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OLYMPIA (Ancient sanctuary) ILIA
The Olympic Games is the evolution of the legendary conflicts among
the Ancient Greek Gods. Historically recorded evidence dates the Games at circa
900 b.C. The very word for athlete derives from the name of Aethlius,
King of Elis, our well known area of Olympia. The first verified record dates
from 776 b.C. and, from then on, the Games were numbered at four-year intervals.
At that period there was one competition event, the single stadium
race and the first recorded Olympic winner was Coroibis, a native Elian. A stadium
was 192.27 m. long, reputedly 60 times the length of Hercules' foot. Thirteen
Olympiads later, in 724 b.C., a race of two-stadia, called diavlus,
was initiated and in the following Olympiad we have the 24-stadia, known
as dolichus. 708 b.C. marks the coming of the pentathlon, a combination
of running, jumping, discus and javelin throwing, and wrestling. Running in armour,
chariot racing and boxing were added in 648 b.C. along with pankration,
a vicious form of boxing and wrestling. Now we have also some very peculiar events-contests,
such as the... endurance in bugle blowing and other similarities of lesser sporting
nature.
For the next six centuries the fame of the Olympics spread to the
remotest corners of the known world. Many celebrities came to Olympia to watch
the games and among them quite a few of great political and financial output.
Victors, in those early days, won a crown of wild olive-tree leaves.
It was, though, known - but officially rejected - that many athletes received
various material rewards, state favors etc, to the extend that some champions
ended up becoming quite rich! For reasons not completely understood by us today,
slaves as well as women were strictly forbidden, under capital penalty, not only
to take part but even to attend the Games. There is recorded evidence of Velistiki
who's chariot and horses won the contest, in 268 b.C., and therefore becoming
a winner herself. She had to wait patiently outside the stadium for the judge
to come out and present her with the trophy!
With the coming of the Christian Era, the religious as well as the
physical backgrounds of the Games received severe attacks. A non-stop decline
takes tremendous sizes under the influence of the powerful Roman Empire. In a.D.
67 Rome witnessed their mad Emperor Nero being crowned winner of a chariot race
despite the fact that he was the only contestant and, being drunk to stupor, did
not even finish the distance! In Milan, in a.D. 398, Emperor Theodosius I, issued
a decree that banned and prohibited the Games forever.
The Games site at the Ancient Olympia were destroyed by several foreign
invaders. Floods, landslides and earthquakes completed the obliteration. The world
forgot the glory that once had been...
Text by Dimitri N. Marcopoulos
Olympia (olumpia), usually called the Olympic games, the greatest of the national
festivals of the Greeks. It was celebrated at Olympia in Elis, the name given
to a small plain to the west of Pisa, which was bounded on the north and north-east
by the mountains Cronion and Olympus, on the south by the river Alpheus, and on
the west by the Cladeus, which flows into the Alpheus. Olympia does not appear
to have been a town, but rather a collection of temples and public buildings,
a full description of which does not come within the plan of this work. The whole
district within the above-mentioned bounds was holy ground (temenos), sacred to
Olympian Zeus, within which, on its northern side, was a quadrangular enclosure,
of peculiar sanctity, called the Altis. The latter was in historic. times adorned
with the most exquisite work that Hellenic art could produce in sculpture, painting,
and architecture. Within it stood the temples of Olympian Zeus (Holumpieion),
of Hera (Heraion), and the treasurehouses of many Hellenic states; while in the
centre rose the high altar of Zeus, in sacrifice whereon he revealed his will
to his chosen priests, the Iamidae (Pind. Olymp. vi.). Many relics of ancient
art have been recently discovered in the Altis and the surrounding space, and
much light has been thrown on the topography of Olympia, by excavations conducted
according to the agreement made in 1874 between the Greek and German governments.
For a minute, full, and highly interesting account of the results thus obtained,
the reader may be referred to the work of Adolf Boetticher, Olympia, das Fest
und seine Statte, 2nd edit., Berlin, 1886.
