of Heaven, and that he had a temple built to him at Olympia by the mortals who then lived, who were called the golden age: and that, when Zeus was born, Rhea entrusted the charge of the boy to the Idæan Dactyli, who were otherwise called the Curetes: who afterwards came to Elis from Ida in Crete, and their names were Hercules, and Epimedes, and Pæonæus, and Iasius, and Idas. And Hercules the eldest of them challenged his brothers in play to run a race together, and they would crown the victor with a branch of the wild olive: and there was such abundance of wild olive trees that they strewed under them the leaves while they were still green as beds to sleep on. And they say that the wild olive was introduced to the Greeks by Hercules from the country of the Hyperboreans, who dwelt north of the wind Boreas. Olen the Lycian first mentioned in a hymn to Achæia, that she came to Delos from these Hyperboreans, and when Melanopus of Cumæ composed an ode to Opis and Hecaerges, he mentioned that they too came from the Hyperboreans to Delos before Achæia. And Aristæus of Proconnesus, who has also mentioned the Hyperboreans, may perhaps have heard more of them from the Issedones, to whom in his poems he says they went. At any rate to Idæan Hercules belongs the glory that he first instituted and gave their name to the Olympian contests. He appointed them to be held every fifth year because he and his brothers were five in number. And some say that it was there that Zeus contended with Cronos about the sovereignty of Heaven, others say he appointed these games after his success over Cronos. Other gods are said to have been victorious, as Apollo who outran Hermes, who challenged him to the contest, and outboxed Ares. And this is the reason they say why the Pythian flute-playing was introduced in the leaping contest at the pentathlum, because the flute was sacred to Apollo, and Apollo was on several occasions the victor at Olympia.
[5.8] And after this they say Clymenus the son of Cardys, (in the 50th year after Deucalion’s flood), a descendant of Idæan Hercules, came from Crete and established games at Olympia, and erected an altar to his ancestor Hercules and to the other Curetes, giving Hercules the title of Assistant. But Endymion the son of Aethlius deposed Clymenus from the kingdom, and gave it to his sons as a prize for the best runner of them at Olympia. And a generation after Endymion, Pelops made the contest to Olympian Zeus more famous than any of his predecessors. And when the sons of Pelops were scattered from Elis all over the Peloponnese, Amythaon the son of Cretheus, uncle of Endymion on the father’s side, (for they say Aethlius was the son of Æolus surnamed Zeus), appointed games at Olympia, and after him Pelias and Neleus in common. So also did Augeas and Hercules, the son of Amphitryon, after the capture of Elis. And all that he crowned as victors were Iolaus, who had borrowed the mares of Hercules for the race. It was an old custom to be a competitor with borrowed horses. Homer at least in the funeral games in honour of Patroclus has represented Menelaus as yoking together Agamemnon’s horse Æthe with one of his own.² Iolaus was also Hercules’ charioteer. He was the victor in the chariot race, and Iasius an Arcadian in the riding race, and Castor was successful in running, Pollux in boxing. It is also recorded of Hercules that he was victorious in wrestling and in the pancratium.
[5.8] And after the reign of Oxylus, who also established games, the Olympian games were suspended till Iphitus. And when he renewed the games as I have before stated, there was a general forgetfulness about the ancient games, but in a short while they got remembered again, and whenever they remembered any little feature of the games, they added it to the programme. And this proves my statement. From the time that the Olympian games were revived continuously, prizes were first instituted for running, and Corœbus of Elis was the victor. His statue is at Olympia, and his grave is on the borders of Elis. And in the 14th Olympiad afterwards the double course was introduced: when Hypenus a native of Pisa won the wild olive crown, and Acanthus was second. And in the 18th Olympiad they remembered the pentathlum and the wrestling, in the former Lampis was victor, in the latter Eurybatus, both Lacedæmonians. And in the 23rd Olympiad they ordained prizes for boxing, and Onomastus was victor from Smyrna (which was at that day reckoned as Ionia). And in the 25th Olympiad they had a race of full-grown horses, and the Theban Pagondas was proclaimed victor in this race. And in the eighth Olympiad later they introduced the pancratium and the riding race. The horse of Crannonian Crauxidas got in first, and the competitors for the pancratium were beaten by the Syracusan Lygdamis, who has his sepulchre at the stonequarries of Syracuse. And I don’t know whether Lygdamis was really as big as the Theban Hercules, but that is the tradition at Syracuse. And the contest of the boys was not a revival of ancient usage, but the people of Elis instituted it because the idea pleased them. So prizes were instituted for running and wrestling among boys in the 37th Olympiad, and Hipposthenes the Lacedæmonian won the wrestling prize, and Polynices from Elis the running prize. And in the 41st Olympiad afterwards they invited boxing boys, and the one who won the prize from all the competitors was Philetas from Sybaris. And the race in heavy armour was tried in the 65th Olympiad, as an exercise for war I think: and of those who ran with their shields Damaretus of Heræum was the victor. And the race of two full-grown horses called a pair was established in the 93rd Olympiad, and Evagoras of Elis was the victor. And in the 99th Olympiad they had a fancy to contend with chariots drawn by colts, and the Lacedæmonian Sybariades had the prize for this contest. And they afterwards established races of a pair of colts and for riding a colt, and the victor in the former was Belistiche, a woman who lived in Macedonia near the sea, and in the latter Tlepolemus the Lycian in the 131st Olympiad, Belistiche’s victory was in the 3rd Olympiad before. And in the 145th Olympiad prizes were instituted for a pancratium-contest for boys, and Phædimus an Æolian from the Troad was victor.
[5.9] And some of the contests at Olympia were put an end to, the people of Elis having resolved to discontinue them. For the pentathlum for boys was established in the 38th Olympiad, but when the Lacedæmonian Eutelidas had won the crown of wild olive, the people of Elis did not care that their lads should train for the pentathlum. So it dropped. And the chariot race and the trotting race, the former established in the 70th Olympiad and the latter in the 71st Olympiad, were both stopped by proclamation in the 84th Olympiad. When they were first instituted Thersius the Thessalian won the prize in the former, and Patæcus an Achæan from Dyme in the latter. In the trotting race the riders used to jump off towards the end of the course and run with the horses still holding the reins, as what are called professional riders do to this day, only the latter employ stallions and have their own colours. But the chariot race is not an ancient invention nor a graceful exhibition, and the people of Elis (who have always disliked the horse) yoke two mules together instead of horses.
[5.9] The order of the games in our day is to sacrifice victims to the god, and then to contend in the pentathlum and horse-race, according to the programme established in the 77th Olympiad, for before this horses and men contended on the same day. And at that period the pancratiasts did not appear till night for they could not compete sooner, so much time being taken up by the horse-races and pentathlum. And the Athenian Callias was the victor of the pancratiasts. But for the future they took care that neither the pentathlum nor horse-races should stand in the way of the pancratium. And as regards the umpires of the games, the original rules and those in vogue in our day are quite different, for Iphitus was the only umpire, and after Iphitus the posterity of Oxylus, but in the 50th Olympiad two men picked by lot out of all Elis were entrusted with the stewardship of the contests, and this practice of two umpires continued for a very long time. But in the 25th Olympiad afterwards 9 general Umpires were appointed: three for the horse-race, three to watch the pentathlum, and three to preside over the remaining games. And in the 2nd Olympiad after this a tenth Umpire was appointed. And in the 103rd Olympiad, as the people of Elis had 12 tribes, a general Umpire was appointed by each. And when they were hard pressed by the Arcadians in war, they lost a portion of their territory and all the villages in this portion, and so they were only 8 tribes in number in the 104th Olympiad, and had only 8 general Umpires accordingly. And in the 108th Olympiad they returned to the number of 10 general Umpires, and that has continued the number to our day.
[5.10] Many various wonders may one see, or hear of, in Greece: but the Eleusinian mysteries and Olympian games seem to exhibit more than anything else the divine purpose. And the sacred grove of Zeus they have from old time called Altis, slightly changing the Greek word for grove³: it is indeed called Altis also by Pindar, in the Ode he composed for a victor at Olympia. And the temple and statue of Zeus were built out of the spoils of Pisa, which the people of Elis razed to the ground, after quelling the revolt of Pisa and some of the neighbouring towns that revolted with Pisa. And that the statue of Zeus was the work of Phidias is shown by the inscription written at the base of it,
“Phidias the Athenian, the son of Charmides, made me.”
[5.10] The temple is a Doric building, and outside it is a colonnade. And the temple is built of stone of the district. Its height up to the gable is 68 feet, its breadth 95 feet, and its length 230 feet. And its architect was Libon a native of Elis. And the tiles on the roof are not of baked earth, but Pentelican marble to imitate tiles. They say such roofs are the invention of a man of Naxos called Byzes, who made statues at Naxos with the inscription,
“Euergus of Naxos made me, the son of Byzes, and descended from Leto, the first who made tiles of stone.”
[5.10] This Byzes was a contemporary of Alyattes the Lydian and Astyages (the son of Cyaxaras) the king of Persia. And there is a golden vase at each end of the roof, and a golden Victory in the middle of the gable. And underneath the Victory is a golden shield hung up as a votive offering, with the Gorgon Medusa worked on it. The inscription on the shield states who hung it up, and the reason why they did so. For this is what it says.
“This temple’s golden shield is a votive offering from the Lacedæmonians at Tanagra and their allies, a gift from the Argives the Athenians and the Ionians, a tithe offering for success in war.”
[5.10] The battle I mentioned in my account of Attica, when I described the tombs at Athens. And in the same temple at Olympia, above the zone that runs round the pillars on the outside, are 21 golden shields, the offering of Mummius the Roman General, after he had beaten the Achæans and taken Corinth, and expelled the Dorians from Corinth. And on the gables in bas relief is the chariot race between Pelops and Œnomaus, and both chariots in motion. And in the middle of the gable is a statue of Zeus, and on the right hand of Zeus is Œnomaus with a helmet on his head, and beside him his wife Sterope, one of the daughters of Atlas. And Myrtilus, who was the charioteer of Œnomaus, is seated behind the four horses. And next to him are two men whose names are not recorded, but they are doubtless Œnomaus’ grooms, whose duty was to take care of the horses. And at the end of the gable is a delineation of the river Cladeus, next to the Alpheus held most in honour of all the rivers of Elis. And on the left of the statue of Zeus are Pelops and Hippodamia and the charioteer of Pelops and the horses, and two men who were Pelops’ grooms. And where the gable tapers fine there is the Alpheus delineated. And Pelop’s charioteer was according to the tradition of the Trœzenians Sphærus, but the custodian at Olympia said that his name was Cilla. The carvings on the gables in front are by Pæonius of Mende in Thracia, those behind by Alcamenes, a contemporary of Phidias and second only to him as statuary. And on the gables is a representation of the fight between the Lapithæ and the Centaurs at the marriage of Pirithous. Pirithous is in the centre, and on one side of him is Eurytion trying to carry off Pirithous’ wife and Cæneus coming to the rescue, and on the other side Theseus laying about among the Centaurs with his battle-axe: and one Centaur is carrying off a maiden, another a blooming boy. Alcamenes has engraved this story, I imagine, because he learnt from the lines of Homer that Pirithous was the son of Zeus, and knew that Theseus was fourth in descent from Pelops. There are also in bas relief at Olympia most of the Labours of Hercules. Above the doors of the temple is the hunting of the Erymanthian boar, and Hercules taking the mares of Diomede the Thracian, and robbing the oxen of Geryon in the island of Erythea, and supporting the load of Atlas, and clearing the land of Elis of its dung. And above the chamber behind the doors he is robbing the Amazon of her belt, and there is the stag, and the Cretan Minotaur, and the Stymphalian birds, and the hydra, and the Nemean lion. And as you enter the brazen doors on the right in front of the pillar is Iphitus being crowned by his wife Ecechiria, as the inscription in verse states. And there are pillars inside the temple, and porticoes above, and an approach by them to the image of Zeus. There is also a winding staircase to the roof.
[5.11] The image of the god is in gold and ivory, seated on a throne. And a crown is on his head imitating the foliage of the olive tree. In his right hand he holds a Victory in ivory and gold, with a tiara and crown on his head: and in his left hand a sceptre adorned with all manner of precious stones, and the bird seated on the sceptre is an eagle. The robes and sandals of the god are also of gold: and on his robes are imitations of flowers, especially of lilies. And the throne is richly adorned with gold and precious stones, and with ebony and ivory. And there are imitations of animals painted on it, and models worked on it. There are four Victories like dancers one at each foot of the throne, and two also at the instep of each foot: and at each of the front feet are Theban boys carried off by Sphinxes, and below the Sphinxes Apollo and Artemis shooting down the children of Niobe. And between the feet of the throne are four divisions formed by straight lines drawn from each of the four feet. In the division nearest the entrance there are seven models, the eighth has vanished no one knows where or how. And they are imitations of ancient contests, for in the days of Phidias the contests for boys were not yet established. And the figure with its head muffled up in a scarf is they say Pantarces, who was a native of Elis and the darling of Phidias. This Pantarces won the wrestling prize for boys in the 86th Olympiad. And in the remaining divisions is the band of Hercules fighting against the Amazons. The number on each side is 29, and Theseus is on the side of Hercules. And the throne is supported not only by the four feet, but also by 4 pillars between the feet. But one cannot get under the throne, as one can at Amyclæ, and pass inside, for at Olympia there are panels like walls that keep one off. Of these panels the one opposite the doors of the temple is painted sky blue only, but the others contain paintings by Panænus. Among them is Atlas bearing up Earth and Heaven, and Hercules standing by willing to relieve him of his load, and Theseus and Pirithous, and Greece, and Salamis with the figurehead of a ship in her hand, and the contest of Hercules with the Nemean lion, and Ajax’s unknightly violation of Cassandra, and Hippodamia the daughter of Œnomaus with her mother, and Prometheus still chained to the rock and Hercules gazing at him. For the tradition is that Hercules slew the eagle that was ever tormenting Prometheus on Mount Caucasus, and released Prometheus from his chains. The last paintings are Penthesilea dying and Achilles supporting her, and two Hesperides carrying the apples of which they are fabled to have been the keepers. This Panænus was the brother of Phidias, and at Athens in the Painted Stoa he has painted the action at Marathon. At the top of the throne Phidias has represented above the head of Zeus the three Graces and three Seasons. For these too, as we learn from the poets, were daughters of Zeus. Homer in the Iliad has represented the Seasons as having the care of Heaven, as a kind of guards of a royal palace.⁴ And the base under the feet of Zeus, (what is called in Attic θρανίον), has golden lions engraved on it, and the battle between Theseus and the Amazons, the first famous exploit of the Athenians beyond their own borders. And on the platform that supports the throne there are various ornaments round Zeus and gilt carving, the Sun seated in his chariot, and Zeus and Hera, and near is Grace. Hermes is close to her, and Vesta close to Hermes. And next to Vesta is Eros receiving Aphrodite just rising from the sea, who is being crowned by Persuasion. And Apollo and Artemis Athene and Hercules are standing by, and at the end of the platform Amphitrite and Poseidon, and Selene apparently urging on her horse. And some say it is a mule and not a horse that the goddess is riding upon, and there is a silly tale about this mule.
[5.11] I know that the size of the Olympian Zeus both in height and breadth has been stated, but I cannot bestow praise on the measurers, for their recorded measurement comes far short of what anyone would infer looking at the statue. They make the god also to have testified to the art of Phidias. For they say when the statue was finished, Phidias prayed him to signify if the work was to his mind, and immediately Zeus struck with lightning that part of the pavement, where in our day there is a brazen urn with a lid.
[5.11] And all the pavement in front of the statue is not of white but of black stone. And a border of Parian marble runs round this black stone, as a preservative against spilled oil. For oil is good for the statue at Olympia, as it prevents the ivory being harmed by the dampness of the grove. But in the Acropolis at Athens, in regard to the statue of Athene called the Maiden, it is not oil but water that is advantageously employed to the ivory: for as the citadel is dry by reason of its great height, the statue being made of ivory needs to be sprinkled with water freely. And when I was at Epidaurus, and enquired why they use neither water nor oil to the statue of Æsculapius, the sacristans of the temple informed me that the statue of the god and its throne are over a well.
[5.12] Those who think that the parts of the elephant that project from the mouth are teeth and not horns, should consider the case of Celtic elks and Ethiopian bulls. For male elks have horns on their foreheads, but the female elk has none whatever. And Ethiopian bulls have horns growing in their nostrils. Who would therefore think it very wonderful after these examples that a beast should have horns growing out of its mouth? One may also get further light from the following particulars. Horns in animals take a certain definite period to grow and grow more than once: and this is the case with stags and antelopes as well as elephants. But no animal after full growth has second sets of teeth. If they are teeth therefore and not horns that project from elephants’ mouths, how could they grow a second time? Moreover teeth are not acted upon by fire, but horns both of oxen and elephants can by the action of fire be made straight from round, and can in fact be turned into any shape. [But in hippopotamuses and boars the lower jaw has projecting teeth: and we do not see horns growing out of their jaws.] Let anybody be certain therefore that they are horns in the elephant that project and grow out from the temples. I don’t make this assertion as mere hearsay, for I have seen the skull of an elephant in the temple of Artemis in Campania. The temple I refer to is about 30 stades from Capua, which is the chief town of Campania. And the elephant is not only different from other animals in the growth of its horns, but also in its size and appearance. And the Greeks seem to me to have shewn great munificence and an absence of parsimoniousness in respect to their worship of the gods, seeing that they procured ivory both from India and Ethiopia for their statues.
[5.12] At Olympia also in the temple of Zeus is a woollen veil, adorned with Assyrian tapestry and dyed with the Phœnician purple, the votive offering of Antiochus, who also gave to the theatre at Athens a golden ægis with the Gorgon’s head on it. This veil is not drawn up to the roof as in the temple of Ephesian Artemis, but let down to the pavement by ropes. And among the votive offerings in the temple or ante-chapel is the throne of Arimnestus king of the Tyrrhenians, (who was the first foreigner that offered a votive offering to Olympian Zeus,) and the horses of Cynisca in brass, the memorials of her victory at Olympia. These horses are rather smaller than life, and are on the right as you enter the ante-chapel. And there is a tripod covered with brass, on which before the table was made the crowns for the victors were laid. And of the statues of the Emperors, Adrian’s in Parian marble was a gift of all the cities that joined the Achæan league, and Trajan’s a gift of all the Greeks. This last Emperor added the Getæ beyond Thrace to the Roman Empire, and waged war against Osroes (the descendant of Arsaces) and the Parthians. The most famous of all his works are the Baths which are known as Trajan’s Baths, and a large theatre perfectly round, and a building for horse-races two stades in length, and the forum at Rome well worth seeing for various beauties and especially its brazen roof. And there are two statues in the round parts of the building, one of the Emperor Augustus in amber, the other in ivory is said to be Nicomedes, the king of Bithynia: from whom the largest town in Bithynia, that had been previously called Astacus, got called Nicomedia. It was originally founded by Zypœtes, a Thracian as one would infer from his name. And the amber of which they made Augustus’ statue, the native amber which is found in the sands of the Eridanus, is most rare and precious to man for many purposes. But the other kind of amber is gold mixed with silver. And in the temple at Olympia there are several of Nero’s votive offerings, 3 are crowns to imitate the wild olive, the fourth is an imitation of oak. And there are 25 brazen shields to be worn by the competitors in the race in armour. And there are several pillars, and among them one which has the covenant of the people of Elis and the Athenians Argives and Mantineans for an alliance for 100 years.
[5.13] And within Altis there is a separate grove to Pelops: who of the heroes at Olympia is as much held in the highest honour as Zeus is among the gods. This grove is on the right of the temple of Zeus towards the North, just at such a distance from the temple as to admit of statues and votive offerings between, and it extends from the middle of the temple to the back, and is surrounded by a stone wall, and has trees planted in it, and statues. And the entrance to it is from the west. And it is said to have been dedicated to Pelops by Hercules the son of Amphitryon, who was fourth in descent from Pelops. And he is said to have sacrificed in the trench to Pelops. And the magistrates for the year sacrifice to him even now a black ram. The seer has no portion of this sacrifice, the neck of the ram only is usually given to the person called the wood-cutter. He is one of the temple servants, and his function is to furnish wood for the sacrifices at a fixed price, both to cities and to any private individual. And the wood is always of the white poplar tree. And whatever stranger or native of Elis eats the flesh of the victim sacrificed to Pelops may not enter the temple of Zeus. Those who sacrifice to Telephus at Pergamum north of the river Caicus are in a similar predicament: they may not enter the temple of Æsculapius till they have had a bath. And the following tradition is still told about Pelops. During the protracted siege of Ilium the seers are said to have prophesied that they would never capture the town till they procured the bows of Hercules and a bone of Pelops. So they sent it is said for Philoctetes to the camp, and the shoulder-blade of Pelops was brought from Pisa. And on the return home of the Greeks, the ship that had the shoulder-blade of Pelops was wrecked near Eubœa. And many years after the capture of Ilium Damarmenus, a fisherman of Eretria, cast his net into the sea and fished up this bone, and marvelling at the size of it hid it in the sand. And eventually he went to Delphi, desiring to know who the bone belonged to, and what he should do with it. And it chanced providentially that some persons of Elis, seeking a cure for the pestilence, were at Delphi at this period. And the Pythian Priestess told them to preserve the bones of Pelops, and told Damarmenus to give what he had found to the people of Elis. And when he had done so the people of Elis gave him several presents, and made Damarmenus and his descendants custodians of this bone. But this shoulder-blade of Pelops has not survived to our day, because in my opinion it was buried too deep, partly also from time and the action of the sea. And there are still traces even to our day of Pelops and Tantalus having brought colonies to Greece, as the marsh called after Tantalus, and his well-known grave. And the throne of Pelops is at Sipylus on the top of the mountain above the temple of the Placianian mother, and after you have crossed the river Hermus there is a statue of Aphrodite at Temnus still in existence made of myrtle: and the tradition is that it was a votive offering of Pelops to propitiate the goddess, before begging her help towards marrying Hippodamia.
[5.13] And the altar of Olympian Zeus is about equidistant from the grove of Pelops and the temple of Hera, and is situated in front of both. Some say it was erected by Idæan Hercules, others say by some heroes of the district two generations after him. It was they say made of the débris of the thigh bones of the victims sacrificed to Zeus, as the altar at Pergamum. The Samian Hera has also an altar made of similar material, an altar not a whit more handsome than those which in Attica they call extemporary altars. And the first base of the altar of Olympia, called the pro-altar, has a circumference of 125 feet, and above the pro-altar is a circumference of 32 feet. And the whole height of the altar is 22 feet. It is customary to sacrifice the victims at the lower part, at the pro-altar: but the thigh-bones they bring to the highest part of the altar and burn them there. And stone steps lead up to the pro-altar on both sides, but up to the high altar there are merely steps of débris. Maidens may ascend as far as the pro-altar, and likewise women at the seasons when they are allowed to be at Olympia, but men alone may ascend to the high altar. And private individuals, and the people of Elis daily, offer sacrifices to Zeus besides at the general Festival. And annually the seers observe the 19th day of the month Elaphius by carrying the débris from the Town Hall, and kneading it with the water of the River Alpheus, and thus construct their altar. No other water is ever used for this purpose, and that is why the Alpheus is considered more friendly to Olympian Zeus than any other river. There is also at Didymi (a town of the Milesians) an altar made by Hercules the Theban of victims’ blood. So at least the Milesians say. But the blood of the victims has never raised it to any great height even in these latter days.
[5.14] But the altar at Olympia has another wonder. Kites, which are by nature especially birds of prey, never harm the sacrifices at Olympia. And if on any chance occasion a kite touch the entrails or flesh of a victim, it is not considered a good omen for the sacrificer. And they say when Hercules, the son of Alcmena, was sacrificing at Olympia there was a great plague of flies: when, either of his own idea or at another’s suggestion, he sacrificed to Zeus the Averter of flies, and so they were driven to the other side of the Alpheus. On similar grounds the natives of Elis are said to sacrifice to Zeus the Averter of flies, because he drove them from Olympia.
[5.14] The wood of the white poplar tree is the only wood that the people of Elis employ in the sacrifices of Zeus, giving that tree this especial honour, I imagine, because Hercules introduced it from Thesprotia into Greece. And I think there can be little doubt that Hercules himself, when he sacrificed to Zeus at Olympia, burnt the thighs of the victims on white poplar wood. Hercules found this tree growing near the Acheron a river in Thesprotia, and that is why they say it is called Acherois by Homer.⁵ In all ages rivers have been celebrated for the growth of various grasses and trees on their banks. Thus the Mæander is most famous for tamarisks, and the Asopus in Bœotia for immense reeds, and the Persea is found only on the banks of the Nile. Thus there is no wonder that by the Acheron first grew the white poplar, and that the wild olive grows near the Alpheus, and that the black poplar grows on Celtic soil by the river Eridanus.
[5.14] Let us now, as we have made mention of the greatest altar, enumerate all the altars at Olympia. I will take them in the order the people of Elis are accustomed to sacrifice at them. They first sacrifice to Vesta, and next to Olympian Zeus in the altar inside the temple, thirdly to Hermes, fourthly to Artemis, fifthly to Athene the Goddess of Booty, sixthly to Athene Ergane. To this Athene the descendants of Phidias, (called the cleansers because they received from the people of Elis the honour of cleansing the statue of Zeus from anything clinging to it), sacrifice before they commence polishing up the statue. And there is also another altar of Athene near the temple, and near it a square altar of Artemis tapering up gradually at the top. And next to those we have mentioned they sacrifice to Alpheus and Artemis at one altar: the reason for this I learnt from one of Pindar’s Odes, and I have recorded it in my account of the Letrinæans.⁶ And at no great distance from this is another altar to Alpheus, and near it an altar to Hephæstus, which some of the people of Elis say is the altar of Martial Zeus, at which Œnomaus sacrificed when he proposed the horse-race for the suitors of his daughter Hippodamia. Next is an altar of Hercules under the title of Aider, and altars to Hercules’ brothers, Epimedes and Idas and Pæonæus and Iasus. I know that the altar of Idas is called the altar of Acesidas by some. And at the ruins of the house of Œnomaus are two altars, one of Household Zeus, built apparently by Œnomaus, the other built afterwards I think to Zeus of the Lightning, when lightning had struck the house. With reference to the great altar, called the altar of Olympian Zeus, I have already spoken a little above. And near it is the altar to Unknown Gods, and next that of Zeus the Cleanser, and Victory, and next that of Zeus Chthonius. There are also altars of all the gods, and one of Olympian Hera also made of débris, the votive offering they say of Clymenus. And next to it is a joint altar to Apollo and Hermes, because the tradition in Elis is that Hermes was the inventor of the lyre, and Apollo the inventor of the lute. And next are altars of Harmony, and Athene, and the Mother of the Gods. And there are two altars very near the entrance to the race-course, one they say of Hermes the Athlete, and the other of Opportunity. Ion the Chian has I know written an Hymn to Opportunity, in which he traces his genealogy, and makes him the youngest son of Zeus. And near the treasure of the Sicyonians is an altar of Hercules, either one of the Curetes, or the son of Alcmena, for both traditions are current. And at what is called Gæum there is an altar to Earth, this too made of débris: and they say there was an oracle of Earth earlier still. And at the place called Stomium there is an altar to Themis. And before the altar of Zeus, the god of thunder and lightning, is a fence on all sides, and this altar too is not far from the great altar formed of débris. Let my reader remember that I have not enumerated these altars according to the position of their site, but taken them in a rambling order, according to the order in which the people of Elis sacrifice at them. And in the grove of Pelops there is a joint altar to Dionysus and the Graces, and next one to the Muses, and one to the Nymphs.
[5.15] Outside Altis there is a building called the workshop of Phidias, who used to work here at his statues, and there is an altar here to all the gods in common. As you turn back again to Altis you see straight before you the Hall of Leonidas. It is outside the temple precincts, and of the various approaches to Altis is the only one used for processions. It was built by Leonidas, a native of Elis, and now the Roman governors of Elis make it their headquarters. It is separated by an alley from the approach used for processions: the people of Elis call alleys what the Athenians call bylanes. And there is in Altis to the left of the Hall of Leonidas, an altar of Aphrodite, and an altar of the Seasons next to it. And in the rear of the temple there is a wild olive tree growing on the right: it is called the olive beautiful for its crowns, and the victors at Olympia receive crowns of it. Near this wild olive tree is a temple of the Nymphs, these too they call beautiful for their crowns. And inside Altis there is an altar of Artemis of the Market-Place, and on the right of the Hall of Leonidas is an altar to the goddesses called Mistresses. Of the goddess whom they call Mistress the portion of my work about Arcadia will give complete information. And next is an altar of Zeus of the Market-Place, and, in front of what is called the Seat of Honour, altars of Pythian Apollo, and Dionysus. This last they say was erected by private people not so long ago. And as you go to where the horses start is an altar, with the inscription The Decider of Fate. This is plainly a title of Zeus who fore-knows all human events, both what the Fates send, and others. And near this is an oblong altar of the Fates, and next one of Hermes, and next two of Zeus Supreme. And at the middle of the place where the horses start are altars in the open air to Poseidon the Patron of Horses, and Hera the Patroness of Horses, and near the pillar an altar of Castor and Pollux. And at the entrance, near what is called the Rostrum, is an altar of Ares the Patron of Horses, and an altar of Athene the Patroness of Horses. And as you enter the Rostrum there are altars of Good Fortune, and of Pan, and of Aphrodite. And in the interior of the Rostrum the Nymphs called Acmenæ have an altar. And as you return from the Portico which the people of Elis call Agnaptus’ from the name of the Architect, there is on the right an altar of Artemis. And as you enter Altis again by the road used for processions there are altars behind the chapel of Hera of the river Cladeus and of Artemis, and next to them one of Apollo, and a fourth of Artemis Coccoca, and a fifth of Apollo Thermius. Thermius I conjecture at Elis will be the same word as Thesmius (Law-loving) in Attic. But why Artemis was called Coccoca I could not ascertain. There is a building in front of what they call the Priest’s dwelling, and in the corner of it is an altar of Pan. And the Town Hall of the people of Elis is within Altis, near the outlet beyond the gymnasium, where the athletes have their races and wrestling-matches. And in front of the doors of the Town Hall is an altar of Artemis of the Market-Place. And in the Town Hall itself as you pass into a room where there is a hearth, there is an altar of Pan on the right of the entrance. And the hearth itself is made of débris, and there is a fire on it burning continually day and night. From this hearth as I have already stated they remove the débris to the altar of Olympian Zeus, and the height of that altar is largely due to contributions from this hearth.
[5.15] And once in every month the people of Elis sacrifice at the altars which I have mentioned. And they sacrifice in a certain primitive fashion; for they burn frankincense on the altars and cakes kneaded with honey. And they decorate the altars with olive branches, and pour out libations of wine. But they do not offer libations of wine to the Nymphs, or the Mistresses, or at the joint altar of all the gods. And the sacrifices are conducted by the priest, who has office for one month, and by the seers, the libation-offerers, the Interpreter of Antiquities, the flute-player, and the wood-cutter. But the words that they use in the Town Hall, and the Hymns which they sing, I am not allowed to introduce into my account. And they pour libations not only to Greek gods, but to the god of Libya, and to Hera of Ammon, and to Parammon (a title of Hermes). It is manifest also that from time immemorial they have consulted the oracle at Libya, and there are altars in the temple of Ammon, votive offerings of the people of Elis: and there are inscribed on them the questions of the people of Elis, and the answers returned by the god, and the names of those who went to Ammon from Elis. All this is in the temple of Ammon. The people of Elis also pour libations to heroes, and the wives of heroes, who are honoured in Elis or Ætolia. And the Hymns sung in the Town Hall are in the Doric dialect, but by whom composed they do not tell us. The people of Elis also have a banqueting-hall, (inside the Town-Hall, opposite the room where the hearth is,) where they entertain the victors at Olympia.
[5.16] Next ought I to describe the temple of Hera, and all that is worth narrating in it. The people of Elis have a tradition that the people of Scillus in Triphylia built it about 8 years after Oxylus became king at Elis. Its architecture is Doric, there are pillars all round it, one pillar in a chamber at the back of the temple is of oak. And the length of the temple is 63 feet. The architect’s name is not recorded. And every fifth year 16 matrons weave a shawl for Hera, and the same number preside over her games. And the contest is a race for maidens of various ages: in the first race are the youngest, and next those slightly older, and last of all the eldest. And they all run with their hair down their back, a short tunic below the knee, and their right shoulder bare to the breast. They use in this contest the regular race-course at Olympia, but make it a sixth part of a stade shorter. And the victors receive crowns of olive, and part of the heifer sacrificed to Hera: and paintings of them are made for Hera. And the 16 matrons who preside over the games have as many handmaids. They trace this contest of the maidens back to ancient times, saying that Hippodamia in gratitude to Hera for her marriage with Pelops selected 16 matrons, and in concert with them inaugurated these games to Hera. And they record that Chloris (with the exception of one brother the only surviving child of Amphion) was the victor. And what I learnt about the children of Niobe I have narrated in my account about Argos. About these 16 matrons they have also the following tradition. They say that Damophon, the tyrant at Pisa, did many grievous injuries to the people of Elis, and on his death, as the people of Pisa had not publicly sanctioned his ill deeds, the people of Elis were willing to annul their charges against them, so 16 of the principal cities in Elis at that day selected each one matron of age and merit and good name to arbitrate on any claims. And the cities from which they selected matrons were Elis and 15 others, and thus their differences with the people of Pisa were arranged. And afterwards the same 16 were told off to make all the arrangements about the Hera Festival, and to weave the shawl for Hera. These 16 matrons also have two dances, one they call Physcoa’s dance, and the other’s Hippodamia’s. Physcoa the tradition goes was from hollow Elis, and lived in the parish they call Orthia, and was mother by Dionysus of a boy called Narcæus, who, when he grew up, warred with the neighbouring tribes and came to great power, and built a temple of Athene Narcæa: and Dionysus was they say first worshipped by Narcæus and Physcoa. Physcoa had other honours besides the dance called after her name. The number of matrons is still kept up by the people of Elis, but they are somewhat differently chosen. For as they are divided into 8 tribes they select two matrons from each. And the functions of these 16 matrons and the Umpires of Elis are never commenced till after the sacrifice of a pig and lustration with water. And the lustration takes place at the fountain Piera, which is situated in the plain between Olympia and Elis.
[5.17] All these things are as I have described them. And in Hera’s temple there is a statue of Zeus, and also one of Hera seated on a throne, and standing by is a person with a beard and helmet on his head. And the workmanship is very simple. And next them the Æginetan Smilis has delineated the Seasons sitting on thrones. And near them is a statue of Themis as the mother of the Seasons, the design of Doryclidas, a Lacedæmonian by race, and the pupil of Dipœnus and Scyllis. And there are five Hesperides by Theocles, a Lacedæmonian also, the son of Hegylus, who is also said to have been a pupil of Scyllis and Dipœnus. And Athene with a helmet and spear and shield is they say by the Lacedæmonian Medon, who was the brother of Doryclidas, and learnt his art also from Scyllis and Dipœnus. And Proserpine and Demeter sit, Apollo and Artemis stand, opposite one another. And there are statues also of Leto and Fortune and Dionysus, and a winged Victory, who designed them I cannot tell, but they appear to me very antique. What I have enumerated are in ivory and gold: but in later times there were other statues placed in the temple of Hera, as a stone Hermes carrying Dionysus as a babe, by Praxiteles; and Aphrodite in brass, by Cleon of Sicyon, whose master was Antiphanes, of the school of Periclytus the pupil of the Argive Polycletus. And before Aphrodite there is a little golden boy seated, by the Carthaginian Boethus, which was brought here from what is called Philip’s house, as well as some statues in gold and ivory, as Eurydice the wife of Philip, and Olympias.
[5.17] * * The chest is of cedar and has figures on it, some in ivory, some in gold, some carved on the cedar. In this chest Cypselus, the tyrant of Corinth, was hid by his mother at his birth, as the Bacchidæ were eager to find him. On account of his safety his descendants, called the Cypselidæ, made the chest a votive offering at Olympia, and the Corinthians of that day called chests cypselæ: that is the origin of the name Cypselus given to the boy, so they say. And on the chest there are inscriptions in large letters in an old handwriting: some of this writing is straight, other parts are written in what the Greeks call ox-fashion. That is, when one line is finished the next begins where that left off and runs backward, and so on like the double course on the race ground. There are also inscriptions on the chest that are very puzzling and difficult to make out. And if you begin to examine the chest all over, beginning at the lower part, you will see first Œnomaus pursuing Pelops and Hippodamia. Each of them have a pair of horses but those of Pelops have wings. And next is the house of Amphiaraus, and some old woman is carrying Amphilochus the baby, and in front of the house is Eriphyle with a necklace, and near her her daughters Eurydice and Demonassa, and the little boy Alcmæon naked. Asius in his poems has also represented Alcmena as the daughter of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. And Baton, the charioteer of Amphiaraus, has the reins in one hand and a lance in the other. And one of Amphiarus’ feet is in the chariot, and his sword is drawn, and he is turned towards Eriphyle, and in his rage can scarce refrain from rushing at her. And next to Amphiaraus’ house are the games in memory of Pelias, and the spectators are looking on the contests. There is Hercules sitting on a seat, and his wife behind him, but her name is not given, she is piping with Phrygian and not Greek pipes. And there are Pisus the son of Perieres and Asterion the son of Cometes driving a pair of horses, the latter is said to have sailed in the Argo, and Pollux and Admetus, and Euphemus the son of Poseidon (according to the tale of the poets), and the companion of Jason on his voyage to Colchi, he also was victorious in the pair-horse-race. And there are Admetus and Mopsus, the son of Ampyx, both famous boxers. And in the midst is a man playing on the flute, as in our day they are still wont to do in the leaping contest in the pentathlum. And Jason and Peleus are wrestling, they are very evenly matched. And there is Eurybotas throwing his quoit, a man famous as a quoit-player whoever he was. And there are Melanion and Neotheus and Phalareus and Argeus and Iphiclus ready for the race: and Acastus is holding out the crown to the victor, who was Iphiclus, the father of Protesilaus who fought at Ilium. There are also some tripods as prizes for the winners, and there are the daughters of Pelias, of whom the name of Alcestis only is inscribed. Iolaus too, who voluntarily shared in Hercules’ Labours, is there, just having come in first in the chariot-race. And this is the last of the games in memory of Pelias. And there is Athene standing by Hercules who is shooting the hydra, the monster that infested the river Amymone. And because Hercules was well-known, from his great size as well as the nature of the contest, his name is not written underneath. And there is Phineus the Thracian, and the sons of Boreas driving away the Harpies from him.
[5.18] On the second side of the chest, on the left, to take them in their order, is a woman supporting with her right hand a white child sleeping, and with her left a black child like the sleeping child, but with both its feet twisted. The inscriptions shew, what one would have inferred without any inscriptions, that they are Death and Sleep with their nurse Night. And there is a comely woman dragging along an ugly one, with one hand holding her fast, and with the other beating her with a rod, this is Justice punishing Injustice. And there are two women pounding with pestles into mortars, apparently compounding drugs, but there is no inscription in reference to them. But about the man and woman following him there are two hexameter lines as follows, “Idas is leading away from the temple by no means against her will Marpessa of the beautiful ancles, whom Apollo snatched away for himself.”
[5.18] And there is a man clad in a tunic, with a cup in his right hand and in his left a necklace, and Alcmena is seizing them. According to the Greek tradition, Zeus assumed the appearance of Amphitryon, and so made Alcmena welcome him as her husband. And there is Menelaus with a breastplate and sword pursuing Helen to kill her, plainly during the sack of Ilium. And there is Jason on the right hand of Medea, who is sitting on a throne, and Aphrodite is standing by her. And the inscription relative to them is,
“Jason is wooing Medea, Aphrodite is encouraging them.”
[5.18] The Muses are also represented singing and Apollo leading off, and the inscription is as follows,
“Here is the king, the son of Leto, far-darting Apollo,
And round him the Muses, a graceful band, whom he leads in the songs.”
And Atlas is bearing up Heaven and Earth (according to the legend) on his shoulders, and in his hands are the apples of the Hesperides. And who the man is with a sword advancing to Atlas is nowhere written, but it is evident to all that it is Hercules. This is all the inscription,
“Atlas here is bearing up Heaven, he will neglect the apples.”
[5.18] There is also Ares in full armour leading off Aphrodite. The inscription under him is Enyalius. There too is the maiden Thetis, and Peleus is laying hold of her, and from Thetis’ hand a serpent is about to dart at Peleus. And there are the sisters of Medusa with wings pursuing the fleeing Perseus. His name only is given.
[5.18] The third side of the chest is devoted to military views. Most of the soldiers to be seen are infantry, but there are also some cavalry in two-horse war-chariots. And some of the soldiers are you can see engaging, while others are recognizing and greeting one another. The antiquarians have two explanations of this, the one party say that it is the Ætolians with Oxylus and the ancient people of Elis, and that they are fraternizing and exhibiting friendliness to one another in remembrance of their ancient consanguinity, the other party say that it is the people of Pylos and the Arcadians fighting near the town of Pheia and the river Iardanus. No one would have prima facie expected that the ancestor of Cypselus, being a Corinthian and in possession of the chest, would have purposely passed over Corinthian history, and artistically portrayed on the chest foreign and even immaterial events. So the following is the view I am inclined to form. Cypselus and his ancestors came originally from Gonussa beyond Sicyon, and were descended from Melas the son of Antasus. And Aletes would not receive Melas and his army into the city, as I have stated before in my account of Corinth, thus disobeying the oracle at Delphi, until at last, as Melas paid every attention to him, and whenever he was rejected returned again with entreaty, Aletes admitted him but not with a good grace. One would conjecture therefore that the forces of Melas are here portrayed.
[5.19] And on the 4th side of the chest on the left Boreas is carrying off Orithyia, and he has serpents’ tails instead of feet. And there is the fight between Hercules and Geryon, who was three men in one. And there is Theseus with a lyre, and near him Ariadne with a garland. And Achilles and Memnon are fighting and their mothers are standing by. And there is Melanion, and Atalanta by him with a fawn. And Strife, looking most hateful, stands by the duel (after challenge) between Ajax and Hector. A very similar Strife has been depicted in the temple of Ephesian Artemis by the Samian Calliphon, who painted the battle at the ships of the Greeks. There are also on the chest figures of Castor and Pollux, one of them without a beard, and Helen between them. And Æthra, the daughter of Pittheus, in a dark dress is prostrate on the ground at the feet of Helen. And the inscription is an Hexameter line and one word more.
“Castor and Pollux ran off with Helen, and dragged Æthra from Athens.”
[5.19] These are the very words. And Iphidamas the son of Agenor is lying on the ground, and Coon is fighting with Agamemnon over his dead body. And Fear with the head of a lion is on Agamemnon’s shield. And this is the inscription over the corpse of Iphidamas,
“This is Iphidamas, Coon bestrides him in the fight.”
[5.19] And on Agamemnon’s shield,
“Here is what mortals call Fear, Agamemnon has got him.”