The origin of the Olympic games is buried in obscurity. The legends
of the Elean priests attributed the institution of the festival to the Idaean
Heracles, and referred it to the time of Cronos. According to their account, Rhea
committed her new-born Zeus to the Idaean Dactyli, also called Curetes, of whom
five brothers, Heracles, Paeonaeus, Epimedes, Iasius, and Idas, came from Ida
in Crete, to Olympia, where a temple had been erected to Cronos by the men of
the golden age; and Heracles, the eldest, conquered his brothers in a foot-race,
and was crowned with the wild olive-tree. Heracles hereupon established a contest,
which was to be celebrated every five years, because he and his brothers were
five in number (Pans. v. 7, § 4). Fifty years after Deucalion's flood they said
that Clymenus, the son of Cardys, a descendant of the Idaean Heracles, came from
Crete, and celebrated the festival; but that Endymion, the son of Aethlius, deprived
Clymenus of the sovereignty, and offered the kingdom as a prize to his sons in
the foot-race; that a generation after Endymion the festival was celebrated by
Pelops to the honour of the Olympian Zeus; that when the sons of Pelops were scattered
through Peloponnesus, Amythaon, the son of Cretheus and a relation of Endymion,
celebrated it; that to him succeeded Pelias and Neleus in conjunction, then Augeas,
and at last Heracles, the son of Amphitryon, after the taking of Elis. Afterwards
Oxylus is mentioned as presiding over the games, and then they are said to have
been discontinued till their revival by Iphitus. (Paus. v. 8, § 1, 2.) Most ancient
writers, however, attribute the institution of the games to Heracles, the son
of Amphitryon (Apollod. ii. 7, § 2; Diod. iv. 14; compare Strabo, viii. p. 355),
while others represent Atreus as their founder. (Vell. Pat. i. 8; Hermann, Pol.
Ant. § 23, n. 10.) But of all the traditions respecting the origin of the Olympic
games, far the most interesting to us is that which Pindar adopts. According to
him (Olymp. xi. 24-77; iii. 14), they were founded by Herakles Amphitryoniades
to commemorate his victory over the Moliones and Augeas. We translate freely a
passage from the Eleventh Olympic ode:--Thereupon did the valiant son of Zeus,
gathering together in Pisa all his host and all the spoil of oxen which he drave,
proceed to measure out a hallowed precinct (zatheon alsos) consecrate to Zeus
most mighty; and in the open plain with a fence of stakes he marked the Altis
off, and appointed the space around it to be a place of rest, whereon the folk
might take their evening meal; the while he honoured Alpheus' stream in union
with the twelve sovereign gods. Then gave he to Kronos' Hill its name; for heretofore,
as long as Oinomaos reigned, nameless it rose and wet with many a snowflake. And
at this, the birth-rite of the festival, the Destinies, I ween, stood by, yea
and Time, sole test of what is good and true, which as it onward sped did manifest
in what wise the hero portioned out, and slew, and sacrificed, as first-fruits,
the spoils which war had given him; in what wise too, in sooth, with this, the
First Olympiad, and the victories thereat won, he ordained that henceforth, as
each term of four years closed, the feast should be renewed. The poet goes on
to give a list of the victors at this celebration of the games, and it is worth
observing that his record differs entirely from that of Pausanias, both in the
names of the victors and in the other particulars (Pans. v. 7, p. 392).
Strabo (viii. pp. 354, 355) rejects all these legends, and says that
the festival was first instituted after the return of the Heraclidae to the Peloponnesus
by the Aetolians, who united themselves with the Eleans. It is impossible to say
what credit is to be given to the ancient traditions respecting the institution
of the festival; but they appear to show that religious festivals had been celebrated
at Olympia from the earliest times, and it is difficult to conceive that the Peloponnesians
and the other Greeks would have attached such importance to this festival, unless
Olympia had long been regarded [p. 269] as a hallowed site. The first historical
fact connected with the Olympian games is their revival by Iphitus, king of Elis,
who is said to have accomplished it with the assistance of Lycurgus, the Spartan
lawgiver, and Cleosthenes of Pisa; and the names of Iphitus and Lycurgus were
inscribed on a disc in commemoration of the event; which disc Pausanias saw in
the temple of Hera at Olympia. (Paus. v. 4, § 4; v. 20, § 1; Plunt. Lyc. 1, 23.)