[5.19] And Hermes is bringing to Paris, the son of Priam, the goddesses to the choice of beauty, and the inscription here is,
“Here is Hermes showing to Paris the dainty sight of Hera and Athene and Aphrodite in all their beauty.”
[5.19] And Artemis—I know not why—has wings on her shoulders, and in her right hand she has a leopard, in her left a lion. And there is Ajax dragging Cassandra from the statue of Athene, and the inscription is,
“Locrian Ajax is dragging Cassandra from Athene.”
[5.19] And there are the sons of Œdipus, Polynices has fallen on his knees, and Eteocles is pressing him hard. And behind Polynices stands a monster with teeth as sharp as a wild beast’s, and with crooked claws. And the inscription says that it is Doom, and that Polynices was carried off by Fate, and that Eteocles’ end was just. And there too is bearded Dionysus lying down in a cave, clad in a long garment, with a golden bowl in his hand: and there are clusters of vine round him, and apples, and pomegranates.
[5.19] The topmost side of the chest, for there are five in all, has no inscription, but one can easily conjecture what the representations are. In a cave there is a woman sleeping with a man upon a bed, and we infer that they are Odysseus and Circe from the number of handmaids in front of the cave, and from their tasks. For the women are four in number, and they are engaged just as Homer has represented. And there is a Centaur, not with all his feet horses’ feet, for his forefeet are those of a man. And there are pair-horse chariots and women seated on the chariots: and the horses have gold wings, and a man is giving arms to one of the women. This is conjectured to refer to the death of Patroclus. For it is the Nereids on the chariots, and Thetis who is receiving arms from Hephæstus. For he who is giving the arms is lame, and behind is a servant with smith’s tongs. And the tradition about Chiron the Centaur is that, though he had left this world and been received into heaven, he returned to earth to comfort Achilles. And there are two maidens in a carriage drawn by mules, one is driving and the other has a veil on her head, they are thought to be Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinous, and her attendant driving to the wash. And the man shooting at the Centaurs and killing some of them is manifestly Hercules, for this was one of his great feats.
[5.19] Who it was that constructed this chest it is quite impossible to conjecture: the inscriptions on it might have been composed by anybody, but suspicion points to Eumelus the Corinthian, both on other grounds, and because of the Processional Hymn which he composed in reference to Delos.
[5.20] There are also here besides the chest several votive offerings, as a bed of no great size adorned with much ivory, and the quoit of Iphitus, and the table on which the crowns for the victors are deposited. The bed was they say a plaything of Hippodamia: and the quoit of Iphitus has written on it the armistice between the people of Elis and the Olympians not straight down it, but all round the quoit: and the table is of ivory and gold, the design of Colotes, who was they say a native of Heraclea. And those who take interest in artificers say that he was a Parian and the pupil of Pasiteles, who was himself the pupil of....⁷ There too are statues of Hera, and Zeus, and the Mother of the Gods, and Hermes, and Apollo, and Artemis. And behind is a representation of the games. On one side is Æsculapius and Hygiea, one of the daughters of Æsculapius, and Ares and Contest by him, and on another is Pluto and Dionysus and Proserpine and some Nymphs, one of them with a ball. And Pluto has his key, with which (they say) what is called Hades is locked, and then no one can return from it.
[5.20] An account which I received from Aristarchus, the Interpreter of Antiquities at Olympia, I must not omit. He said that in his youth, when the people of Elis restored the roof of the temple of Hera, the body of a dead man in heavy armour, who had been badly wounded, was found between the sham roof and the roof on which the tiles lay. This man was a combatant in the battle fought inside Altis between the Lacedæmonians and the people of Elis. For the people of Elis climbed up to the temples of the gods, and all high buildings alike, for the purpose of defence. This man therefore probably got up into that place, in a fainting condition from his wounds, and, on his death, neither the heat of summer nor the chills of winter would be likely to injure his dead body, as he lay stowed away and covered up. And Aristarchus added, that they carried the corpse outside Altis and buried it armour and all.
[5.20] And the pillar, which the people of Elis call the pillar of Œnomaus, is as you go from the great altar to the temple of Zeus, and there are 4 pillars on the left and a roof over them. These pillars support a wooden one worn out by age, and only held together by iron clamps. This pillar was once according to tradition in the house of Œnomaus: and when the god struck the house with lightning, the fire consumed all the house but this one pillar. And a brazen tablet contains some Elegiac lines referring to this.
“I am the only vestige, stranger, of a famous house, I once was a pillar in Œnomaus’ house, but now near Zeus I am in iron clamps in honour: the destructive fire has not consumed me.”
[5.20] Another curious thing happened on the spot in my time. A senator of Rome won the prize at Olympia, and wishing some record of his victory to survive in the shape of a brazen statue with an inscription, dug for a foundation, close to this pillar of Œnomaus, and the diggers found fragments of arms and bridles and bits. These I myself saw dug up.
[5.20] The temple, which is large in size and of Doric architecture, they call to this day the Temple of the Mother, preserving its ancient name, though there is no statue in it of the Mother of the Gods, but only some statues of Roman Emperors. It is inside Altis, and there is a round building called Philip’s House, on the top of which is a brazen poppy as a clamp for the beams. This building is on the left hand as you go to the Town Hall, and is built of baked brick, and there are some pillars round it. It was built for Philip after the fatal defeat of the Greeks at Chæronea. And there are statues there of Philip, and Alexander, and Amyntas the father of Philip. They are by Leochares in ivory and gold, like the statues of Olympias and Eurydice.
[5.21] And now I shall proceed to the account of the statues and votive offerings, which I do not care to mix up together. In the Acropolis at Athens all the statues and everything else equally are votive offerings: but at Altis the votive offerings are in honour of the deity, but the statues of the prizemen are merely a memorial of the contests. Of them I shall speak hereafter: I shall now take the most remarkable votive offerings in order.
[5.21] As you go to the race-course from the Temple of the Mother there is on the left at the end of the mountain Cronius a basement of stone, near the mountain, and some steps to it. On this basement there are some brazen statues of Zeus, made with the money from a fine imposed on some athletes who had behaved shamefully at the games. These statues are called in the national dialect Zanes. They were six in number at first and were put up in the 98th Olympiad. For Eupolus the Thessalian bribed his rivals in boxing to let him win the prize, Agenor from Arcadia, and Prytanis from Cyzicus, and Phormio from Halicarnassus, who was the champion in the preceding Olympiad. This was the first foul play they say at the boxing matches, and Eupolus and those who had been bribed by him were fined by the people of Elis. Two of the statues are by Cleon of Sicyon, the modeller of the remaining four we do not know. And all these statues, but the third and fourth, have elegiac lines on them. The first says that not with money, but swiftness of foot and bodily vigour, ought one to win prizes at Olympia. And the second says that that statue is raised in honour to the deity, and from piety on the part of the people of Elis, and to inspire fear in such athletes as do not play fair. As to the fifth and sixth, the gist of the inscription on one is a panegyric of the people of Elis, and not least for their punishment of the cheating boxers, and on the other a didactic precept to all the Greeks that nobody is to bribe to win the prize at Olympia.
[5.21] And subsequently to Eupolus they say that the Athenian Callippus, when contending for the pentathlum, bribed his antagonists in the 112th Olympiad. And when he and his antagonists were fined by the people of Elis, the Athenians sent Hyperides to beg the people of Elis to remit the fine. And when the people of Elis refused this favour, the Athenians treated them with much hauteur, not paying the money and keeping away from Olympia, till the god at Delphi told them he would no longer give them any oracular responses, till they paid the fine to the people of Elis. And when they paid, six more statues were made for Zeus, with elegiac verses on them no less severe than those about the fine of Eupolus. And the purport of these verses on the first statue is that the statues are erected in accordance with the oracular direction of the god, who honoured the decision the people of Elis had come to about the competitors for the pentathlum. And the second and third likewise praise the people of Elis for their conduct in the same matter. And the fourth desires to point out that the contest at Olympia is one of merit and not of money. And the inscriptions on the fifth and sixth shew, one why the statues were made, and the other that the oracle came to the Athenians from Delphi.
[5.21] And next to those I have enumerated are two statues, made from a fine imposed on some wrestlers, whose names are unknown both to me and the Antiquarians of Elis. There are some inscriptions also on these statues, the first is that the Rhodians paid a fine to Olympian Zeus for the cheating of their wrestler. And the second is that the statue was made out of fines imposed on those who wrestled for bribes. And the Antiquarians of Elis say that the other statues in connection with athletes were erected in the 178th Olympiad, when Eudelus was bribed by the Rhodian Philostratus. I find a discrepancy between this account and the public records of the people of Elis as respects the victors at Olympia. For in these records they say that Straton of Alexandria in the 178th Olympiad won on the same day the prize both in the pancratium and in the wrestling. Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile near Canopus, was built by Alexander, the son of Philip, on the site of a former town of no great size called Rhacotis. In the generation before Straton 3, and 3 after his day, are famous for having received the crown of wild olive both for the pancratium and the wrestling. The first was Caprus a native of Elis, and next of the Greeks beyond the Ægean the Rhodian Aristomenes, and next Protophanes of the Magnetes at Lethæus. And after Straton Marion, also from Alexandria, and Aristeas from Stratonice (both the region and city were anciently called Chrysaoris), and last Nicostratus from the Cilicians by the sea, though he had little in common with the Cilicians but nominally. For, when he was quite a child, he was kidnapped from Prymnessus a town in Phrygia by robbers, who took him to Ægeæ and sold him to the highest bidder. He was of no obscure family, and some time afterwards his purchaser dreamed that a lion’s whelp lay under the truckle bed on which he used to sleep. When Nicostratus grew to man’s estate he had several other victories at Olympia in the pancratium and in wrestling.
[5.21] And among others that were fined by the people of Elis afterwards was a boxer from Alexandria in the 218th Olympiad. His name was Apollonius, his surname Rhantes, for it is customary among the people of Alexandria to have surnames. He was the first Egyptian condemned by the people of Elis for neither giving nor receiving money, but for the impropriety of coming too late, for which he was not allowed to take part in the games. As to his excuse that he was detained by contrary winds in the Cyclades, Heraclides, also an Alexandrian, proved it to be a falsehood: and said he was really too late because he had been collecting money from the games in Ionia. Accordingly Apollonius and all others not present at the appointed time for the boxing matches were not allowed by the people of Elis to take part in the games, but to Heraclides they gave a crown without a contest. Thereupon Apollonius, who had on his boxer’s cæstus, rushed at Heraclides, and attacked him fiercely, just as he had received his crown of wild olive, and he fled for refuge to the Umpires. This hotheadedness was severely punished. There are also two statues made in our own times. For in the 226th Olympiad they detected some boxers bribing to get the prize. The money of their fine went to make two statues of Zeus, one on the left of the entrance to the course, and the other on the right. Didas was the name of one of these boxers, and the other, who gave the bribe, was Sarapammon, both were from the same district, the latest one formed in Egypt, called Arsinoites. It is wonderful indeed that from any quarter people should have been found to despise the god at Olympia, and to receive or give bribes in connection with the games, but still more wonderful that any of the people of Elis should have ventured to act in that manner. But it is said that Damonicus, a native of Elis, acted so in the 192nd Olympiad. For when Polyctor (the son of Damonicus) and Sosander (the son of Sosander) a native of Smyrna had descended to the arena for the wrestling match, Damonicus, being very anxious that his son should have the victory, bribed the younger Sosander. And when the circumstances got known, the Umpires fined the parents, turning their vengeance on them because they were really the guilty parties. Statues were made with this money too: one in the gymnasium at Elis, the other in Altis, in front of what is called the Painted Portico, because there were in ancient times paintings on the walls. This Portico is called by some the Portico of Echo, because in it a word is re-echoed 7 times, sometimes even more frequently.
[5.21] And they record that the pancratiast Serapion, a native of Alexandria, in the 201st Olympiad was so afraid of those who were to compete with him, that the day before the contest he absconded. He is the only Egyptian, or indeed member of any nationality, that was ever fined for cowardice in the games. Such are the statues made out of fines as far as I could ascertain.
[5.22] There are also other statues of Zeus, some erected publicly, some privately. There is also an altar in Altis near the entrance to the course. On this altar the people of Elis do not sacrifice to any of the gods, but the trumpeters and heralds stand here when they proclaim the games. On the brazen base of this altar is a statue to Zeus, six cubits in height, with a thunderbolt in each hand, the votive offering of the people of Cynætha. And the young Zeus with a necklace round his neck is the votive offering of Cleolas of Phlius.
[5.22] And near what is called the Hippodamium there is a semicircular basement of stone, and statues on it of Zeus and Thetis and Aurora supplicating Zeus for their children. These are in the midst of the basement. And at each extremity of the basement stand Achilles and Memnon in the attitude of antagonists. Similarly opposite to one another stand a Greek and barbarian, Odysseus opposite Helenus, for these are selected as most remarkable for wisdom in either army, and Paris is opposite Menelaus from their old hostility, and Æneas opposite Diomede, and Deiphobus opposite Ajax the son of Telamon. These are all by Lycius the son of Myron, and are votive offerings of the people of Apollonia near the Ionian sea. And there are some elegiac lines in ancient characters under the feet of Zeus.
“We are votive offerings from Apollonia, which long-haired Phœbus built near the Ionian sea. Those who seized the borders of Abantis offered this spoil from Thronium.”
[5.22] Now the region called Abantis and the town in it called Thronium were in Thesprotia near the mountains Ceraunia. For when the Greek ships were dispersed on their return from Ilium, the Locrians from Thronium near the river Boagrius and the Abantes from Eubœa in 8 ships put in to shore near the mountains Ceraunia. And there they dwelt and built the town of Thronium, and by common consent called all the district they lived in Abantis, and were afterwards beaten in war and expelled by their neighbours of Apollonia. And Apollonia was a colony from Corcyra, and the Corinthians had a share in the spoil.
[5.22] And as you go on a little further there is a Zeus looking east, with an eagle in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other. And he has a crown on his head composed of lilies. This statue is the votive offering of the people of Metapontum, and the design of the Æginetan Aristonous. But who Aristonous learnt his craft from we do not know, nor the period in which he flourished. The Phliasians also erected as votive offerings statues of Zeus and Asopus’ daughters and Asopus himself. And this is the arrangement of the statues. Nemea comes first of the sisters, and next her is Zeus laying hold of Ægina. And next Ægina is Harpina, who according to the tradition of the Phliasians and the people of Elis had an amour with Ares, and bare to him Œnomaus, the king of the district of Pisa. And next to her are Corcyra and Thebe, and Asopus comes last. The tradition about Corcyra is that she had an amour with Poseidon, and a similar legend about Thebe and Zeus is sung by Pindar.
[5.22] The men of Leontini erected a statue to Zeus privately and not publicly. The height of it is 7 cubits, and Zeus has in his hands an eagle and javelin according to the descriptions of the poets. And it was erected by Hippagoras and Phrynon and Ænesidemus, not I think the Ænesidemus who was tyrant at Leontini.
[5.23] And as you pass on to the entrance to the council chamber there is a statue of Zeus without an inscription, (and another as you turn to the North). This is towards the East, and was erected by the Greeks who fought at Platæa against Mardonius and the Medes. On the right of the basement are inscribed the states that took part in the action, the Lacedæmonians first, and next the Athenians, third the Corinthians, fourth the Sicyonians, fifth the Æginetans, then the Megarians and Epidaurians, of the Arcadians the men of Tegea and Orchomenus, and in addition to these the inhabitants of Phlius Trœzen and Hermion, and in Argolis the men of Tiryns, and of the Bœotians only the people of Platæa, and of the Argives the inhabitants of Mycenæ, and the islanders from Ceos and Melos, and the Ambraciotes from Thesprotia, and the Tenii and people of Lepreum, the latter only from Triphylia, but the Tenii not only from the Ægean and the Cyclades but also from Naxos and Cythnus, and the men of Styra from Eubœa, and next to them the people of Elis and Potidæa and Anactorium, and lastly the people of Chalcis near the Euripus. Of these cities the following were unpeopled in my day. Mycenæ and Tiryns were razed to the ground by the Argives after the Persian war. And the Ambraciotes and men of Anactorium, who were colonists from Corinth, were induced by the Roman Emperor Augustus to form the colony of Nicopolis near Actium. And the people of Potidæa were twice ejected from their country, by Philip, the son of Amyntas, and earlier still by the Athenians, and though subsequently they were restored by Cassander, yet the name of their city was changed to Cassandrea in honour of their new founder. And the statue at Olympia, that was a votive offering of the Greeks, was by Anaxagoras the Æginetan, though those who have compiled a history of sculptors have omitted to mention him.
[5.23] There is also in front of this statue of Zeus a brazen pillar, on which are inscribed the conditions of peace for 30 years between the Lacedæmonians and the Athenians, which was made by the Athenians after their second reduction of Eubœa, in the 3rd year of that Olympiad in which Crison of Himera won the prize. And this was one of the conditions specified, that the city of the Argives should have no share in this peace between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, but that privately the Athenians and Argives if they chose might be friendly to one another. This is plainly stated in the conditions. And there is another statue of Zeus near the chariot of Cleosthenes, (about which I shall speak later), the votive offering of the Megarians, and the design of the brothers Phylacus and Onæthus and their sons: I cannot tell their period or country, or from whom they learned their craft. And near the chariot of Gelon there is an old statue of Zeus with a sceptre, the votive offering they say of the people of Hybla. There are two Hyblas in Sicily, one called Gereatis, and the other to this day called Hybla Major. Both are in the neighbourhood of Catana, Hybla Major is quite deserted, but Gereatis is still inhabited, and has a temple to the Hyblæan goddess who is worshipped in Sicily. And I think it was from there that the statue of Zeus came to Olympia. For Philistus the son of Archomenides records that they were the best interpreters of portents and dreams, and the most noted for piety of all the barbarians in Sicily. And near the votive offering of the people of Hybla is a brazen pedestal and a Zeus upon it, eighteen feet high I conjecture. And who offered it to the god, and whose design it is, is stated in the following elegiac lines:
“The people of Cleitor erected this votive offering to the god, with the tithe collected from many cities taken by storm by them. And the artificers were the Laconian brothers Aristo and Telestas.”
[5.23] I do not think these Laconians could have been men well known in Greece, for else the people of Elis would have had something to say about them, and still more the Lacedæmonians as they were their citizens.
[5.24] And near the altar of Zeus Laœtas and Poseidon Laœtas there is a Zeus on a brazen basement, the gift of the Corinthian people, and the design of Musus, whoever Musus was. And as you go from the council chamber to the great temple there is on the left a statue of Zeus, crowned with flowers, and in his right hand a thunderbolt. This was the design of Ascarus a Theban, who was the pupil of the Sicyonian, * * and it was a votive offering of the people of Thessaly. But if the people of Thessaly offered it as a votive offering from spoil taken in a war with the Phocians, it could not be what is called the Sacred War, for that was fought before the Medes and the great king came to Greece. And not far from this is a Zeus, which (as the inscription on it shews) was a votive offering of Psophidius after success in war. And on the right of the temple of great Zeus towards the east is a statue of Zeus 12 feet high, the votive offering it is said of the Lacedæmonians, after they had fought the second time with the Messenians who had revolted. And there is an elegiac couplet inscribed on it.
“Receive Olympian Zeus, Cronus’ great son, this noble statue from the Lacedæmonians with propitious mind.”
[5.24] Of the Romans we know of none, either plebeian or patrician, earlier than Mummius who put up a votive offering in any Greek temple, but he out of the spoils of Achaia erected a brazen Zeus at Olympia. It stands on the left of the votive offering of the Lacedæmonians, on the first pillar of the temple. But the largest of the brazen statues of Zeus is in Altis, and was a votive offering of the people of Elis after the war with the Arcadians, it is 27 feet high. And near the temple of Pelops there is a small statue of Zeus upon a not very lofty pillar, with one of his hands extended. And opposite it are some votive offerings in a row, statues of Zeus and Ganymede. The account of Homer is that Ganymede was carried off by the gods to be cupbearer to Zeus, and that Tros his father had some horses given him for his son. And this was a votive offering of Gnathis the Thessalian, and the work of Aristocles the pupil and son of Cleœtas. And there is another Zeus without a beard, among the votive offerings of Micythus. Who this Micythus was, whence he came, and why he offered these votive offerings at Olympia, will be described by me hereafter. And if you go on a little from the statue I have mentioned, there is straight before you another statue of Zeus without a beard, the votive offering of the Elaitæ, who came down from the plain of Caicus to the sea, and were the first settlers in Æolis. Near this is another statue of Zeus, and the inscription on it is that the people of the Chersonese in Cnidus erected it as a votive offering after a triumph over their enemies. They erected also on one side of Zeus Pelops, and on the other the river Alpheus. And most of the city of the Cnidians is built on the continent of Caria, where they performed most of their most memorable deeds, and the Chersonese is an island lying near the continent, and connected with it by a bridge: and the votive offerings to Olympian Zeus were dedicated by the dwellers there, just as the Ephesians dwelling at Coressus could say that their votive offering was a gift of the Ephesians generally. There is also near the wall of Altis a statue of Zeus facing west without an inscription: but tradition says it was erected by Mummius from the spoils of his war with Achaia. But the statue of Zeus in the Council Chamber is of all the statues of Zeus most calculated to frighten wicked men, his Title is Zeus the God of Oaths, and he has a thunderbolt in each hand. At this statue it is customary for the athletes, their fathers and brothers, and also their trainers, to swear over the entrails of a boar that they will not cheat at the Olympian games. And the athletes make this further oath that they have carefully trained for the space of 10 months. And the umpires also, either of boys or the colts that compete in the races, swear to give their decisions honestly and without bribes, and not to reveal the reasons for their selection of the winners. What they do with the boar afterwards I forgot to ask, but it was the custom among all the more ancient sacrificers, that the victim over whom oaths were taken should not be eaten by anybody: as Homer’s evidence very plainly shews, for the boar on whose entrails Agamemnon swore solemnly that Briseis was a maid as far as he was concerned, was thrown into the sea by the herald. Witness the following lines:
“He spoke, and cut the crackling off the boar
With ruthless knife. And quick Talthybius
Whirled it away into the surging sea,
As food for fishes.”⁸
Such was the ancient use. And before the feet of Zeus the God of Oaths there is a brazen tablet, on which some elegiac lines are inscribed, that are meant to inspire fear in perjurers.
[5.25] Such are the statues of Zeus inside Altis, all of which I have enumerated. For the statue near the great temple offered by a Corinthian, is not an offering of the old Corinthians but of those who rebuilt the city in Cæsar’s time, and is Alexander the son of Philip to imitate Zeus. I shall also enumerate all the other statues which are not representations of Zeus. And the effigies not erected in honour of the deity, but in honour of men, I shall describe in my account of the athletes.
[5.25] The Messenians at the Sicilian Strait, who used to send to Rhegium, according to old custom, a chorus of 35 boys and a choir-master and a piper to the national feast, had on one occasion a terrible disaster, none of those that were sent were saved, but the vessel that had the boys on board perished boys and all in the depths of the sea. For the sea at this strait is a most stormy one: for winds lash it to fury, and two seas meet, the Sicilian and the Tyrrhenian: and even when the winds are calm, there is a tremendous swell in the Strait from the strong ebb and flow. And so many sea-monsters are there, that the air is tainted with their scent, so that the shipwrecked mariner has no chance of getting safe to shore. And if Odysseus had chanced to be wrecked here, one can never believe that he could have swum off safe to Italy. But a kind Providence in every conjuncture brings about some alleviation. And the Messenians sorrowing at the loss of the boys, besides other things to honour their memory, placed at Olympia brazen effigies of them and their choir-master and piper. The old inscription shewed that these effigies were votive offerings of the Messenians at the Sicilian Strait: and subsequently Hippias, who was called by the Greeks the Wise, wrote some elegiac lines on them. The effigies were by Callon of Elis.
[5.25] And there is near the Promontory Pachynus, that faces towards Libya and the South, the town of Motye, peopled by Libyans and Phœnicians. And the people of Agrigentum were at war with the people of Motye, and out of the spoil and booty they took from them erected as votive offerings at Olympia some boys in brass, extending their right hands like people praying to the deity. They are on the wall at Altis. I conjectured they were by Calamis, and tradition states the same. The races that inhabit Sicily are the Sicani and the Siceli and the Phrygians, some of whom crossed over from Italy, and others came from the river Scamander and the Troad. And the Phœnicians and Libyans sailed to the island with a joint fleet, as a colony of the Carthaginians. Such are the barbarous races in Sicily. And of Greeks the Dorians and Ionians dwell in it, and a few Phocians and Athenians.
[5.25] And on the same wall are votive offerings from Agrigentum, two statues of boyish Hercules naked. The Hercules shooting at the Nemean lion is the votive offering of the Tarentine Hippotion, and the design of the Mænalian Nicodamus. The other is the votive offering of the Mendæan Anaxippus, and was brought here by the people of Elis: it used to be at the end of the road leading from Elis to Olympia, called the Sacred Road. There are also statues, from the Achæan race in common, of those who, when Hector challenged a single Greek to single combat, drew lots who it should be. They are near the great temple armed with spears and shields. And right opposite on another basement is Nestor throwing the lots into his helmet. And the number of those that drew lots for the single combat with Hector are 8, for the 9th, which was Odysseus, they say Nero carried to Rome, and of the 8 Agamemnon only has his name inscribed, and it is written from right to left. And the one with the device of a cock on the shield is Idomeneus, the descendant of Minos and Pasiphae the daughter of the Sun. And the cock they say is sacred to the Sun and heralds his approach. The inscription on the basement is,
“To Zeus the Achæans, descendants of the divine Pelops the son of Tantalus, erected these votive offerings.”
[5.25] And the name of the artificer is inscribed on the shield of Idomeneus,
“This and many besides are the work of the skilful Onatas, the son of Micon of Ægina.”
[5.25] And not far from the votive offering of the Achæans is Hercules fighting with an Amazon on horseback for her belt. This is the votive offering of Evagoras of Zancle, and the design of Aristocles of Cydonia. Aristocles may be reckoned amongst the very ancient sculptors, for though one cannot state his period exactly, it is manifest that he lived before the change from the old name Zancle to its present one of Messene.
[5.25] The Thasians also (who were Phœnicians originally, and sailed from Tyre and other parts of Phœnice to Europe with Thasus the son of Agenor), made a votive offering of Hercules at Olympia, the base as well as the statue of brass. The height of the statue is 10 cubits, in the right hand he holds his club, and in the left his bow. And I heard in Thasos that they worshipped the same Hercules as the Tyrians worship, but afterwards, when they became naturalized as Greeks, they worshipped Hercules the son of Amphitryon. And the votive offering of the Thasians at Olympia has the following elegiac couplet attached to it,
“Onatas the son of Micon made me, a dweller at Ægina.”
This Æginetan Onatas we should regard in the statuary art as second to none since Dædalus and the Attic school.
[5.26] The Dorian Messenians also, who received Naupactus from the Athenians, erected at Olympia a Victory on a pillar, the design of the Mendæan Pæonius, and made from spoils taken from the enemy, I imagine, when they fought with the Acarnanians and Œniadæ. But the Messenians themselves say that this Victory was erected for their share with the Athenians in the action at Sphacteria, and that they did not insert the name of the enemy from fear of the Lacedæmonians, and they could have had no fear of the Œniadæ and Acarnanians.
[5.26] I found also many votive offerings of Micythus scattered about, and three of them together, next to the statue of Iphitus of Elis and Truce crowning him, viz. Amphitrite and Poseidon and Vesta, by the Argive Glaucus. And near the left side of the great temple he placed Proserpine the daughter of Demeter, and Aphrodite, and Ganymede, and Artemis, and of the poets Homer and Hesiod, and of the gods again Æsculapius and Hygiea. And among the votive offerings of Micythus is Agon with the dumb bells. These dumb bells are fashioned as follows. They are semicircular in shape though not a perfect semi-circle, and are so constructed that the fingers can pass through, as they do through the handles of a shield. And next the statue of Agon is Dionysus, and the Thracian Orpheus, and the statue of Zeus which I mentioned a little above. These are works of art of the Argive Dionysius. Others besides they say were given by Micythus, but were removed by Nero. And the Argives Dionysius and Glaucus had no master in their craft that we know of, but the period when they flourished is shewn by the fact that Micythus placed their works of art at Olympia. For Herodotus informs us in his history that this Micythus was the slave of Anaxilas the king at Rhegium, and was afterwards his treasurer, and after his death went to Tegea. And the inscriptions on these votive offerings make Micythus the son of Chœrus, and the Greek colony of Rhegium, or Messene near the Strait, his native place. But they do not mention his ever living at Tegea, and these votive offerings at Olympia were the fulfilment of a vow for the recovery of his son, who was wasting away in a consumption.
[5.26] And near the larger votive offerings of Micythus, the work of the Argive Glaucus, is a statue of Athene with a helmet on her head and her Ægis. This was made by Nicodamus the Mænalian, and is a votive offering of the people of Elis. And next to Athene is a statue of Victory, an offering of the Mantineans, for what war is not specified in the inscription. And it is said to be an imitation by Calamis of the wooden statue at Athens of Wingless Victory. And near the smaller votive offerings of Micythus made by Dionysius are the Labours of Hercules with the Nemean lion, and the hydra, and Cerberus, and the Erymanthian boar. They were brought to Olympia by the men of Heraclea, who overran the territory of the neighbouring barbarians the Mariandyni. Heraclea is a town near the Euxine, and was colonized by the Megarians. The Bœotians of Tanagra also had a share in the colony.
[5.27] And opposite those I have mentioned are other votive offerings in a row, facing the South, and very near the enclosure sacred to Pelops. Among them are the votive offerings of Mænalian Phormis, who crossed over from Mænalus to Sicily to Gelon the son of Dinomenes, and in the army of Gelon, and afterwards in the army of Gelon’s brother Hiero, displayed great valour, and advanced to such a pitch of fortune that he offered these votive offerings at Olympia, and also some others to Apollo at Delphi. His offerings at Olympia are two horses and two charioteers, a charioteer by each horse. The first horse and groom is by Dionysius the Argive, the second by the Æginetan Simo. And the first has the following inscription on the side, the first line not in metre,
“Phormis the Arcadian from Mænalus, now a Syracusan, offered me.”
[5.27] This is the horse about which the people of Elis have a tradition on the power of lust in horses. It is evident that several remarkable properties of this horse come from the cunning of a magician. In size and beauty it is inferior to many to be seen in Altis: it has also the tail knocked off, which makes it more unsightly still. Nevertheless stallions not only in spring but all the year round are madly in lust after it. For they rush into Altis, breaking their reins or escaping from their drivers, and endeavour to mount this horse, with far greater impetuosity than they exhibit to the handsomest mare alive whom they had been accustomed to mount. And though their hoofs slip on the polished basement they do not cease to neigh fiercely, and try to mount this horse with frantic energy, till by whips or sheer strength they get pulled off. There is no other way of getting them away from this brazen horse.⁹ I have seen in Lydia a different kind of marvel to this horse of Phormis, but equally the cunning work of a magician. Among the Lydians called Persici there are temples at Hierocæsarea and Hypæpa, and in each of these temples there is a chamber in which are ashes on an altar, not like other ashes in appearance. And a magician enters into this chamber, and, after placing dry wood upon the altar, first of all places a tiara on his head, and then calls on the gods in a foreign tongue not understood by the Greeks. And this he chants from a book, and the wood gets lighted evidently without fire and a bright blaze shines forth from it. Let this digression suffice.
[5.27] And among these votive offerings is Phormis himself contending with an enemy, and fighting with a second and even a third. And there is an inscription stating that the soldier fighting is Mænalian Phormis, and that it is a votive offering of the Syracusan Lycortas, who plainly offered it out of affection to Phormis. The Greeks however call these votive offerings of Lycortas the votive offerings of Phormis. And the Hermes with a ram under his arm, and a helmet on his head, and a tunic and cloak on, is not one of the votive offerings of Phormis, but was offered to the god by the Arcadians of Pheneos. And the inscription states that Onatas the Æginetan jointly designed it with Calliteles, who must I think have been the pupil or son of Onatas. And not far from the votive offering of the people of Pheneos is another statue of Hermes with his herald’s wand, and the inscription on it states that it was the votive offering of Glaucias of Rhegium, and the work of Callon of Elis. And there are two brazen bulls, one the votive offering of the people of Corcyra, the other of the Eretrienses, both by Philesius of Eretria. Why the Corcyræans offered one bull at Olympia and another at Delphi, I shall relate in my account of the Phocians. And about the votive offering at Olympia I have heard the following circumstance. A little boy sitting down under this bull had stooped down and was playing, and suddenly lifting up his head dashed it against the brass, and not many days afterwards died from the blow. The people of Elis wanted to remove the bull from Altis as being blood guilty, but the god at Delphi ordered the same expiatory sacrifices for the bull as the Greeks ordain for involuntary homicide.
[5.27] There is under the plane-trees at Altis in the middle of the grove a brazen trophy, and an inscription on the shield of the trophy, stating that the people of Elis offered it out of spoils of the Lacedæmonians. This was the battle in which the man lost his life who was found in his armour in my day, when the roof of the temple of Hera was being repaired. The votive offering of the Mendæans in Thrace very nearly deceived me to think that it was the effigy of a competitor for the pentathlum. It is near Anauchidas of Elis, and has ancient dumb-bells. And the following elegiac couplet is written on the thigh,
“To Zeus, the king of the Gods, the Mendæans put me here as firstfruits, after taking Sipte by storm.”
[5.27] It seems that Sipte is a Thracian fort and city, and the Mendæans are a Greek race from Ionia, and live a little inland from the sea, at the town of Ænus.

## Book VI — Elis II

[6.1] Next to my account of the votive offerings comes naturally mention of the horses that contended, and of the athletes, and of amateurs also. There are not statues of all the conquerors at Olympia, for even some who displayed great prowess in the contests, or elsewhere, have yet not obtained statues. These my subject bids me to pass over, for it is not a catalogue of all the athletes that were victors at Olympia, but an account of the statues and other votive offerings. Neither shall I mention all the statues, as I well know some who won the crown of wild olive from unexpected good fortune rather than their own exertions. I shall therefore merely mention those who had more renown or finer statues than others.
[6.1] On the right of the temple of Hera is a statue of the wrestler Symmachus, the son of Æschylus, a native of Elis. And near him, from Pheneos in Arcadia, is Neolaidas the son of Proxenus, who carried off the prize for boxing among the boys, and next Archedamus the son of Xenius, also a native of Elis, who beat all the boys in wrestling. These statues were made by Alypus the Sicyonian, the pupil of Naucydes the Argive. And the inscription on the statue of Cleogenes, the son of Silenus, says that he was of the district, he won the prize with a fast horse from his own stud. And next Cleogenes are Dinolochus, the son of Pyrrhus, and Troilus, the son of Alcinous. They too were natives of Elis, but their victories were not won in the same manner, for Troilus owed his victory to his perfect pair of horses and team of colts: partly also to his being umpire: and he was victor in the 102nd Olympiad. And from thenceforth there was a law among the people of Elis that the umpires’ horses should not be admitted to the races. His statue was by Lysippus. But the mother of Dinolochus dreamed that she embraced her son after being crowned, and moved by this dream he trained, and outran the other lads: and his statue is by Cleon of Sicyon. As to Cynisca the wife of Archidamus, I have spoken previously of her family and victories at Olympia, in my account of the kings of the Lacedæmonians. And near the statue of Troilus is a basement of stone, and a chariot and charioteer, and the effigy of Cynisca herself, by Apelles. There are inscriptions also in reference to her. And next her are some Lacedæmonians, who were victors in the horse-races. Anaxander was the first victor proclaimed in the chariot-race. And the inscription over him states that his grandfather was crowned earlier in the pentathlum. He is represented as praying to the god. And Polycles, surnamed Polychalcus, was victor in the chariot-race with 4 horses abreast, and his effigy has in its right hand a riband. And by him are two boys, one holding the wheel, the other asking for the riband. And Polycles was victor with his horses, as the inscription over him states, in the Pythian Isthmian and Nemean games.
[6.2] And the statue of the pancratiast next is by Lysippus. He carried off the victory as pancratiast from the rest of the Acarnanians, and was the first of his own countrymen. Xenarches was his name and he was the son of Philandridas. And the Lacedæmonians, after the invasion of the Medes, turned their attention more than any other Greeks to breeding horses. For besides those that I have already mentioned, there are statues of several other Spartan horse-breeders, next to the effigy of the Acarnanian athlete, as Xenarches, and Lycinus, and Arcesilaus, and Lichas his son. Xenarches also had further victories at Delphi and Argos and Corinth. And Lycinus brought colts to Olympia, and as one of them was rejected, he used his colts in the race of full-grown horses and won the prize. And he set up two statues at Olympia, by the Athenian Myro. And Arcesilaus and his son Lichas had two victories at Olympia, and Lichas, as the Lacedæmonians were at that time excluded from the games, entered himself for the chariot-race as a Theban, and bound the victorious charioteer with a riband. For this the Umpires scourged him. And it was on account of this Lichas that the Lacedæmonians under Agis invaded Elis, when the fight took place at Altis. And at the end of the war Lichas erected his statue here, but the records of the people of Elis about the victors at Olympia say that the Theban people, not Lichas, won the victory.
[6.2] And near Lichas is the seer of Elis, Thrasybulus, the son of Æneas of the family of the Iamidæ, who practised divination for the Mantineans against the Lacedæmonians under Agis the son of King Eudamidas, I shall enter into the circumstances more fully in my account about the Arcadians. And on the effigy of Thrasybulus there is a spotted lizard creeping on his right shoulder, and a dog lies near him cut in half as a victim and shewing its liver. Divination by kids and lambs and calves is clearly an old practice among mankind, the Cyprians seem also to have added divination by swine. But no nations are accustomed to practise divination by dogs. Therefore it was apparently a peculiarity of Thrasybulus to introduce this kind of divination. And the seers called the Iamidæ were descendants of Iamus, who, as Pindar tells us in one of his Odes, was the son of Apollo, and learnt his divination from him.
[6.2] And close to the effigy of Thrasybulus is one of Timosthenes, a native of Elis, who won the prize for boys in the course, and one of the Milesian Antipater, the son of Clinopater, who beat all the boys in boxing. And some Syracusans, who offered sacrifices at Olympia on behalf of Dionysius, bribed the father of Antipater to let his son be declared a Syracusan. But Antipater, despising the tyrant’s bribe, declared himself a Milesian, and inscribed on his effigy that he was a Milesian, and the first Ionian that had had his effigy at Olympia. It was by Polycletus, and Timosthenes’ was by Eutychides of Sicyon, a pupil of Lysippus. This Eutychides made a statue of Fortune for the Syrians by the Orontes, which is greatly honoured by the people of that district.
[6.2] And in Altis near the effigy of Timosthenes are statues of Timon and his son Æsypus, the lad on horseback. For he won the prize on his racer, while Timon was proclaimed victor in the chariot race. These statues were made by Dædalus of Sicyon, who also erected a trophy for the people of Elis, after their victory over the Laconians at Altis. And the inscription over the Samian boxer states that Myco was his trainer, and that the Samians are the best of the Ionians both as athletes and naval heroes, but gives no information about the particular boxer.
[6.2] And next is the statue of the Messenian Damiscus, who was victor at Olympia when he was only 12. It is a very remarkable coincidence, that, when the Messenians were exiles from the Peloponnese, their luck at Olympia also failed. For except Leontiscus and Symmachus, who were Sicilian Messenians from the Strait, no Messenian either from Sicily or Naupactus was victor at Olympia, and the Sicilians say they were not Messenians but old inhabitants of Zancle. However when the Messenians returned to the Peloponnese, their luck also at Olympia returned. For in the year after the restoration to Messene, when the people of Elis celebrated the Olympian games, this Damiscus won the prize from all the boys in the course, and afterwards won victories both at Nemea and at the Isthmus in the pentathlum.
[6.3] Next to Damiscus is the statue of a man whose name is not recorded, the votive offering of Ptolemy the son of Lagus. Ptolemy calls himself a Macedonian in the inscription, though he was king of Egypt. There is an inscription also over Chæreas of Sicyon a boy-boxer, stating that his father was Chæremon, and that though young he was victor. The inscription also states that the statue was by Asterion, the son of Æschylus. And next to Chæreas there are statues of the Messenian boy Sophius, and of Stomius a man of Elis, Sophius outran all the boys, and Stomius won one victory in the pentathlum at Olympia, and three at Nemea. And the inscription on Stomius records further that as leader of the cavalry of the people of Elis he won a victory, and killed the commander of the enemy, who had challenged him to single combat. And the people of Elis say that he came from Sicyon and was ruler of the Sicyonians, and that they themselves went on an expedition against Sicyon in friendship to the Thebans together with a force from Bœotia. It would appear therefore that an expedition against Sicyon must have set out from Elis and Thebes after the reverse of the Lacedæmonians at Leuctra.
[6.3] Next is the statue of the boxer Labax, the son of Euphron, who was a native of Lepreus in Elis, and also one of the wrestlers from Elis, Aristodemus the son of Thrasis, who had two victories in the Pythian games. And the effigy of Aristodemus is by Dædalus the Sicyonian, who was the pupil and son of Patrocles. And the statue of Hippos of Elis, who beat all the boys in boxing, was by Democritus of Sicyon, who learnt his art from the Athenian Critias through 4 intermediate teachers. For Critias was the tutor of the Corcyræan Ptolichus, and Amphion was the pupil of Ptolichus, and Piso of Calauria was the pupil of Amphion, and Democritus was the pupil of Piso. And Cratinus from Ægira in Achaia was the most handsome of all his contemporaries, and the greatest wrestler. And as none of the boys could stand before him in wrestling he was appointed by the people of Elis as teacher of the boys. And his statue was by the Sicyonian Cantharus, whose father was Alexis, and teacher Eutychides.
[6.3] And the effigy of Eupolemus of Elis was by the Sicyonian Dædalus, and the inscription informs us about him that he was victor at Olympia over men in the course, he also won two crowns at the Pythian games in the pentathlum, and one crown at the Nemean games. It is further recorded about Eupolemus that of the three umpires in the race two adjudged the prize to him, and the third to the Ambraciote Leo, and that Leo at the Council of Olympia subsequently got indemnity from both the umpires who had adjudged the prize to Eupolemus.
[6.3] And the statue of Œbotas was set up by the Achæans in the 80th Olympiad in accordance with the oracle at Delphi. He had been victor in the course in the sixth Olympiad. How then could he have fought with the Greeks at Platæa? For it was not till the 75th Olympiad that Mardonius and the Medes met with the reverse at Platæa. I am bound to record the traditions of the Greeks, but I need not believe all of them. All else that happened to Œbotas shall be told in my account of Achaia.