It would appear from this tradition, as Thirlwall (Hist. of Greece, ii. p. 386)
has remarked, that Sparta concurred with the two states most interested in the
establishment of the festival, and mainly contributed to procure the consent of
the other Peloponnesians. The celebration of the festival may have been discontinued
in consequence of the troubles consequent upon the Dorian invasion, and we are
told that Iphitus was commanded by the Delphic oracle to revive it as a remedy
for intestine commotions and for pestilence, with which Greece was then afflicted.
Iphitus thereupon induced the Eleans to sacrifice to Heracles, whom they had formerly
regarded as an enemy, and from this time the games were regularly celebrated.
(Paus.) Different dates are assigned to Iphitus by ancient writers, some placing
his revival of the Olympiad at B.C. 884, and others, as Callimachus, at B.C. 828.
(Clinton, Fast. Hell. p. 409, t.) The interval of four years between two successive
celebrations of the festival was called an Olympiad; but the Olympiads were not
employed as a chronological era till the victory of Coroebus in the foot-race
B.C. 776.
The most important point in the renewal of the festival by lphitus
was the establishment of the ekecheiria (in the Elean dialect therma = thesma;
see Muller, Dor. i. p. 252), or sacred armistice, the formula for proclaiming
which was inscribed in a circle on the disc mentioned above. The proclamation
was made by peaceheralds (spondophoroi), first in Elis and afterwards in the other
parts of Greece; it put a stop to all warfare for the month in which the games
were celebrated, and which was called hieromenia. The territory of Elis itself
was considered especially sacred during its continuance, and no armed force could
enter it without incurring the guilt of sacrilege. When the Spartans on one occasion
sent forces against the fortress Phyrcum and Lepreum during the existence of the
Olympic truce (entais Olumpiakais spondais), they were fined by the Eleans, according
to the Olympic law, 2000 minae, being two for each Hoplite. (Thucyd. v. 49.) The
Eleans, however, pretended not only that their lands were inviolable during the
existence of the truce, but that by the original agreement with the other states
of Peloponnesus their lands were made sacred for ever, and were never to be attacked
by any hostile force (Strabo, viii. p. 358); and they further stated that the
first violation of their territory was made by Pheidon of Argos. But the Eleans
themselves did not abstain from arms, and it is not probable that such a privilege
would have existed without imposing on them the corresponding duty of refraining
from attacking the territory of their neighbours. The later Greeks do not appear
to have admitted this claim of the Eleans, as we find many cases in which their
country was made the scene of war. (Xen. Hell. iii. 2, § 23, &c.; vii. 4, &c.)
The Olympic festival was probably confined at first to the Peloponnesians;
but as its celebrity extended, the other Greeks took part in it, till at length
it became a festival for the whole nation, No one was allowed to contend in the
games but persons of pure Hellenic blood: barbarians might be spectators, but
slaves were entirely excluded. All persons who had been branded by their own states
with atimia, or had been guilty of any offence against the divine laws, were not
permitted to contend (Lex apud Dem. c. Aristocrat. p. 631,. § 37). When the Hellenic
race had been extended by colonies to Asia, Africa, and other parts of Europe,
persons contended in the games from very distant places; and in later times a
greater number of conquerors came from the colonies than from the mother country.