[6.3] And the statue of Antiochus was made by Nicodemus. Antiochus was a native of Lepreus, and won the prize at Olympia for the pentathlum for men once, and twice in the Pythian games, twice also at Nemea. For the Isthmians were not frightened by the people of Lepreus as they were by the people of Elis, for Hysmon of Elis, whose statue is next to Antiochus, being an athlete, and having won the prize for the pentathlum once at Olympia and once at Nemea, was plainly prevented, like all other people of Elis, from trying his fortune at the Isthmian games. It is also recorded of Hysmon that when he was a boy he had a discharge, and that was why he trained for the pentathlum, that he might become stronger in constitution, and free from disease. And this training was destined to get for him many notable victories. His statue is by Cleon, and he has in his hands some old-fashioned dumb bells. And next to Hysmon is the statue of a wrestling boy from Heræa in Arcadia, Nicostratus the son of Xenoclidas. It is by Pantias, who by six intermediate links was a pupil of Aristocles the Sicyonian.
[6.3] And Dicon the son of Callibrotus won five races in the Pythian games, and three in the Isthmian, and four at Nemea, and at Olympia one for boys, two for men. And he has as many statues as he won victories at Olympia. He was a native of Caulonia, and so proclaimed as a boy, though afterwards for money he proclaimed himself a Syracusan. Now Caulonia is a colony of Achæans in Italy, its founder was Typhon of Ægium. And when Pyrrhus the son of Æacus and the Tarentines were at war with the Romans, and several cities in Italy were destroyed, some by the Romans, some by the people of Epirus, Caulonia was laid waste, after being captured by the Campanians, who were the chief allies of the Romans.
[6.3] Next to Dicon is a statue of Xenophon, the son of Menephylus, the pancratiast from Ægium in Achaia, also one of Pyrilampes the Ephesian, who obtained the victory in the long course. Xenophon’s statue is by Olympus, Pyrilampes’ by a sculptor of the same name, not a Sicyonian, but from Messene near Ithome.

The Samians also erected a statue at Olympia to the Spartan Lysander the son of Aristocritus. And the first of the inscriptions is,
“In the conspicuous precincts of almighty Zeus I stand, the votive offering of all the Samians.”

This informs us who erected the statue. And the second inscription is a panegyric on Lysander,
“Immortal fame, Lysander, on your country and Aristocritus did you confer by your splendid merit.”
[6.3] Manifest is it therefore that the Samians and other Ionians, according to the Ionian proverb, whitewashed two walls.¹⁰ For when Alcibiades had a strong Athenian fleet in the neighbourhood of Ionia, most of the Ionians paid their court to him, and there is a brazen bust of Alcibiades in the temple of Hera among the Samians. But when the Athenian fleet was taken at Ægos-potamoi, then the Samians erected this statue of Lysander at Olympia, and the Ephesians placed in the temple of Artemis statues of Lysander himself, and Eteonicus, and Pharax, and other Spartans of no great renown in Greece. And when fortune veered round again, and Conon won the sea-fight off Cnidus and Mount Dorium, then the Ionians changed sides again, and you may see a brazen statue of Conon and Timotheus at Samos in the temple of Hera, and likewise at Ephesus in the temple of Artemis. This has been the case in all ages, for all men, like these Ionians, pay court to the strongest.
[6.4] And next to Lysander is the effigy of an Ephesian boxer, whose name was Athenæus, and who beat all the boys that contended with him, and next him is the Sicyonian pancratiast Sostratus, whose surname was Acrochersites, because he laid hold of his adversary’s fingers and tried to break them, and would not let go till he saw that he was going to give in. And he had 12 victories at Nemea and Isthmus both together, and in the Pythian games two, at Olympia three. The 104th Olympiad, in which this Sostratus was victor for the first time, the people of Elis do not record, because the games in that Olympiad were not instituted by them but by the Pisæans and Arcadians. And next to Sostratus is the wrestler Leontiscus, a Sicilian from Messene by the Strait. And he is said to have been crowned by the Amphictyonians, and twice by the people of Elis, and his wrestling is said to have been somewhat similar to that of Sostratus of Sicyon in the pancratium, for he was not an adept at wrestling his antagonists down, but he used to beat them by trying to break their fingers. And his statue was by Pythagoras of Rhegium, an excellent sculptor if ever there was one. And he learnt his art they say from Clearchus who was also a native of Rhegium, and a pupil of Euchirus. This Euchirus was a Corinthian, and pupil of Syadra and Charta, who were both Spartans.
[6.4] And the boy with a fillet on his head must not be omitted by me, on Phidias’ account and his fame as a statuary, for otherwise we don’t know who it is a statue of. And there is a statue of Satyrus of Elis, the son of Lysianax, of the family of the Iamidæ, who five times won the prize for boxing at Nemea, and twice at Olympia, and twice at the Pythian games. This statue is by the Athenian Silanion. And another Athenian statuary Polycles, the pupil of the Athenian Stadieus, has made a statue of the Ephesian pancratiast, Amyntas the son of Hellanicus.
[6.4] And Chilon the Achæan of Patræ had two victories at Olympia in wrestling among men, and one at Delphi, and 4 at Isthmus, and 3 at Nemea. And he had a public funeral from the Achæans, as he was killed in war. The inscription at Olympia bears me out.
“I won the prize from men in wrestling twice in the Pythian and Olympian games, three times at Nemea, four times at the Isthmus near the sea, I Chilon of Patræ the son of Chilon, whom the Achæans gave a public funeral to for his valour as he was killed in war.”
[6.4] Such is what the inscription records. And if one conjectures from the age of Lysippus, who made the effigy, one must infer that the war in which Chilon fell was either at Chæronea when he fought in company with all the Achæans, or that he alone boldly volunteered to fight at Lamia in Thessaly against Antipater and the Macedonians.
[6.4] And next to that of Chilon are two statues: one of Molpion, who the inscription states was crowned by the people of Elis, and the other, which has no inscription, is they say Aristotle of Stagira in Thrace, and it was erected to him by some pupil or soldier, as he was greatly honoured by Antipater and earlier still by Alexander. And Sodamas from Assus in the Troas, near Mount Ida, was the first Æolian that won the prize for boys in the course at Olympia. And next to Sodamas is a statue of Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, king of the Lacedæmonians. Before the reign of this Archidamus I cannot find that the Lacedæmonians erected a statue of anyone beyond their own borders. But they sent I think a statue of Archidamus to Olympia, not only on other accounts but also because of his death, for he died fighting against the barbarians, and was the only one of the Spartan kings that lacked sepulture. I have narrated the particulars at full length in my account of Sparta. And Euanthes of Cyzicus had prizes for boxing, one at Olympia as a man, and at Nemea and the Isthmian games as a boy. And next to Euanthes is a horse-trainer and a chariot, and a girl mounting the chariot. The man’s name is Lampus, and his native town was the most recent of the Macedonian towns, and got its name from its founder Philip the son of Amyntas. And the effigy of Cyniscus, the boy boxer from Mantinea, was by Polycletus. And Ergoteles the son of Philanor, who carried off two victories at Olympia in the long course, and as many at the Pythian Isthmian and Nemean games, was not originally a native of Himera, as the inscription states, but is said to have been a Cretan from Gnossus: and being banished from thence in some faction he went to Himera, and obtained citizenship there, and had other honours. This is the probable explanation of his being proclaimed in the games as a native of Himera.
[6.5] The statue which stands on a lofty pedestal is by Lysippus. It is the statue of Polydamas, the son of Nicias, the largest man of our times. There may have been larger men, but only the heroes or some mortal race of giants earlier than the heroes. Scotusa, which was the native place of Polydamas, is not inhabited in our day, for Alexander the king of the Pheræans took it in time of peace, for when the people of Scotusa were all gathered together in the theatre, for they held their meetings there at that period, he surrounded it with targeteers and archers and shot them all, and slew all besides that were in their prime, and sold the women and children, and with the proceeds kept up a mercenary army. This disaster happened to the people of Scotusa when Phrasiclides was Archon at Athens, in the 102nd Olympiad, in the second year of which Damon of Thuria was victor for the second time. And those that escaped of the people of Scotusa were few, and even they were reduced still further and left the town, when Providence brought a second reverse upon all the Greeks in the war with the Macedonians. In the pancratium several had notable victories, but Polydamas beside his crowns for the pancratium had further renown for the following remarkable exploits. The mountainous part of Thrace, inside the river Nestus that flows through the territory of the people of Abdera, rears several wild beasts and among them lions, who on one occasion attacked the army of Xerxes, and made havoc of the camels that carried the corn. These lions also frequently prowled about the country in the neighbourhood of Mount Olympus, one side of which mountain faces Macedonia, another Thessaly and the river Peneus. Polydamas unarmed slew a large and stout lion on Mount Olympus: moved to this exploit from a desire to emulate the actions of Hercules, who as the tradition goes vanquished the Nemean lion. Another memorable feat of Polydamas is on record. He approached a herd of cattle, and seized the strongest and wildest bull by one of its hind feet, and held on fast by its hoofs, and would not let it go though it kicked and struggled, till at last the bull exerting all its strength got away from him, and left its hoofs in his hands. It is also recorded of him that he stopped a chariot which the driver was urging on at full speed, by laying hold of it behind with one hand, and thus stopped both horses and charioteer. And Darius, the illegitimate son of Artaxerxes, (who with the help of the Persian commonalty had deposed Sogdius, Artaxerxes’ legitimate son, and usurped his kingdom), when he became king sent messengers, for he had heard of the exploits of Polydamas, and by promising rewards attracted him to his court at Susa. And there he slew in single combat three of the Persians called Immortals who had challenged him. And some of the exploits which I have mentioned are recorded on the base of his statue at Olympia, others in the inscription. But eventually the prophetic utterance of Homer about trusting too much in one’s strength proved true of Polydamas, for he too was destined to perish through too great confidence in his strength.¹¹ On one occasion with several boon companions he entered a cave in summer time, and somehow or other by some malign fortune the top of the cave cracked, and was evidently going to fall in in no long time. And when they perceived the impending disaster all his companions fled, but Polydamas determined to remain, and stretched out his hands in the intention of holding up this mass of rock and not being buried under it, but he was crushed to death.
[6.6] And next to the statue of Polydamas are two Arcadian athletes, and one Athenian one. The first is the Mantinean Protolaus, the son of Dialces, who beat all the boys in boxing, by Pythagoras of Rhegium, the second is Narycidas, the son of Damaretus, a wrestler from Phigalia, by the Sicyonian Dædalus, and the third is Callias, the Athenian pancratiast, by the Athenian painter Micon. And there is a statue, by Nicodamus of Mænalus, of the pancratiast from Mænalus, Androsthenes the son of Lochæus, who carried off two victories from men. And next to these is the statue of Eucles the son of Callianax, a Rhodian by birth and of the family of the Diagoridæ, (for Diagoras was his maternal grandfather), who won the prize for boxing among men at Olympia. His statue is by Naucydes. And Polycletus the Argive, a pupil of Naucydes, (not the Polycletus who made the statue of Hera), has made the statue of a boy-wrestler, the Theban Agenor. It was made at the expense of the Phocians, to whom Theopompus the father of Agenor had been friendly. And Nicodamus, the statuary from Mænalus, made a statue of Damoxenidas, the man-boxer from Mænalus. There is also an effigy of Lastratidas the boy of Elis, who won the crown for wrestling, and also a victory at Nemea among boys and beardless youths. And Paraballon the father of Lastratidas won the prize in the double course, and excited the emulation of posterity, by writing up the names of the victors at Olympia in the gymnasium at Olympia.
[6.6] So far for these last mentioned: but I must not omit Euthymus the boxer, or his victories and other feats. He was an Italian from Locri near the promontory of Zephyrium, and his father’s name was Astycles. But the natives of that country say that he was not the son of Astycles but of the River Cæcinus, which is the boundary between the districts of Locri and Rhegium, and has a peculiarity in respect to grasshoppers. For the grasshoppers in Locri up to the river Cæcinus sing just as other grasshoppers, but after you cross the Cæcinus they cease to sing in the district of Rhegium. Euthymus then is said to be the son of this River, and he won a boxing prize at Olympia in the 74th Olympiad, but was not equally successful in the following Olympiad. For Theagenes from Thasos, wishing to win in the same Olympiad prizes both for boxing and the pancratium, outboxed Euthymus. Theagenes however could not receive the wild olive crown for the pancratium, as in the contest with Euthymus he was exhausted first. Moreover the umpires fined Theagenes a talent as a fine to the god, and a talent for the injury done to Euthymus, for they thought he insulted him in the boxing-match, therefore they ordered him also to pay privately money to Euthymus. And in the 76th Olympiad Theagenes paid his fine to the god, and in his vexation would not again contend as a boxer: but Euthymus received the crown for boxing both in that and the next Olympiad. And his statue is by Pythagoras and is especially fine. And on his return to Italy he fought against a Hero. The particulars are as follows. When Odysseus was on his travels after the capture of Ilium they say he was driven by the winds to several towns in Italy and Sicily, and among others to Temesa; there they say one of his sailors in drink violated a maiden, and for this outrage was stoned to death by the inhabitants. Thereupon Odysseus not troubling himself about his death sailed off, but the ghost of the man that had been stoned relentlessly continued to slay indiscriminately the people of Temesa, pursuing all ages alike, till the Pythian Priestess, when they intended to make a wholesale flitting from Italy, forbade them to leave Temesa, and bade them propitiate the Hero, by building him a temple in a grove set apart for that purpose, and annually giving him as wife the handsomest girl in Temesa. As they obeyed the orders of the oracle they had no further trouble with the ghost. But Euthymus happened to arrive at Temesa at the time when this annual offering to the ghost was being made, and inquired into the matter, and had a strong desire to enter the temple and behold the maiden. And when he saw her, he was first moved with pity and then with love. And she swore that she would marry him if he saved her, and Euthymus armed himself and awaited the approach of the ghost. In the fight that ensued he was victor, and the Hero left the country, dived into the sea and was never seen again, and the men of that region had henceforth no more trouble from him, and the marriage of Euthymus was celebrated with much pomp. I have also heard that Euthymus lived to advanced old age, and did not die, but left mankind some other way. I have also heard that Temesa is inhabited still, my informant was a merchant that sails in those parts. I also have seen a painting, which is an imitation of an older painting. In it is the young man Sybaris, and the river Calabrus, and the well Lyca, and a hero-chapel, and the town of Temesa. There too is the ghost whom Euthymus expelled, dreadfully swarthy and most formidable in all his appearance, and dressed in a wolfskin. And the letters in the painting give his name, Lycas.
[6.7] So much for this legend. And next to the statue of Euthymus is that of Pytharchus of Mantinea, a runner in the course, and Charmides a boxer of Elis, both of whom received prizes as boys. And when you have seen these you will come to the statues of the Rhodian athletes, Diagoras and his family. They are all together in the following order, Acusilaus with the prize for boxing among men, and Dorieus, the youngest, who won three prizes in succession at Olympia in the pancratium. Before Dorieus Damagetus, who comes next, had won the prize against all comers in the pancratium. Next to his 3 sons comes the statue of Diagoras, who won a victory among men in boxing. And the statue of Diagoras is by the Megarian Callicles, the son of that Theocosmus who made the statue of Zeus at Megara. The sons also of Diagoras’ daughters practised as boxers and won prizes at Olympia, among the men Eucles the son of Callianax and Callipatira (the daughter of Diagoras), and among the boys Pisirodus, whose mother dressed him up like a man and brought him to the Olympian games, herself disguised as a trainer. This Pisirodus also has a statue in Altis near his maternal grandfather. Diagoras they say also came to Olympia with his sons Acusilaus and Damagetus. And the young men being victorious at the festival bore their father on their shoulders, who was pelted by the Greeks with flowers and congratulated on his sons. On the female side Diagoras was a Messenian by extraction, as he was descended from the daughter of Aristomenes. And Dorieus the son of Diagoras, besides his victories at Olympia, had 8 victories in the Isthmian games, and seven in the Nemean. It is said that he also won in the Pythian games without a contest. And he and Pisirodus were entered in the games as Thurians, because they were driven from Rhodes by faction and migrated to Thurii. But Dorieus returned to Rhodes subsequently. And of all men he manifestly was most devoted to the Lacedæmonian interests, for he fought against the Athenians with a fleet he had himself equipped, till he was captured by the Athenian triremes and taken prisoner to Athens. And the Athenians before Dorieus was brought before them were very angry against him and used threats, but when they came to the popular Assembly and saw there so great and renowned a man a captive, their intention about him changed and they let him go, and did no harm to him, while they might have done so with justice. The circumstances of the death of Dorieus are told by Androtion in his history of Attica, viz. that the fleet of the great king was at Caunus and Conon was the Admiral, and the people of Rhodes were persuaded by Conon to revolt from the Lacedæmonians, and join the alliance of the Athenians and the great king, and that Dorieus was at the time absent from Rhodes in the interior of the Peloponnese, and was arrested by the Lacedæmonians and taken to Sparta, and condemned by the Lacedæmonians for treason and put to death. And if Androtion’s account be correct, he seems to be desirous of proving the Lacedæmonians as rash as the Athenians, for the Athenians are charged with acting rashly with respect to Thrasyllus and those who fought under him at Arginusæ. To such a pitch of glory then did Diagoras and his posterity attain.
[6.7] Alcænetus, the son of Theantus of Lepreus, and his sons also had victories at Olympia. Alcænetus himself won prizes for boxing among the men as previously among the boys. And Hellanicus and Theantus, the sons of Alcænetus, were proclaimed winners in the boxing match for boys, Hellanicus in the 89th Olympiad, and Theantus in the following Olympiad. All three have statues at Olympia. And next to the sons of Alcænetus are statues of Gnatho, the Dipæan from the country about Mænalus, and Lycinus of Elis: who also had prizes for boxing among the boys at Olympia. That Gnatho, when he conquered, was exceptionally young is stated in the inscription, his statue is by Callicles the Megarian. And Dromeus from Stymphelus was as his name indicates a runner in the long course, and had two victories at Olympia, two at the Pythian games, three at the Isthmus, and five at Nemea. It is said also that he introduced eating flesh during training: for athletes in training before him used to eat only a particular kind of cheese. His statue is by Pythagoras, and the next to it is that of Pythocles of Elis, who won in the pentathlum, by Polycletus.
[6.8] Who made the statue of Socrates of Pellene, who won the race for boys, is not recorded, but the statue of Amertus of Elis, who defeated in wrestling all the men that came to the Pythian games, was by Phradmon the Argive. And Euanoridas of Elis won victories in wrestling among the boys both at Olympia and at Nemea: and he became an Umpire and made a list of the victors at Olympia.
[6.8] As to the boxer Damarchus, a Parrhasian from Arcadia, I cannot credit, except the victory at Olympia, all the fictions about him made by boastful people, such as that he changed from a man into a wolf at the sacrifice of Zeus Lycæus, and that 10 years afterwards he changed into a man again. Not that this is the tradition apparently of the Arcadians about him. Else it would have been inserted in their inscription at Olympia, which runs as follows.
“Damarchus the son of Dinnytas erected this statue, a Parrhasian from Arcadia.”
[6.8] This is all the inscription. But Eubotas of Cyrene, as he had learnt beforehand from the oracle at Libya that he would gain the prize in the race at Olympia, had his statue made first, and on the same day was proclaimed victor and set up his statue. It is said also that he won the chariot race in that Olympiad which the people of Elis do not reckon because the Arcadians instituted the games.
[6.8] And the statue of Timanthes of Cleonæ, who won the prize for men in the pancratium, is by the Athenian Myro, and that of Baucis of Trœzen, who beat all the men in wrestling, is by Naucydes. The following was they say the end of Timanthes. When he ceased to be an athlete he continued none the less to make trial of his strength, every day bending a huge bow: and he went away from home for a time, and during that period the use of the bow was suspended: and when on his return he found himself no longer strong enough to bend his bow, he lighted his funeral pyre and put himself alive on it. All actions of this kind whether in the past or in the future seem to me rather madness than bravery.
[6.8] And next to Baucis are some statues of Arcadian athletes, as Euthymenes of Mænalus, who won prizes among men for wrestling and still earlier among boys, and Philip the son of Azan from Pellene, who beat all the boys in boxing, and Critodamus from Clitor, who was himself also proclaimed victor in the boys’ boxing match. That of Euthymenes was by Alypus, that of Critodamus by Cleon, and that of Philip the son of Azan by Myro. As to Promachus the pancratiast, the son of Dryon of Pellene, I shall state more about him in my account of Achaia. And not far from Promachus is the statue of Timasitheus of Delphi, (by Ageladas the Argive), who won two victories in the pancratium at Olympia, and three in the Pythian games. He also exhibited brilliant bravery in war, and had constant good fortune till then. For his valour on that occasion cost him his life. For when Isagoras the Athenian occupied the Acropolis with the view of making himself master of Athens, Timasitheus joined him, and was one of those who were captured, and put to death by the Athenians for his share in the matter.
[6.9] And the statue of Theognetus of Ægina, who was crowned for wrestling among the boys, is by Ptolichus of Ægina, the pupil of his father Synnoon, who was himself the pupil of Aristocles of Sicyon, the brother of Canachus and as famous as a statuary. But why Theognetus carries in his hand the fruit of the cultivated pine and pomegranate I cannot conjecture, perhaps among some of the Æginetans there is some national legend about him. And next to the statue of the man who the people of Elis say was not registered with the rest, because he was proclaimed victor in the trotting-race,¹² is the statue of Xenocles of Mænalus, who beat all the boys in wrestling, and Alcetus the son of Alcinous, who beat all the boys in boxing, an Arcadian from Clitor. His statue is by Cleon, and Xenocles’ by Polycletus. And the statue of the Argive Aristeus, who won the prize in the long course, is by the Chian Pantias, a pupil of his father Sostratus: and next to him is the statue of Chimon, the father of Aristeus, who won the prize for wrestling. His statues are in my opinion the finest works of art of Naucydes, one is at Olympia, and the other was carried from Argos to the temple of Peace in Rome. It is also said that Chimon beat Taurosthenes of Ægina in wrestling, and that in the following Olympiad Taurosthenes beat all comers in wrestling, and the same day an apparition very like Taurosthenes appeared at Ægina and announced his victory. And the statue of Philles of Elis, who beat all the boys in wrestling, is by the Spartan Cratinus. As to the chariot of Gelon, I cannot agree with the opinion of those who have written before me, who say that it was a votive offering of Gelon the tyrant of Syracuse. The inscription says that it was a votive offering of Gelon of Gela, the son of Dinomenes, who was a victor in the 73rd Olympiad. But Gelon the tyrant of Sicily was master of Syracuse when Hybilides was Archon at Athens, in the second year of the 72nd Olympiad, in which Tisicrates of Croton won the race in the stadium. Manifestly therefore he would have been entered for the race as a Syracusan, and not as a native of Gela. So this Gelon would be some private person, having merely the same name as the Tyrant. And Glaucias the Æginetan made both the chariot and statue of Gelon.
[6.9] In the Olympiad previous to this they say that Cleomedes of Astypalæa, boxing with Iccus from Epidaurus, killed him, and was condemned by the Umpires to be deprived of his prize, and went out of his mind for grief, and returned to Astypalæa, and standing in a school when there were about 60 scholars pulled away the pillar which supported the roof, and when the roof fell in on the boys he was pelted with stones by the citizens, and fled for refuge to the temple of Athene: and getting into a chest which was lying in the temple, and clapping down the lid, the people of Astypalæa had immense labour to open the chest. At last they broke open the woodwork, and found no Cleomedes either alive or dead, and sent messengers to Delphi to inquire what had become of him. The Pythian Priestess they say returned this answer,
“Last of the heroes is Cleomedes of Astypalæa, honour him with sacrifices as no longer a mortal.”
[6.9] From that time forward the people of Astypalæa pay honours to him as a hero.
[6.9] And next to the chariot of Gelon is the statue of Philo by the Æginetan Glaucias. On this Philo Simonides, the son of Leoprepes, wrote the very apt elegiac couplet:
“My country is Corcyra, my name Philo. I am the son of Glaucus, and have won prizes for boxing in two Olympiads.”
[6.9] There is also a statue of the Mantinean Agametor, who beat all the boys in boxing.
[6.10] And next to those I have mentioned is Glaucus of Carystus, who they say was originally from Anthedon in Bœotia, and traced his descent from Glaucus the god of the sea. He was the son of Demylus, and they say originally was a husbandman. And once when the ploughshare came off his plough, he put it on again using his hand instead of a hammer. And Demylus marvelled at his son’s strength, and in consequence sent him to Olympia as a boxer. And there Glaucus, being unpractised in that kind of contest, was badly handled by his antagonists, and, while boxing with the last remaining of them, seemed likely to faint away from his punishment. And they say his father cried out, My boy, remember the ploughshare. Then he put in a terrible blow at his antagonist, and won the prize. He is said also to have been twice crowned at the Pythian games, and eight times in the Nemean and Isthmian games. The statue of Glaucus was erected by his son, but was made by Glaucias the Æginetan. And the statue is in the attitude of one boxing, for Glaucus was the most clever of all his contemporaries in the noble Science. And after his death the people of Carystus say that he was buried in the island still called Glaucus’ island.
[6.10] And Damaretus of Heræa, and the son and grandson of Damaretus, had two victories each at Olympia, Damaretus in the 65th Olympiad, when first the race in heavy armour was instituted, and also in the next Olympiad. His statue has a shield like those in use in our day, and a helmet on the head, and greaves on the feet. This race in heavy armour was abandoned eventually by the people of Elis and all the Greeks. And Theopompus, the son of Damaretus, and afterwards his grandson of the same name won the prize in the pentathlum, and the grandson Theopompus won prizes also for wrestling; who made his statue we do not know, but the statues of his father and grandfather were according to the inscription by the Argives Eutelidas and Chrysothemis. It does not however state from whom they learnt their art. This is the inscription.
“The Argives Eutelidas and Chrysothemis made these statues, having learnt their art from former generations.”
[6.10] And Iccus the son of Nicolaidas the Tarentine won the prize at Olympia in the pentathlum, and afterwards became the best trainer of his day. And next to Iccus is the statue of Pantarces of Elis, who beat all the boys in wrestling, and was beloved by Phidias. And next to Pantarces is the chariot of Cleosthenes, a man of Epidamnus, by Ageladas, behind the Zeus erected by the Greeks after the battle of Platæa. He conquered in the 66th Olympiad, and he erected not only his own statue but also that of his charioteer and horses. And the names inscribed on the horses are Phœnix and Corax, and of those in the traces, on the right Cnacias, and on the left Samos. And there is this elegiac couplet on the chariot:
“Cleosthenes the Pontian from Epidamnus erected me, after winning the prize with his horses in the noble contest of Zeus.”
[6.10] And of all that reared horses among the Greeks this Cleosthenes was the first that erected his statue at Olympia. For the votive offering of Euagoras the Lacedæmonian is only his chariot, and not Euagoras in it: and as to Miltiades the Athenian, what he erected at Olympia I shall narrate elsewhere. And the Epidamnians have the same territory as formerly, but the town in our days is not the old one, but one at a little distance: and its name is now Dyrrhachium from its founder.
[6.10] And there is a statue of Lycinus, the native of Heræa who won in the race for boys, by Cleon, and of three who won victories among the boys for boxing, Epicradius of Mantinea by Ptolichus of Ægina, and Tellon the Oresthasian by what statuary is not on record, and Agiadas of Elis by Serambus of Ægina.
[6.11] Next to these are votive offerings of the people of Elis, as Philip the son of Amyntas, and Alexander the son of Philip, and Seleucus, and Antigonus; the statues of all but Antigonus are on horseback, he alone is on foot.
[6.11] And not far from these kings is a statue of Theagenes of Thasos, the son of Timosthenes. But the Thasians say that he was not the son of Timosthenes, who was a priest of Hercules at Thasos, but that Hercules disguised as Timosthenes had an intrigue with the mother of Theagenes. And when the lad was nine years of age, and was going home from school, he fancied they say the brazen statue of one of the gods in the market-place, and seized it and put it upon one of his shoulders and took it home. And the citizens being angry with him for what he had done, a man of repute and advanced age would not let them kill the lad, but bade him restore the statue back to its place, and he did so. And immediately the fame of the lad for strength spread abroad, and his exploit was talked of all over Greece. The most notable of his exploits at Olympia I have already recorded, and how he beat Euthymus in boxing, and how he was fined by the people of Elis. At that time Dromeus of Mantinea won the victory in the pancratium, for the first time on record without a contest. But he was beaten by Theagenes the Olympiad afterwards in the pancratium. And Theagenes had three victories in the Pythian games for boxing, and 9 at Nemea and 10 at the Isthmus for the pancratium and boxing together. And at Phthia in Thessaly he neglected boxing and the pancratium, and endeavoured to become illustrious among the Greeks in racing, and beat all comers in the long course. I cannot but think he was desirous of emulating Achilles, and to win in the race in the country of the swiftest of heroes. All the crowns he won were as many as 1400. And when he died, one of his enemies went up to his statue every night, and scourged the brass as if it were Theagenes alive he was maltreating. But at last the statue fell on him and killed him and so stopped his outrage, but after his death his sons indicted the statue for murder: and the Thasians threw the statue into the sea, obeying the code of Draco, who in legislating for the Athenians banished even inanimate things if they killed anyone by falling upon him. But in process of time, as the earth yielded no fruit to the Thasians, they sent envoys to Delphi, and the god bade them restore from exile those that had been banished. Some were accordingly recalled from exile, but the dearth was not removed. They went therefore a second time to Delphi, saying that, though they had done what the oracle ordered, yet the wrath of the gods remained. Then the Pythian Priestess answered.
“Your great Theagenes you have forgotten.”
And when they were quite in despair how to recover the statue of Theagenes, some fishermen (they say) putting out to sea for the purpose of catching fish caught the statue in their net and brought it to land. And the Thasians restoring it to its original site sacrificed to it as to a god. And I know that there are statues of Theagenes in various parts of Greece and among the barbarians also, and that he is reckoned to cure diseases, and has various honours from the people of Thasos. His statue in Altis is by the Æginetan Glaucias.
[6.12] And at no great distance is a brazen chariot and a man in it, and some race-horses are on each side of it, and boys on the horses. They are memorials of the victories in the Olympian contests of Hiero the son of Dinomenes, the tyrant of Syracuse after his brother Gelon. They were not however sent by Hiero, but Dinomenes the son of Hiero offered them to the god. The chariot is by Onatas the Æginetan, and the horses on both sides and the boys on them are by Calamis.
[6.12] And next to the chariot of Hiero is Hiero the son of Hierocles, of the same name as the son of Dinomenes, and also himself tyrant of Syracuse. This Hiero after the death of Agathocles, the former tyrant of Syracuse, rose to the same power in the second year of the 126th Olympiad, in which Idæus of Cyrene won in the stadium. This Hiero had friendly relations with Pyrrhus the son of Æacides and became his kinsman by marriage, Gelon his son marrying Nereis Pyrrhus’ daughter. And when the Romans fought with the Carthaginians for the possession of Sicily the Carthaginians had more than half the island, and on the commencement of the war Hiero resolved to throw in his lot with the Carthaginians, but in no long time thinking the Roman power stronger and likely to be more lasting he joined them. He was assassinated by Dinomenes, a Syracusan who had an especial hatred to tyranny, and who afterwards endeavoured to kill Hippocrates the brother of Epicydes, who had just come to Syracuse from Erbessus and was endeavouring to talk over the people. But he defended himself, and some of his guards came up and cut Dinomenes to pieces. And the statues of Hiero in Olympia, one on horseback and the other on foot, were erected by his sons, and made by the Syracusan Mico the son of Niceratus.
[6.12] And next to the statues of Hiero are Areus, the son of Acrotatus, king of the Lacedæmonians, and Aratus the son of Clinias, and a second one of Areus on horseback: that of Aratus is the votive offering of the Corinthians, that of Areus of the men of Elis. Of both Aratus and Areus I have given an account earlier in this work. Aratus was also proclaimed victor at Olympia in the chariot-race. And Timon, the son of Ægyptus, who entered horses at Olympia, a native of Elis, has a brazen chariot, and on it a maiden who I think is Victory. And Callon the son of Harmodius and Hippomachus the son of Moschion, both of Elis and victors among boys in the boxing, have statues, Callon’s is by Daippus, we do not know who designed Hippomachus’, but they say he wrestled down three antagonists and received no blow or hurt. And the inscription on the chariot states that Theochrestus of Cyrene, (who trained horses according to the national custom of the Libyans), and his grandfather also of the same name, had victories with their horses at Olympia, and that the father of Theochrestus was victorious at the Isthmian games. And that Agesarchus of Tritæa the son of Hæmostratus beat men in boxing at the Olympian, Nemean, Pythian and Isthmian games is stated in an elegiac couplet, which also states untruly, as I have discovered, that the people of Tritæa are Arcadians. For of the towns that have attained celebrity in Arcadia all about their founders is well known, and those that were obscure from their origin, and lost their population through their weakness, were absorbed into Megalopolis by a decree from the commonalty of the Arcadians. Nor can we find any other Tritæa in Greece but the one in Achaia. One would infer therefore that the people of Tritæa were reckoned among the Arcadians, as now some of the Arcadians are reckoned in Argolis. And the statue of Agesarchus is by the sons of Polycles, of whom we shall make mention later on.
[6.13] And the statue of Astylus of Croton is by Pythagoras, he was victorious at three Olympiads in succession in the stade and in the double course. But because in the two latter Olympiads he entered himself as a Syracusan, to ingratiate himself with Hiero the son of Dinomenes, the people of Croton voted that his house should be turned into a public prison, and removed his statue from the temple of Lacinian Hera.
[6.13] There is also at Olympia a pillar which recounts the victories of the Lacedæmonian Chionis. They are simple who think that Chionis erected this statue himself, and not the Lacedæmonian public. For granted that there is on the pillar no mention of a race in heavy armour, how could Chionis know that the people of Elis would not one day institute one? They are still more simple who think that the statue on the pillar is by Chionis, seeing it is by the Athenian Myro.
[6.13] Very similar fame to that of Chionis was won by the Lycian Hermogenes Xanthius, who won the wild olive crown eight times in three Olympiads, and was nicknamed Horse by the Greeks. Polites too you would hold in great admiration. He was from Ceramus in Caria, and manifested great swiftness of foot at Olympia. For he won the longest race in the shortest time on record, and on the same day he won the long race, and the race in the stadium, and the double race. And on the second day, when they only allow four chosen by lot to compete in the race and not all comers, and the victors in each department only contend for these prizes, Polites was victor again: for the person who is crowned for the race in the stadium will go off with two victories. However the most remarkable victories in the race were won by Leonidas of Rhodes, for in four Olympiads he was in his prime, and 12 times conqueror through his swiftness of foot. And not far from the pillar of Chionis at Olympia is the statue of Scæus the Samian, the son of Duris, who beat all the boys in boxing, his statue is by Hippias, and the inscription on it states, that Scæus was victor when the Samian populace fled from their island, and the statue was put up when they were restored. And next to the tyrant is a statue of Diallus the son of Pollis, a native of Smyrna, and the inscription states that he was the first Ionian that won the prize in the pancratium for boys. And the statues of Thersilochus of Corcyra, and Aristion of Epidaurus, the son of Theophiles, the latter victor in boxing among men, the former among boys, are by the Argive Polycletus. And the statue of Bycelus, who was the first of the Sicyonians to conquer among boys in boxing, is by the Sicyonian Canachus, who was a pupil of the Argive Polycletus. And next to Bycelus is the hoplite Mnaseas of Cyrene, surnamed Libyan, by Pythagoras of Rhegium. And the inscription on Agemachus of Cyzicus states that he came to Argos from the mainland of Asia Minor. As to Naxos in Sicily, which was colonized by some of the Chalcidians near the Euripus, there are no ruins even of the town in our day, and that its name has come down to posterity is mainly due to Tisander the son of Cleocritus. For 4 times he beat all the men in boxing at Olympia, and had as many victories in the Pythian games. There was not at that time any record of the victors in the Corinthian games, nor did the Argives keep any record of the victors in the Nemean games.
[6.13] And the mare of the Corinthian Phidolas, which was called as the Corinthians inform us Aura, though its rider fell off at the beginning of the race, yet ran straight and turned at the goal, and when it heard the sound of the trumpet ran on all the faster, and beat all the other horses by the decision of the Umpires, and knew that it had come in first, and stopped running. And the people of Elis proclaimed Phidolas victor, and allowed him to set up a statue of this mare. The sons of Phidolas also won victories on a race-horse, and a statue of the horse was put on a pillar with the following inscription.
“Once in the Isthmian games, twice at Olympia, did Lycus the swift courser win the race, and honour for the sons of Phidolas.”
[6.13] However this inscription and the records in Elis of the victors at Olympia do not tally, for in the 68th Olympiad only do those records record any victory of the sons of Phidolas. Let anyone inquire into this further who likes. And there are statues of Agathinus the son of Thrasybulus, and Telemachus who was victorious with his horses, the former was an offering of the Achæans of Pellene. The Athenian people also set up a statue to Aristophon the son of Lycinus who beat all the men in the pancratium at Olympia.
[6.14] And Pherias the Æginetan, whose statue is next the Athenian Aristophon, was not allowed in the 78th Olympiad to enter the contest because he appeared very young, and was not thought fit to compete in the wrestling, but the following year he was allowed to wrestle among the boys and won the prize. A different fortune to this of Pherias was that of Nicasylus the Rhodian at Olympia. For being 18 he was not allowed to contend with the boys by the people of Elis, but was entered as a man and won the prize. He was proclaimed victor also at the Nemean and Isthmian games. But he died in his 20th year, before he could return home to Rhodes. But the feat of this Rhodian wrestler at Olympia was outdone in my opinion by Artemidorus of Tralles. He was unsuccessful at Olympia in his endeavour to win the pancratium among the boys, but the reason of his failure was his excessive youth. For when the season came for the contest which the Ionians have at Smyrna his strength had become so great that he beat on the same day all his antagonists from Olympia in the pancratium, and all the boys that they call unbearded, and thirdly all the best of the men. And they say that he was cheered on by the trainer in the contest with the boys, but that in the contest with the men he was reviled by the pancratiast. And Artemidorus won at Olympia the victory among men in the 212th Olympiad. And near the statue of Nicasylus is a small brazen horse, the votive offering of Crocon of Eretria when he won the victory with a race-horse, and near this horse is an effigy of Telestas the Messenian, who beat all the boys in boxing, by Silanion.
[6.14] And the statue of Milo the son of Diotimus is by Dameas, both natives of Croton. This Milo had six prizes for wrestling at Olympia, one of them among boys, and at Pythia six among men and one among boys. And he came to Olympia to wrestle for the 7th time. But he could not beat in wrestling Timasitheus, a citizen and quite young, as Timasitheus would not contend with him at close quarters in the arena at all. And Milo is said to have carried his own statue to Altis. There are also traditions about Milo in reference to a pomegranate and a quoit. He held a pomegranate so fast that nobody could get it from him, and yet he did not hurt it. And on one occasion standing on an oiled quoit he excited laughter among those who jostled him and tried to push him off it. And several other things he did in display. He tied a cord round his forehead as if it were a fillet or a crown, and holding his breath and filling the veins of his head with blood he would snap the cord by the strength of his veins. It is recorded also that he would place against his side his right arm from the elbow to the shoulder, and stretch out the hand, and turn his thumb up while the fingers remained together, and no one could with any exertion move the little finger from its place. And they say he was killed by wild beasts. For he chanced in the country near Croton on a withered tree, in which some wedges were driven to separate the wood, and he took it into his head to keep the wood apart with his hands. And the wedges slipt out and he was imprisoned in the tree, and became a prey to the wolves, which prowl about in great numbers in that neighbourhood. Such was the end of Milo.
[6.14] And Pyrrhus the son of Æacides having been king in Thesprotia in Epirus, and having done many remarkable deeds, which I have described in my account of Attica, Thrasybulus of Elis erected his statue in Altis. And next to Pyrrhus is the statue of a little man with pipes in his hand on a pillar. This man had a prize for his piping, the first time such prizes were bestowed since the Argive Sacadas. Sacadas first conquered in the games established by the Amphictyonians (when no prize was given), and after that he won two prizes. And Pythocritus of Sicyon won in six of the Pythian contests successively, being the only piper. It is plain also at the contest at Olympia that he was piper six times in the pentathlum. For all this he had a pillar at Olympia with the inscription on it,
“This is the memorial of Pythocritus, (the son of Callinicus), the piper.”
[6.14] The Ætolians also erected a public statue to Cylon, who freed the people of Elis from the tyranny of Aristotimus. And Gorgus the Messenian, the son of Eucletus, who won the victory in the pentathlum has a statue by the Bœotian Theron, and Damaretus, also a Messenian, who beat all the boys in boxing has a statue by the Athenian Silanion. And Anauchidas of Elis, the son of Philys, won a wrestling prize among the boys and afterwards among the men. Who his statue is by we do not know. And the statue of Anochus the Tarentine, the son of Adamatas, who won the victory both in the stadium and in the double course, is by Ageladas the Argive. And the boy seated on a horse and the man standing by the horse are as the inscription says Xenombrotus of Cos in Meropis, who was proclaimed victor in the horse-race, and Xenodicus who was proclaimed victor in the boxing matches for boys, the latter is by Pantias, and the former by Philotimus of Ægina. And the two statues of Pythes, the son of Andromachus, an Abderite, were made by Lysippus, but his soldiers had them made. Pythes seems to have been a leader of mercenaries, or in some other way to have shewn himself a good soldier.
[6.14] Here are also statues of those who won prizes in the course for boys, as Meneptolemus from Apollonia on the Ionian gulf, and Philo from Corcyra, and Hieronymus from Andros, who beat Tisamenus of Elis in the pentathlum at Olympia, that Tisamenus who was afterwards a prophet for the Greeks against Mardonius and the Medes at Platæa. And next to the statue of Hieronymus is the statue of a boy-wrestler also from Andros, Procles the son of Lycastidas. Stomius made the statue of Hieronymus, and Somis that of Procles. And Æschines of Elis had two victories in the pentathlum, and has two statues.
[6.15] And Archippus of Mitylene, who beat all comers at boxing, had according to the Mitylenæans this further fame, that he was crowned at the Olympian Pythian Nemean and Isthmian games when he was only 20. And the statue of Xenon, the son of Calliteles, of Lepreus in Triphylia, who beat all the boys in the stadium, was made by the Messenian Pyrilampes; we do not know who made the statue of Clinomachus of Elis, who was proclaimed victor in the pentathlum. And the inscription of the Achæans on Pantarches’ statue states that he was a native of Elis; he made peace between the Achæans and people of Elis, and all the prisoners who were captured on both sides were let go mainly through him. He won his victory on a race-horse, and there is a record of his victory at Olympia. And the statue of Olidas of Elis was set up by the Ætolians. And Charinus of Elis has a statue for the double course and for a victory in heavy armour, and near him is Ageles the Chian, who beat all the boys in boxing, by Theomnestus of Sardis.