After the conquest of Greece by the Romans, the latter were allowed to take part
in the games. The emperors Tiberius and Nero were both conquerors, and Pausanias
(v. 20, § 4) speaks of a Roman senator who gained the victory. During the freedom
of Greece. even, Greeks were sometimes excluded, when they had been guilty of
a crime which appeared to the Eleans to deserve this punishment. The horses of
Hieron of Syracuse were excluded from the chariot-race through the influence of
Themistocles, because he had not taken part with the other Greeks against the
Persians. (Pint. Them. 25; Aelian, V. H. ix. 5.) All the Lacedaemonians were excluded
in the 90th Olympiad, because they had not paid the fine for violating the Elean
territory, as mentioned above (Thuc. v. 49, 50; Paus. iii. 8, § 2); and similar
cases of exclusion are mentioned by the ancient writers.
No women were allowed to be present or even to cross the Alpheus during
the celebration of the games under penalty of being hurled down from the Typaean
rock. Only one instance is recorded of a woman having ventured to be, present,
and she, although detected, was pardoned in consideration of her father, brothers,
and son having been victors in the games. (Paus. v. 6,, § 51 ; Ael. V. H. x. 1.)
An exception was made to this law in favour of the priestess of Demeter Chamyne,
who sat on an altar of white marble opposite to the Hellanodicae. (Paus. vi. 20,
§ 6; compare Suet. Ner. c. 12.) Women were, however, allowed to send chariots
to the races; and the first woman whose horses won the prize was Cynisca, the
daughter of Archidamus, and sister. of Agesilaus. (Pans. iii. 8, § 1.) The number
of spectators at the festival was very great; and these were drawn together not
merely by the desire of seeing the games, but partly through the opportunity it
afforded them of carrying on commercial transactions with persons from distant
places (Veil. i. 8; mercatus Olympiacus, Justin, xiii. 5), as is the case with
the Mohammedan festivals at Mecca and Medina. Many of the persons present were
also deputies (theoroi) sent to represent the various states of Greece; and we
find that these embassies vied with one another in the number of their offerings
and the splendour of their general appearance, in order to support the honour
of their native cities. The most illustrious citizens of a state were frequently
sent as theoroi. (Thuc. vi. 16; [Andoc.] c. Alc. § 21.)
The Olympic festival was a Penteteris (penteteris), that is, according
to the ancient mode of reckoning, a space of four years elapsed between each and
the next succeeding festival, in the same way as there was only a space of two
years in a trieteris. According to the Scholiast on Pindar (ad Ol. iii. 35, Boeckh),
the Olympic festival was celebrated at an interval sometimes of 49, sometimes
of 50 months; in the former case in the month of Apollonius, in the latter in
that of Parthenius. This statement has given rise to much difference of opinion
from the time of J. Scaliger; but the explanation of Boeckh in his commentary
on Pindar is the most satisfactory, that the festival was celebrated on the first
full moon after the summer solstice, which sometimes fell in the month of Apollonius,
and sometimes in Parthenius, both of which he considers to be the names of Elean
or Olympian months: consequently the festival was usually celebrated in the Attic
month of Hecatombaeon. It lasted, after all the contests had been introduced,
five days, from the 11th to the 15th days of the month inclusive. (Schol. ad Pind.
Ol. v. 6.) The fourth day of the festival was the 14th of the month, which was
the day of the full moon, and which divided the month into two equal parts (dichomenis
mena, Pind. Ol. iii. 19; Schol. ad loc.).
The festival was under the immediate superintendence of the Olympian
Zeus, whose temple at Olympia, adorned with the statue of the god made by Phidias,
was one of the most splendid works of Grecian art (Paus. v. 10, &c.). There were
also temples and altars to most of the other gods. The festival itself may be
divided into two parts, the games or contests (agon Olumpiakos, aethlon hamillai,
krisis aethlon, tethmos aethlon, nikaphoriai), and the festive rites (heorte)
connected with the sacrifices, with the processions and with the public banquets
in honour of the conquerors. Thus Pausanias distinguishes between the two parts
of the festival, when he speaks of ton agona en Olumpiai panegurin te Olumpiaken
(v. 4, § 4). The conquerors in the games, and private individuals, as well as
the theori or deputies from the various states, offered sacrifices to the different
gods; but the chief sacrifices were offered by the Eleans in the name of the Elean
state. The order in which the Eleans offered their sacrifices to the different
gods is given in a passage of Pausanias (v. 14, § 5). There has been considerable
dispute among modern writers, whether the sacrifices were offered by the Eleans
and the Theori at the commencement or at the termination of the contests; our
limits do not allow us to enter into the controversy, but it appears most probable
that certain sacrifices were offered by the Eleans as introductory to the games,
but that the majority were not offered till the conclusion, when the flesh of
the victims was required for the public banquets given to the victors.