[6.15] And the statue of Clitomachus the Theban was erected by Hermocrates his father. His exploits were as follows. In the Isthmian games he beat all comers in wrestling, and on one day won prizes from all competitors in boxing and in the pancratium. And all his 3 victories in the Pythian games were in the pancratium. And at Olympia he was proclaimed second to Theagenes of Thasos in the pancratium and in boxing. And in the 141st Olympiad he won the prize in the pancratium. And the next Olympiad found him a competitor in the pancratium and in boxing, and Caprus of Elis was on the same day anxious to compete in the pancratium and in wrestling. And when Caprus had won the wrestling-prize, Clitomachus hinted to the umpires that it was only fair to call for the pancratium before he was battered about by boxing. What he said seemed reasonable, and when the pancratium was called on he was beaten by Caprus, though he exhibited afterwards in the boxing a stout heart and untired body.
[6.15] And the Ionians of Erythræ erected a statue to Epitherses the son of Metrodorus, who won two victories in boxing at Olympia, and two at each of the Pythian Nemean and Isthmian games, and the Syracusan public erected two statues to Hiero, and his sons erected a third. As I stated a little above this Hiero had the same name as the son of Dinomenes, and was like him Tyrant of Syracuse. And the inhabitants of Pale, one of the four tribes in Cephallenia, set up a statue to Timoptolis of Elis the son of Lampis. These people of Pale were originally called Dulichii. There is also a statue of Archidamus the son of Agesilaus, and a man like a hunter. And the statues of Demetrius, who led an army against Seleucus and was taken prisoner in the battle, and of Antigonus the son of Demetrius, were let any one know votive offerings of the Byzantians. And the Spartan Eutelidas had two victories for wrestling among the boys in the 38th Olympiad, and a third in the pentathlum: at that time the boys were called on first, and last in the pentathlum. And there is an ancient statue of Eutelidas, the writing on the base is obscure through lapse of time. And next to Eutelidas is another one of Areus, the king of the Lacedæmonians, and next him Gorgus of Elis, who is the only man up to my day who had four victories at Olympia in the pentathlum, and one victory for the double course, and one for the race in heavy armour.
[6.15] And the person by whom some boys are standing is they say Ptolemy the son of Lagus, and next him are two statues of Caprus of Elis, the son of Pythagoras, who won on the same day for the first time on record prizes for wrestling and the pancratium. I have already shown how successful he was against Clitomachus in the pancratium, and he beat in wrestling Pæanius of Elis, who had carried off the prize for wrestling in former Olympiads, and had been crowned in the Pythian games on the same day for boxing among boys, and for wrestling and boxing among men.
[6.16] Caprus won his victories not without great effort and mighty energy: and Anauchidas and Pherenicus, who were natives of Elis, had statues at Olympia, and won prizes for wrestling among the boys. And the Thespians erected the statue of Plistænus, the son of Eurydamus, who was the general of the Ætolians against the Galati. And Tydeus of Elis erected statues to Antigonus, the father of Demetrius, and to Seleucus. And the name of Seleucus was noised abroad among all men on other accounts but chiefly for his capture of Demetrius. And Timon won victories in the pentathlum in all the Greek games but the Isthmian (for like all the other men of Elis he was shut out of competition in them), and the inscription on his statue mentions this further particular about him, that he took part in the expedition of the Ætolians against the Thessalians, and out of friendship to the Ætolians was leader of the garrison at Naupactus. And not far from the statue of Timon are statues of Greece and Elis in juxtaposition: Greece with one hand crowning Antigonus, the Regent for Philip the son of Demetrius, and with the other Philip himself; and Elis crowning Demetrius, who marched against Seleucus, and Ptolemy the son of Lagus.
[6.16] And the inscription on his statue states that Aristides of Elis won a victory in heavy armour at Olympia, and in the double course in the Pythian games, and as a boy in the horse-race at Nemea. The length of the horse-race is twice the double course. This race, which had fallen into desuetude at the Nemean and Isthmian games, was restored by the Emperor Adrian to the Argives at the winter games at Nemea.
[6.16] And next to the statue of Aristides is Menalcas of Elis, who was proclaimed victor at Olympia in the pentathlum, and Philonides the son of Zotus, who was from the Cretan Chersonese, and the courier of Alexander the son of Philip. And next is Brimias of Elis, who beat all the men in boxing, and the statue of Leonidas from Naxos in the Ægæan, the votive offering of the Psophidian Arcadians, and the statue of Asamon who beat all the men in boxing, and that of Nicander, who had two victories at Olympia in the double course, and six at Nemea for racing generally. Asamon and Nicander were both natives of Elis, and the statue of the latter was by Daippus, that of the former by the Messenian Pyrilampes. There are statues also to Eualcidas of Elis and Seleadas the Lacedæmonian, the former was victor among the boys in boxing, the latter in wrestling among the men. Here too is the small chariot of the Lacedæmonian Polypithes, and on the same pillar Calliteles (the father of Polypithes) the wrestler, who won victories by his wrestling, as Polypithes by his horses. And the statues of some private individuals of Elis, as Lampus the son of Arniscus, and the son of Aristarchus, were erected by the Psophidian Arcadians, either because they were their Consuls, or were otherwise friendly to them. And between them is Lysippus of Elis, who beat all boys who contended with him in wrestling, his statue is by Andreas the Argive.
[6.16] And the Lacedæmonian Dinosthenes won a victory over men at Olympia in the course, and set up a pillar in Altis next to his statue: the distance from this pillar by road to another pillar at Lacedæmon is 660 stades. And Theodorus, who was victor in the pentathlum, and Pyttalus, the son of Lampis, who beat all the boys in boxing, and Nicolaidas, who carried off the victory in the course and in the race in heavy armour, were let any one know natives of Elis. As to Pyttalus they record still further that, when there was a dispute between the Arcadians and the men of Elis about their borders, he was made the arbitrator. His statue is by the Olynthian Sthennis. And next is a statue of Ptolemy on horseback, and by him the athlete of Elis Pæanius the son of Demetrius, who won one prize for wrestling at Olympia, and two in the Pythian games. There too is Clearetus of Elis, who won in the pentathlum, and the chariot of the Athenian Glaucon (the son of Eteocles), who was proclaimed victor in the chariot race with a full-grown horse.
[6.17] What I have just mentioned are the most notable things as you approach Altis, but, if you go on the right from the monument of Leonidas to the great altar, you will behold the following memorable objects. There are statues of Democrates of Tenedos and Criannius of Elis, the latter victor in the contest in heavy armour, the former in wrestling among men. The statue of Democrates is by the Milesian Dionysicles, that of Criannius by the Macedonian Lysus. And the Clazomenian Herodotus, and the Coan Philinus, the son of Hegepolis, have statues erected to them by their native cities, to Herodotus because he was the first Clazomenian pronounced victor (his victory was among boys in the course), and to Philinus because of his renown, for he had five victories in running at Olympia, and four in the Pythian games, four in the Nemean, and eleven in the Isthmian. And the statue of Ptolemy, the son of Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, was the offering of Aristolaus a Macedonian. There is also a statue of a boxer who was victorious over boys, Butas the Milesian, the son of Polynices, and Callicrates from Magnesia near the river Lethæus, who won two victories in the race in heavy armour. His statue is by Lysippus. And there are statues of Emaution and Alexibius, the former victor in the course for boys, the latter in the pentathlum. Heræa in Arcadia was the native place of Alexibius and his statue is by Acestor, where Emaution came from the inscription does not state, it only declares he was an Arcadian. And the Colophonians Hermesianax the son of Agoneus, and Icasius the son of Lycinus by the daughter of Hermesianax, beat all the boys in wrestling, and Hermesianax had his statue erected by the Colophonian community.
[6.17] Next to these are natives of Elis that beat all the boys in boxing, Chœrilus by the Olynthian Sthennis, and Theotimus by the Sicyonian Dætondas. Theotimus was the son of Moschion, who joined Alexander the son of Philip in his expedition against Darius and the Persians. And next are two from Elis again, Archidamus who conquered in the four-horse-race, and Eperastus (the son of Theogonus) who was victor in the race in heavy armour. And Eperastus states that he was a seer, and descended from the family of the Clytidæ, at the close of the inscription on his statue.
“I boast to be a seer of the family of the holy-mouthed Clytidæ, of the blood of the godlike descendants of Melampus.”
[6.17] Mantius was the father of Œcles, and the son of Melampus the son of Amythaon. And Clytius was the son of Alcmæon, the son of Amphiaraus the son of Œcles. And Alcmæon was father of Clytius by the daughter of Phegeus, and he changed his residence to Elis, objecting to live with his mother’s brothers, because he knew that they had contrived the murder of Alcmæon.
[6.17] And there are some statues interspersed among some not very remarkable votive offerings, as Alexinicus of Elis (by the Sicyonian Cantharus), who won a wrestling prize among the boys, and Gorgias of Leontini, whose statue was placed at Olympia by Eumolpus, great-grandson of Deicrates who had married Gorgias’ sister. So Eumolpus himself tells us. This Gorgias was the son of Carmantides, and is said to have been the first to have practised Rhetoric, which had been altogether neglected and nearly come into desuetude among men. And they say Gorgias was famous for his eloquence at the public festival at Olympia, and went with Tisias on an embassy to the Athenians. Tisias too contributed something to oratory, and most plausibly did he plead in the case of a Syracusan woman touching some money, but Gorgias had still greater fame among the Athenians, and Jason the tyrant in Thessaly put him above Polycrates, who had the highest renown in the schools at Athens. And they say Gorgias lived 105 years. And the town of Leontini, which was dispeopled by the Syracusans, was in my day colonized again.
[6.18] And there is the brazen chariot of Cratisthenes of Cyrene, and Victory and Cratisthenes on the chariot. Plainly then he won his victory in the chariot race. There is a tradition also that he was the son of Mnaseas the runner, who was surnamed by the Greeks Libyan. And these votive offerings to him at Olympia are by Pythagoras of Rhegium.
[6.18] Here too I found the statue of Anaximenes, who wrote a History of all Antiquities in Greece, and of the exploits of Philip the son of Amyntas, and afterwards of Alexander. This honour in Olympia he owed to the people of Lampsacus: for the following is recorded about him. He got round Alexander, who was by no means a mild king but excessively passionate, by the following contrivance. The people of Lampsacus having espoused the cause of the king of the Persians, or being thought to have done so by Alexander, he boiled over in anger against them and threatened them with the most condign chastisement. And they in all haste sent Anaximenes to supplicate for their wives and children and country, as he had been well known to Alexander and earlier still to Philip. And Anaximenes went to Alexander, who had learnt the motive of his errand, and had sworn they say by all the gods that he would do exactly contrary to what he entreated. Then Anaximenes said, “O King oblige me with this favour, enslave the women and children at Lampsacus, and raze the whole town to its foundations, and burn the temples of the gods.” This is what he said, and Alexander having no contrivance to meet his cunning, and being compelled by his oath, very unwillingly pardoned the people of Lampsacus. Anaximenes seems also to have known how to punish an enemy very cleverly and exemplarily. He was naturally a sophist and a very good imitator of the arguments of the sophists. And having a quarrel with Theopompus, the son of Damasistratus, he wrote a book full of abuse against the Athenians and Lacedæmonians and Thebans. And as he had imitated his style very accurately, and put the name of Theopompus on the title page, and distributed the book about in various towns, though he himself was really the writer, general odium was stirred up throughout Greece against Theopompus. Nor did any one earlier than Anaximenes practise extempore oratory. But I cannot think that he was author of the verses about Alexander that run in his name.
[6.18] And Sotades, (who was proclaimed a Cretan, as indeed he was), won the prize in the long course in the 99th Olympiad, but in the next Olympiad, being bribed by the Ephesian people, he registered himself as an Ephesian, and the Cretans exiled him for it.
[6.18] And the first athletes who had effigies at Olympia were Praxidamas the Æginetan, who won the prize for boxing in the 59th Olympiad, and the Opuntian Rhexibius, who won the prize in the pancratium in the 61st Olympiad. And their effigies are made of wood, Rhexibius’ of figwood, and the Æginetan’s of cypress. This last has suffered less than the other.
[6.19] And there is in Altis a base of tufa stone to the North of the temple of Hera, at its back is the mountain of Cronos. On this base are treasuries such as some of the Greeks have made for Apollo at Delphi. There is a treasury at Olympia called the treasury of the Sicyonians, the votive offering of Myron the King of the Sicyonians. It was constructed by Myron after his chariot victory in the 33rd Olympiad. In this treasury he constructed two chambers, one of Doric the other of Ionic architecture. I myself have seen them: they are of brass: but whether the brass comes from Tartessus, according to the tradition of the people of Elis, I do not know. The river Tartessus is they say in the country of the Iberes, and has two outlets to the sea, and there is a town of the same name that lies between the outlets of the river. And it is the largest river in Iberia, and in later times was called Bætis from its ebb and flow. And the Iberes who inhabit the town of Carpia believe that their town was originally called Tartessus. And on the smaller of the two chambers at Olympia there are inscriptions, one on the lintel stating that there are 500 talents there, another as to the givers of the votive offering, stating that they were Myron and the people of the Sicyonians. In this treasury there are three quoits, which they use in the contest for the pentathlum. And there is a brazen shield curiously painted inside, and helmet and greaves to match. And there is an inscription on this armour that they are an offering to Zeus from the Myanes. As to who these Myanes were different people have different ideas. I remember that Thucydides in his account of the Locrians near Phocis mentions several towns, among others the Myones.¹³ These Myanes on the shield are in my opinion the same as the Myones in the Locrian mainland: and the letters on the shield are a little worn away, in consequence of its great antiquity. There are also here several other curious articles, as the sword of Pelops with golden hilt, and the horn of Amalthea in ivory, the votive offering of Miltiades the son of Cimon, who was the first of his family that reigned in the Thracian Chersonese: and this is the inscription on the horn in old Athenian letters,
“I was offered to Zeus by the warriors that took the fort of Aratus on the Chersonese: their leader was Miltiades.”
[6.19] There is also a statue of Apollo made of boxwood with the head gilt: the inscription states that it was a votive offering of the Locrians at the promontory of Zephyrium, and by Patrocles of Croton, the son of Catillus.
[6.19] And next to the treasury of the Sicyonians is that of the Carthaginians, constructed by Pothæus and Antiphilus and Megacles. And the votive offerings in it are a huge Zeus and three linen breastplates, presented by Gelon and the Syracusans who beat the Phœnicians either on land or sea.
[6.19] And the third and fourth treasuries are the votive offering of the people of Epidamnus. They contain the world upheld by Atlas, and Hercules and the apple tree in the garden of the Hesperides with the dragon coiled round it, carved in cedar-wood, the carving of Theocles (the son of Hegylus) who says his son joined him in the carving of the world. And the Hesperides, which were removed by the people of Elis, were in my time in the temple of Hera. And Pyrrhus and his sons Lacrates and Hermon made this treasury for the people of Epidamnus.
[6.19] The people of Sybaris also built a treasury next to that of the people of Byzantium. Those who have inquired most carefully into the history of Italy and its towns say that Lupiæ, which lies between Brundisium and Hydrus, has changed its name, and was originally called Sybaris. And the haven for ships was made by navvies in the reign of the Emperor Adrian.
[6.19] And next to the treasury of the people of Sybaris is the treasury of the Libyans at Cyrene, containing statues of the Roman kings. The Carthaginians expelled the Selinuntian Siceliotes in war, but before that disaster happened to them, they had got together the treasury for Zeus at Olympia. Dionysus is there with his face toes and hands of ivory.
[6.19] And in the treasury of the people of Metapontum, which is next to that of the Selinuntians, is a statue of Endymion, all ivory but the dress. The cause of the ruin of Metapontum I do not know, but in my time nothing but the theatre and walls round the town was left. The Megarians also near Attica have a treasury and votive offerings in it, figures in cedar overlaid with gold, to represent the battle of Hercules and Achelous. There are Zeus and Deianira and Achelous and Hercules, and Ares is helping Achelous. And Athene stands as if in alliance with Hercules, near the Hesperides that are now in the temple of Hera. And on a gable of this treasury is the war between the gods and the giants: and over the gable is a shield, which states that the Megarians offered the treasury, after triumphing over the Corinthians. I think they won this victory when Phorbas was Archon at Athens, who was Archon all his life, for the Archonship was not yet a yearly office at Athens, nor were the Olympiads registered at this period by the people of Elis. The Argives are also said to have assisted the Megarians against the Corinthians. This treasury at Olympia was constructed by the Megarians some years after the battle. But the votive offerings they probably had from old time, since they were made by the Lacedæmonian Dontas, the pupil of Dipœnus and Scyllis. And the last of the treasuries is near the course, and the inscription on it states that it and its statues are the votive offerings of the people of Gela. The statues however are no longer there.
[6.20] Cronos’ mountain is, as I have already said, behind the base, and extends the length of these treasuries. And on the summit of the mountain those that are called Basilæ sacrifice to Cronos at the vernal equinox in the month of Elaphius. And at the North end of Mount Cronos there is between the treasuries and the mountain a temple of Ilithyia, and in it is honoured Sosipolis the tutelary deity of the people of Elis. Ilithyia they surname the Olympian, and select annually a priestess for her: the old priestess of Sosipolis also performs holy rites according to the custom of the people of Elis, brings lustral water to the goddess, and sets before her cakes kneaded with honey. In the vestibule of the temple is the altar of Ilithyia, as also the approach to the temple for people generally: inside Sosipolis is honoured, and no one but the priestess of the god must enter his sanctuary, with a white veil drawn over her head and face. And the maidens that reside in the temple of Ilithyia and the women sing hymns to Sosipolis, and burn incense to him, but are not accustomed to pour libations of wine to his honour. And their most binding oath is by Sosipolis. And it is said that, when the Arcadians invaded Elis with an army, and the people of Elis were drawn up in battle array against them, a woman came to the generals of Elis, with a baby boy at her breast, saying that she was mother of the boy, and offered him according to a dream she had had to help the people of Elis. And the authorities, crediting the woman’s tale, put the child in the front of the army all naked as it was. And the Arcadians commenced the attack, and the child was changed into a dragon, and the Arcadians were troubled at the sight and began to flee, and the people of Elis pursued them hotly, and won a notable victory and called the god Sosipolis. And where the dragon appeared to glide off after the battle, they built a temple, and resolved to worship it and Ilithyia jointly, for they thought it was she who had introduced the child into the world. And the Arcadians who were slain in the battle have a monument on the hill towards the west after you have crossed the Cladeus. And near Ilithyia there are ruins of a temple of celestial Aphrodite, to whom they sacrifice on the altars which still remain.
[6.20] And inside Altis, at the processional entrance, is what is called the Hippodamium, surrounded by a wall, occupying about an acre. This is the entrance every year for the women, who sacrifice to Hippodamia and perform other rites in her honour. They say Hippodamia fled to Midea in Argolis, when Pelops was especially angry with her owing to the death of Chrysippus: and they say that according to the oracle they afterwards placed her remains at Olympia. And at the end of the statues which they erected out of fines imposed on the athletes is the entrance which they call Private. For by it the Umpires and combatants enter the course. There is also an embankment, and seats for the managers of the games. And opposite the Umpires is an altar of white stone, seated on which the priestess of Demeter Chamyne watches the Olympian games, an honour which different priestesses at different times have received from the people of Elis, for they do not prevent maidens from seeing the games. And at the starting-place is the tomb of Endymion, according to the tradition of the people of Elis.
[6.20] And near the place where the Umpires sit is the ground appointed for the horse-races and the starting-place, which is in shape like the prow of a ship with its beak turned to the course. And the prow is broad where it joins the Portico called Agnaptus. And there is a brazen dolphin upon a bar at the extremity of the beak. Each side of the starting-place is more than 400 feet in length, and there are some buildings there, which those who enter for the horse-races get by lots. And in front of the chariots and race-horses is extended a rope as a sort of barrier. And there is an altar of unbaked brick erected near the middle of the beak every Olympiad, whitewashed outside. And there is a brazen eagle on this altar with its wings stretched out wide. When the clerk of the course touches a piece of mechanism on this altar, the eagle is so constructed as to mount aloft so as to be visible to the spectators, while the dolphin falls to the ground. First the ropes on each side of the Portico called Agnaptus are slackened, and the horses in position there start first, and run on till they come to the horses in the second position, and then the ropes there are slackened, and so on along the whole course where the horses are in position, till they can all start fair at the beak. Then commences the exhibition of the skill of the charioteers and the swiftness of the horses. Cleœtas originally contrived this method of starting, and plumed himself upon his invention, as we find by the inscription on his statue at Athens,
“I was made by Cleœtas the son of Aristocles, who invented at Olympia the start for horses.”
[6.20] They say too that Aristides subsequently somewhat improved the invention.
[6.20] But the other side of the Hippodrome is more extended, being also of raised earth, and at its outlet is Taraxippus the terror of horses, which is in the shape of a circular altar, and as the horses run past it they are immediately seized with strong fear without any apparent cause, and this fear generates terror, insomuch that chariots are often smashed up, and the charioteers badly injured. And the charioteers sacrifice to avoid this, and pray that Taraxippus will be propitious to them. About Taraxippus the Greeks have various views; some say it is the tomb of an Autochthon, famous for his skill with horses, whose name was Olenius, and say that the rock Olenia in Elis was named after him. Others say that Dameon the son of Phlius, an associate with Hercules in the expedition against Augeas and the people of Elis, was killed together with the horse on which he rode by Cteatus the son of Actor, and that this is the joint tomb of Dameon and his horse. Others say that Pelops erected here a cenotaph to Myrtilus, and sacrificed to him to avert his anger for his murder, and named him Taraxippus, because the horses of Œnomaus were disturbed by his contrivance. But some say that Œnomaus himself hindered the horses in the course. And I have heard the blame put upon Alcathous the son of Porthaon, who was buried here after having been slain by Œnomaus as one of the unsuccessful suitors of Hippodamia, and who, in consequence of his bad success in the Hippodrome, has an evil eye and is a malevolent demon to race-horses. But an Egyptian told me that Pelops received something from Amphion and buried it on the spot called Taraxippus, and that in consequence of what was buried there the horses of Œnomaus formerly, and everybody’s horses since, have been terrified. This Egyptian also thought that Amphion and the Thracian Orpheus were wonderful magicians, and that by their charms wild beasts followed Orpheus, and stones formed themselves into houses for Amphion. The most plausible account however of Taraxippus seems to me that which makes it a surname of Poseidon Hippius. There is also at the Isthmus a Taraxippus, Glaucus the son of Sisyphus, who they say was killed by horses, when Acastus was holding the funeral games to his father. And at Nemea in Argolis there is no hero that terrifies horses, but there is a gleam like fire from a red stone where the horses turn which frightens the horses. But Taraxippus at Olympia is far the most formidable panic-inspirer in horses. And at one of the goals there is a brazen statue of Hippodamia with a fillet, about to bind Pelops with it for his victory.