The contests consisted of various trials of strength and skill, which
were increased in number from time to time. There were in all twenty-four contests,
eighteen in which men took part and six in which boys engaged, though they were
never all exhibited at one festival, since some were abolished almost immediately
after their institution, and others after they had been in use only a short time.
We subjoin a list of these from Pausanias (v. 8, § 2, 3; 9, § 1, 2: compare Plut.
Symp. v. 2), with the date of the introduction of each, commencing from the Olympiad
of Coroebus:
1. The foot-race (dromos), which was the only contest during the first 13 Olympiads.
2. The diaulos, or foot-race, in which the stadium was traversed twice, first
introduced in Ol. 14.
3. The dolichos, a still longer foot-race than the diaulos, introduced in Ol.
15.2 (For a more particular account of the diaulos and dolichos see Stadium)
4. Wrestling (pale) [see Lucta],
and
5. The Pentathlum (pentathlon), which consisted of five exercises, both introduced
in Ol. 18.
6. Boxing (pugme), introduced in Ol. 23. [see Pugilatus]
7. The chariot-race with four full-grown horses (hippon teleion dromos, harma),
introduced in Ol. 25.
8. The Pancratium (pankration) [see Pancratium],
and
9. The horse-race (hippos keles), both introduced in Ol. 33.
10 and 11. The foot-race and wrestling for boys, both introduced in Ol. 37.
12. The Pentathlum for boys, introduced in Ol. 38, but immediately afterwards
abolished.
13. Boxing for boys, introduced in Ol. 41.
14. The foot-race, in which men ran with the equipments of heavy-armed soldiers
(ton hopliton dromos), introduced in Ol. 65, on account of its training men for
actual service in war.
15. The chariot-race with mules (apene), introduced in Ol. 70; and
16. The horse-race with mares (kalpe), described by Pausanias (v. 9, § 1, 2),
introduced in Ol. 71, both of which were abolished in Ol. 84.
17. The chariot-race with two full-grown horses (lppon teleion sunoris), introduced
in Ol. 93.
18 and 19. The contest of heralds (kerukes) and trumpeters (salpinktai), introduced
in Ol. 96. (African. ap. Euseb. Chron. I. Hell. ol. p. 41; Paus. v. 22, § 1; compare
Cic. ad Fam. v. 1. 2)
20. The chariot-race with four foals (polon harmasin), introduced in Ol. 99.
21, The chariot-race with two foals (polon sunoris), introduced in Ol. 128.
22. The horse-race with foals (polos keles), introduced in Ol. 131.
23. The Pancratium for boys, introduced in Ol. 145.
24. There was also a horse-race (hippos keles) in which boys rode (Paus. vi. 2,
§ 4; 12, § 1; 13, § 6), but we do not know the time of its introduction.
Of these contests, the greater number were in existence in the heroic age, but
the following were introduced for the first time by the Eleans:--all the contests
in which boys took part, the foot-race of Hoplites, the races in which foals were
employed, the chariot-race in which mules were used, and the horse-race with mares
(kalpe). The contests of heralds and trumpeters were also probably introduced
after the heroic age.