[6.21] And the other part of the hippodrome is not an embankment, but a hill of no great size, on the top of which is a temple built to Demeter under the name of Chamyne. And some think that title of hers an ancient one, and that the earth opened there and took in the chariot of Pluto, and closed again. Others say that Chamynus of Pisa, (who opposed the dominion in Pisa of Pantaleon, the son of Omphalion, and stirred the people up to revolt from Elis), was slain by Pantaleon, and that it was out of his property that the temple to Demeter was built. And in lieu of the old ones new statues of Proserpine and Demeter were erected in Pentelican marble by the Athenian Herodes. And in the gymnasium at Olympia they practise for the pentathlum and the races. And in the open air there is a basement of stone, and originally on the basement there was a trophy for a victory over the Arcadians. On the left of the entrance to the gymnasium there is a smaller enclosure where the athletes practise wrestling. And at the Portico of the gymnasium facing East are some buildings for the Athletes facing South and West. And after you have crossed the river Cladeus you come to the tomb of Œnomaus, a mound piled up with stones, and above the tomb are some remains of buildings where they say the horses of Œnomaus were stabled. And here are the boundaries towards Arcadia, which now belong to the people of Elis, but formerly belonged to the people of Pisa.
[6.21] After you have crossed the river Erymanthus, near the ridge called after Saurus, is the tomb of Saurus, and a temple of Hercules, ruins of which are to be seen in our day. Saurus they say used to molest wayfarers and the people of the country, till he was killed by Hercules. From the south side of the ridge called after this robber a river falls into the Alpheus nearly opposite Erymanthus. Its name is Diagon, and it divides the district of Pisa from Arcadia. And 40 stades onwards from the ridge of Saurus is the temple of Æsculapius, surnamed Demænetus from the name of the builder. It is in ruins too, and is built on the high ground along the Alpheus. And not far from it is the temple of Dionysus Lucyanites, hard by the river Lucyanias, which rises in Mount Pholoe, and flows into the Alpheus. When you have crossed the Alpheus you are in the district of Pisa.
[6.21] Here you will see a hill with a steep acclivity, and on it are ruins of the town of Phrixa, and a temple of Athene Cydonia, not in my time in complete preservation, there is only an altar. They say Clymenus, a descendant of Idæan Hercules, erected the temple to the goddess. He came from Cydonia in Crete and from the river Iardanus. The people of Elis say also that Pelops sacrificed to Athene Cydonia before his race with Œnomaus. And as you advance a little further you come to the river Parthenia, on whose banks the horses of Marmax are buried. The story is that Marmax was the first suitor of Hippodamia, and that he was slain before the rest by Œnomaus, and the names of his horses were Parthenia and Eripha, and Œnomaus cut their throats and buried them with their master, and the river Parthenia got its name from one of them. There is also another river called Harpinates, and at no great distance from it some remains of a town Harpina especially altars: they say that Œnomaus built the town and gave it its name after his mother Harpina.
[6.21] A little further is a lofty mound of earth, the tomb of the suitors of Hippodamia, Œnomaus did not (they say) bury them in the ground near one another as a mark of honour, but it was Pelops subsequently who gave them a common sepulchre, in honour to them and out of affection to Hippodamia, and I think also as a record to posterity how many worthy gentlemen Œnomaus had slain before he Pelops vanquished him. Indeed according to the poem called the Great Eœæ the following were killed by Œnomaus, Alcathous the son of Porthaon next to Marmax, and next to Alcathous Euryalus and Eurymachus and Crotalus. Their parents and native lands I could not ascertain. But Acrias, who was killed next, one would infer to have been a Lacedæmonian and the founder of Acriæ. And next to Acrias Œnomaus slew Capetus and Lycurgus and Lasius and Chalcodon and Tricolonus, who the Arcadians say was a descendant as well as namesake of Tricolonus the son of Lycaon. And after Tricolonus fate overtook in this fatal race Aristomachus and Prias and Pelagon and Æolius and Cronius. Some also add to the list I have given Erythras, the son of Leucon and grandson of Athamas, who gave his name to the town in Bœotia called Erythræ, and Eioneus, the son of Magnes and grandson of Æolus. Here then is the tomb of all these, and they say Pelops offered them funeral rites every year when he was king of Pisa.
[6.22] And if you go about a stade forward from this tomb there are traces of a temple of Artemis surnamed Cordace, because the attendants of Pelops used to offer their sacrifices to the goddess there, and dance the national dance of Sipylus called the cordax. And not far from the temple is a building not very large, and in it is a brazen coffer, in which are deposited the remains of Pelops. And there is no vestige of a wall or any other building, but vines are planted all over the site on which Pisa was built. The founder of the town was they say Pisus, the son of Perieres and grandson of Æolus. And the people of Pisa brought on their own misfortunes by making themselves objectionable to the people of Elis, and by their desire to start the Olympian games instead of the people of Elis, and in the 8th Olympiad they invited Phido the Argive, the most haughty of all the Greek tyrants, and made him the patron of the games. And in the 34th Olympiad the people of Pisa and their king Pantaleon, the son of Omphalion, assembled together the neighbouring people, and instituted the Olympian games instead of the people of Elis. During these Olympiads, and also in the 104th Olympiad which was set on foot by the Arcadians, the people of Elis kept no register, nor do they include them in the Olympiads. And in the 48th Olympiad Damophon the son of Pantaleon gave the people of Elis reason to suspect that he intended to act treacherously against them, so they invaded Pisæa, but did not at this time do any damage, because they returned home again being persuaded by entreaties and promises. But when Pyrrhus the son of Pantaleon succeeded his brother Damophon on the throne, then the people of Pisa of their own accord commenced war with the people of Elis. And the people of Macistus and Scillus in Triphylia joined them in their revolt from the people of Elis, and of the other neighbouring people the Dyspontii, whose relations had always been very friendly with the people of Pisa, and whose founder Dysponteus was they state the son of Œnomaus. And the people of Elis eventually razed Pisa to the ground and all the towns that had assisted her in the war.
[6.22] The ruins of Pylos in Elis are visible as you go over the mountains from Olympia to Elis. And from Pylos to Elis is 80 stades’ distance. This Pylos was built, as I have already mentioned, by the Megarian Pylon the son of Cleson. And being destroyed by Hercules, and once again peopled by the people of Elis, it was destined once more to lack inhabitants. Near it the river Ladon flows into the Peneus. And the people of Elis say that it is about this Pylos that the lines of Homer¹⁴ are.
“He derived his origin from the river Alpheus, which flows in broad volume through the territory of Pylos.”
[6.22] And they persuaded me by what they said, for the Alpheus flows through this district, and the lines cannot refer to the other Pylos. For by the Pylos near the island Sphacteria the Alpheus does not flow at all, nor do we know of any town in Arcadia formerly called Pylos. And about 50 stades from Olympia is the village belonging to Elis called Heraclea, and near it is the river Cytherus. There is a well that flows into the river, and there is a temple to the Nymphs by the well. And the proper names of these Nymphs individually are Calliphæa and Synallaxis and Pegæa and Iasis, and collectively Ionides. And people bathing in this well get cured from pains and aches of all kinds. And they say the Nymphs got their name Ionides from Ion, the son of Gargettus, who migrated to this place from Athens.
[6.22] But if you wish to go to Elis through the plain, it is 120 stades to Letrini, and 180 from Letrini to Elis. Letrini was a small town originally founded by Letreus the son of Pelops, but now there are only a few buildings, and a temple and statue of Alphean Artemis. They give the following legend to account for the goddess being called Alphean. Alpheus they say was deeply in love with her, and when he found he could not marry her for all his wooing and vows, he had the boldness to try and force her, and went to a nightly revel at Letrini, which was to be held by her and the Nymphs with whom she associated in sport: and she, suspecting his plot, smeared with mud her own face and the faces of all the Nymphs present, and so Alpheus when he got there could not distinguish her from the Nymphs, and accordingly had to depart without effecting his object. So the people of Letrini called the goddess Alphean from Alpheus’ passion for her. And the people of Elis, for they had an ancient friendship for the people of Letrini, say that they borrowed their worship of the Elaphiæan Artemis from them, and used to perform rites to her as Alphea, but in process of time the name Elaphiæa prevailed. But in my opinion the people of Elis called Artemis Elaphiæa from her love of hunting deer: but their own tradition is that Elaphius was the name of a woman who was Artemis’ nurse. And about six stades beyond Letrini is a perennial lake about three stades in diameter.
[6.23] And the notable things in Elis are an old gymnasium, in which before they go to Olympia the athletes go through all the customary training. There are some lofty plane-trees inside a wall growing all along the course, and the whole enclosure is called Colonnade, because Hercules the son of Amphitryon used to exercise there, and all the thorns and weeds that grew there were plucked up every day. There is a course called by the people of the place sacred, set apart for the races, and there is another course where they practise for the races and the pentathlum. There is also in the gymnasium a place called Plethrium, where the Umpires pit the athletes together according to their ages or difference in their training, and put them to wrestling to test their capacities. And there are in the gymnasium altars to some of the gods, as Idæan Hercules under the title of Champion, and Eros, and the god whom the Athenians and people of Elis alike call Anteros, and Demeter and Proserpine. There is no altar to Achilles, but he has a cenotaph in accordance with an oracle. And at the commencement of the general festival on a given day, when the sun begins to set, the women of Elis among other rites in honour of Achilles are wont to wail and strike the breast.
[6.23] And there is another enclosure, smaller than the gymnasium but adjacent to it, which they call from its shape the Square. And here the athletes practise their wrestling, and here they test the athletes who are past wrestling, sometimes even applying blows with mild whips. And one of the statues is erected here, which were made of Zeus out of the fine-money of Sosander of Smyrna and Polyctor of Elis. There is also a third enclosure used as a gymnasium, which is called Maltho from the softness of its floor, and this is given up to the lads all the time the general festival lasts. And in a corner of Maltho there is a statue of Hercules, merely the head and shoulders, and in one of the wrestling-places is a figure of Eros and Anteros, Eros has a branch of palm which Anteros is trying to take away. And on each side of the entrance to Maltho is the statue of a boy-boxer, and the Custos Rotulorum at Elis says that it is a native of Alexandria above the island Pharos, called Serapion, who came to Elis and gave the people food when they were short of corn. That was why he received these honours: and the date when he received the crown at Olympia, and did this kindness to the people at Elis, was the 217th Olympiad. In this gymnasium the people of Elis also have a council chamber, where they practise extempore rhetoric, and submit all kinds of writings to public criticism: it is called Lalichmium from the name of its originator. And round it are some shields hung up, well worth seeing, not made for purposes of war, but simply for ornament.
[6.23] You go from the gymnasium to the baths by the street called Silence near the temple of Artemis the Lover of Youths. The goddess was so called from her proximity to the gymnasium. And the street was called Silence from the following circumstance. Some men in the army of Oxylus being sent forward to reconnoitre Elis, and having cheered one another on the road, when they got near the walls, passed round the word for silence, and to listen if they could hear any sound within the town, and so stole into the town without being observed by this street, and returned again to Ætolia after having got the wished for intelligence. And the street received its name from the silence of these spies.
[6.24] Another way out of the gymnasium leads to the market-place, and to what is called the Umpires’ Hall beyond the tomb of Achilles, and it is by this way that the Umpires are accustomed to enter the gymnasium. And they enter the gymnasium to pit together the runners before the sun gets too powerful, and at noon they call the competitors together for the pentathlum and the arduous contests.
[6.24] And the market-place at Elis is not like that of the Ionians, or of the Greek cities in Ionia, but is built after a more antique type, with porticoes and streets at regular intervals. And the name of the market-place in our day is Hippodrome, and there the people of the place exercise their horses. The architecture of the portico facing South is Doric, and it is divided into 3 portions by pillars: it is there that the Umpires mostly spend the day. And there are altars erected to Zeus, and several other altars in the open air in the market-place, and they are easily removed as they are only improvised altars. And at the end of this portico, on the left as you go to the market-place, is the Umpires’ Hall, and a street separates it from the market-place. In this Umpires’ Hall those who are chosen as Umpires live ten months together, and are instructed by the Custodes Rotulorum in all things that appertain to the games. And near the portico where the Umpires spend the day is another portico, called the Corcyræan, and a street runs between the two porticoes. It was so called because when the Corcyræans invaded Elis in their ships, the people of Elis they say drove them off and took much booty from them, and built their portico with a tenth of the spoil. And the architecture of the portico is Doric: it has a double row of pillars, one towards the market-place, the other in the opposite direction. In the middle are no pillars, but a wall supports the roof, and there are statues on either side of this wall. And at the end of the portico near the market-place is a statue of Pyrrho the son of the Sophist Pistocrates, who had great persuasiveness on any topic. Pyrrho’s tomb is at no great distance from Elis, at a place called Petra, an old hamlet according to tradition. And the people of Elis have in the open air near the market-place a most noble temple and statue of Apollo the Healer. This would probably be much the same title as his Athenian title of Averter of Evil.¹⁵ And on another side are stone statues to the Sun and Moon, she has horns on her head, he has his beams. There is also a temple to the Graces, and their wooden statues, their dresses gilt, and their heads hands and feet of white marble, and one of them holds a rose, the second dice, and the third a small branch of myrtle. The meaning of which things we may conjecture thus. The rose and myrtle are sacred to Aphrodite, and have a place in the legend of Adonis, and the Graces have most intimate connection with Aphrodite: and dice are playthings of striplings and maidens, who have not yet lost all grace through old age. And on the right of the Graces is a statue of Eros on the same pedestal. There is also there a temple of Silenus, dedicated to Silenus alone, and not in common to him and Dionysus, and Drunkenness is filling his cup. That the Sileni are mortal we should infer from their tombs, for there is the tomb of one Silenus in the country of the Hebrews, and of another at Pergamum.¹⁶ And in the market-place the people of Elis have the following remarkable thing, which I have myself seen, in the shape of a temple. It is no great height, and has no walls, and the roof is supported by pillars made of oak. The people of the country say that it is a monument, but whose they do not record, but if the account of the old man whom I asked be correct, it would be the monument of Oxylus. There is also in the market-place a room for the 16 matrons, where they weave the shawl for Hera.¹⁷
[6.24] And next the market-place is an ancient temple, a colonnade with pillars all round. The roof is fallen in with age, and there is no statue remaining. It was dedicated to the Roman Emperors.
[6.25] And behind the Corcyræan Portico is a temple of Aphrodite, and a grove in the open air sacred to her, not far from the temple. The statue of the goddess in the temple is called Celestial Aphrodite, and is by Phidias in ivory and gold, she has one foot on a tortoise. Her grove is surrounded by a wall, and inside the grove is a basement on which is a brazen statue by Scopas of the Pandemian Aphrodite sitting on a brazen he-goat. The meaning of the tortoise and he-goat I leave my readers to guess.
[6.25] And the sacred precincts and temple of Pluto (for the people of Elis have both) are opened once every year, but no one may enter them even then but the sacrificing priest. And as far as we know the men of Elis are the only ones that honour Pluto, for the following reason. When Hercules led an army against Pylos in Elis they say Athene cooperated with him. Then it was that Pluto came and helped the people of Pylos out of hostility to Hercules, and was accordingly honoured at Pylos. And they cite as their witness Homer’s lines in the Iliad.¹⁸
“Mighty Pluto also endured the swift arrow, when this man, the son of Ægis-bearing Zeus, wounded him at Pylos, and gave him pain among the dead.”
[6.25] Nor if in the expedition of Agamemnon and Menelaus against Ilium Poseidon, according to the tradition of Homer, helped the Greeks, was it against probability that Pluto should have helped the people of Pylos in the opinion of the same poet. Anyway the people of Elis erected this temple to Pluto as being friendly to them and hostile to Hercules. And once every year they are accustomed to open the temple to indicate, I think, that men once descend to Pluto’s gloomy realm. The people of Elis have also a temple to Fortune, and in the portico of this temple is a huge statue of wood, gilt all over except the head the hands and the toes, which are of white marble. Here too Sosipolis is honoured on the left of Fortune, in a rather small shrine: represented, according to the appearance of him seen in a dream, as a boy with a particoloured cloak on covered with stars, and in one of his hands the horn of Amalthea.
[6.25] And in that part of the town where the people of Elis have most of their population, there is a statue not larger than life of a beardless man, who has his feet crossed, and leans against his spear with both his hands, his dress is of wool and linen and flax. This statue is said to be of Poseidon, and was worshipped of old at Samicum in Triphylia. And it was honoured even still more when removed to Elis, and they give it the name of Satrapes and not Poseidon, having learnt this name from their neighbours at Patræ. And Satrapes is the surname of Corybas.
[6.26] And the old theatre between the market-place and the temple of the goddess Mene is the theatre and temple of Dionysus, the statue of the god is by Praxiteles. And of all the gods the people of Elis honour Dionysus most, and say that he frequents their festival in his honour called the Thyia, a festival which they celebrate about 8 stades from the city. The priests deposit 3 empty flagons in the chapel, in the presence of the citizens and strangers who may chance to be at the feast, and the priests themselves or any others who like seal the doors of the chapel. And the next day they come to the chapel to observe the miracle, and on entering find the flagons full of wine. Those held in the highest repute at Elis, and strangers as well, have sworn that this is as I have said, I was not myself there at the time of the festival. The people of Andros also say that annually at the feast of Dionysus wine flows spontaneously from the temple. If one can believe the Greeks in this matter, one might equally credit the tradition of the Ethiopians beyond Syene as to the Table of the Sun.
[6.26] And in the citadel at Elis is a temple of Athene, her statue is of ivory and gold, and said to be by Phidias, and on her helmet is a cock, because that bird is said to be most pugnacious, or perhaps because it is sacred to Athene the Worker.
[6.26] And about 120 stades from Elis is Cyllene, which faces Sicily, and is a fine harbour for ships. The dockyard belongs to the people of Elis but got its name from an Arcadian. Homer has not mentioned Cyllene in his Catalogue of the people of Elis, but subsequently in the Iliad shews that he knew that there was such a town as Cyllene.
“And Polydamas killed Otus of Cyllene, the companion of Phyleides, the leader of the brave Epeans.”¹⁹
[6.26] The gods who have temples in Cyllene are Æsculapius and Aphrodite. Hermes also has an Ithyphallic statue, which the natives pay extravagant honour to.
[6.26] The country of Elis is fertile in fruits of all kinds but especially in flax. As to hemp and flax all sow them whose land is favourable to their growth. But the threads which the Seres make their garments of are not from any plant, but are produced in the following manner. There is an insect on the earth which the Greeks called Ser, but the Seres give it another name. Its size is about double that of the largest beetle, and in other respects it is like the spiders that weave their webs under trees, and has also 8 feet like spiders. These insects the Seres breed, and put summer and winter into little domiciles specially constructed for them. And what these insects produce is a slender thread, which rolls round their feet. For 4 years they feed them on grain, and in the fifth year (for they know they will not live longer) they give them green reed to eat. This food is the most agreeable of all to this insect, and when it has taken its fill of this it bursts from repletion. And when it is dead they find the thread in its inside. It is well-known that the island Seria is in the Red Sea. But I have heard that it is not the Red Sea, but a river called the Ser that makes this island, just as in Egypt the Delta is formed by the Nile and not by sea. Such a kind of island is Seria. The Seres are of Ethiopian race, and so are those that inhabit the neighbouring islands Abasa and Sacæa. Some however say that they are not Ethiopians but a cross-breed of Scythians and Indians. Such are the various traditions.
[6.26] As you go from Elis to Achaia it is about 127 stades to the river Larisus, which is in our day the boundary between Elis and Achaia, but in ancient times the boundary was the promontory Araxus near the sea.

## Notes

[1] Reading ταύτῃ τῇ Σαμία, (altered into Σαμικῷ ductu literarum).
[2] Il. xxiii. 295.
[3] ἄλσος.
[4] Iliad, viii. 393-395.
[5] Iliad, xiii. 389. xvi. 482.
[6] See Book vi. ch. 22.
[7] Hiatus hic deflendus.
[8] Iliad, xix. 266-268.
[9] On this curious story see Bayle on Hippomanes.
[10] This proverb means to play fast and loose, to be a turn-coat, a Vicar of Bray. The best illustration is Cicero ad Fam. vii. 29. “Noli hanc epistolam Attico ostendere: sine eum errare et putare me virum bonum esse nec solere duo parietes de eadem fidelia dealbare.” See also Erasmus’ Adagia.
[11] The passage referred to is Iliad, vi. 407.
[12] See Book v., ch. 9.
[13] Thucyd. iii. 101.
[14] Iliad, v. 544, 545.
[15] See Book i. ch. 3.
[16] One might also infer the same from the fate of Marsyas.
[17] See Book v. ch. 16.
[18] v. 395-397.
[19] Iliad, xv. 518, 519.