Pausanias (v. 9, § 3) says that up to the 77th Olympiad all the contests took place in one day; but as it was found impossible in that Olympiad to finish them all in so short a time, a new arrangement was made. The number of days in the whole festival, which were henceforth devoted to the games, and the order in which they were celebrated, has been a subject of much dispute among modern writers, and in many particulars can be only matter of conjecture. The following arrangement is proposed by Krause (Olympia, p. 106):--On the first day, the initiatory sacrifices were offered, and all the competitors classed and arranged by the judges. On the same day, the contest between the trumpeters took place; and to this succeeded on the same day and the next the contests of the boys, somewhat in the following order:--the Foot-Race, Wrestling, Boxing, the Pentathlum, the Pancratium, and, lastly, the Horse-Race. On the third day, which appears to have been the principal one, the contests of the men took place, somewhat in the following order:--the simple Foot-Race, the Diaulos, the Dolichos, Wrestling, Boxing, the Pancratium, and the Race of Hoplites. On the fourth day the Pentathium, either before or after the Chariot and Horse Races, which were celebrated on this day. On the same day or on the fifth, the contests of the Heralds may have taken place. The fifth day appears to have been devoted to processions and sacrifices, and to the banquets given by the Eleans to the conquerors in the games.
The judges in the Olympic games, called Hlellanodicae (Hellanodikai),
were appointed by the Eleans, who had the regulation of the whole festival. It
appears to have been originally under the superintendence of Pisa, in the neighbourhood
of which Olympia was situated, and accordingly we find in the ancient legends
the names of Oenomaus, Pelops, and Augeas as presidents of the games. But after
the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians on the return of the Heraclidae, the
Aetolians, who had been of great assistance to the Heraclidae, settled in Elis,
and from this time the Aetolian Eleans obtained the regulation of the festival,
and appointed the presiding officers. (Strabo, viii. pp. 357, 358.) Pisa, however,
did not quietly relinquish its claim to the superintendence of the festival, and
it is not improbable that at first it had an equal share with the Eleans in its
administration. The Eleans themselves only reckoned three festivals in which they
had not had the presidency,--namely, the 8th, in which Pheidon and the Piseans
obtained it; the 34th, which was celebrated under the superintendence of Pantaleon,
king of Pisa; and the 104th, celebrated under the superintendence of the Piseans
and Arcadians. These Olympiads the Eleans called anolumpiades, as celebrated contrary
to law. (Paus. vi. 22, § 2; 4, § 2.)
The Hellanodicae were chosen by lot from the whole body of the Eleans.
Pausanias (v. 9, § 4, 5) has given an account of their numbers at different periods;
but the commencement of the passage is unfortunately corrupt. At first, he says,
there were only two judges chosen from all the Eleans, but that in the 25th Ol.
(75th Ol.?) nine Hellanodicae were appointed, three of whom had the superintendence
of the horse-races, three of the Pentathlum, and three of the other contests.
Two Olympiads after, a tenth judge was added. In the 103rd Ol. the number was
increased to 12, as at that time there were 12 Elean Phylae, and a judge was chosen
from each tribe; but as the Eleans afterwards lost part of their lands in war
with the Arcadians, the number of Phylae was reduced to eight in the 104th Ol.,
and accordingly there were then only eight Hellanodicae. But in the 108th Ol.
the number of Hellanodicae was increased to 10, and remained the same to the time
of Pausanias (Paus. l. c.).
The Hellanodicae were instructed for ten months before the festival
by certain of the Elean magistrates, called Nomophulakes, in a building devoted
to the purpose near the marketplace, which was called Hellanodikaion. (Paus. vi.
24, § 3.) Their office probably only lasted for one festival. They had to see
that all the laws relating to the games were observed by the competitors and others,
to determine the prizes, and to give them to the conquerors. An appeal lay from
their decision to the Elean senate. (Pans. vi. 3, § 3.) Their office was considered
most honourable. They wore a purple robe (porthuris), and had in the Stadium special
seats appropriated to them. (Pans. vi. 20, § § 5, 6, 7; Bekker, Anecd. p. 249,
4.) Under the direction of the Hellanodicae was a certain number of alutai with
an alutarches at their head, who formed a kind of police, and carried into execution
the commands of the Hellanodicae. (Lucian, c. 40, vol. i. p. 738, Reitz; Etym.
M. p. 72. 13.) There were also various other minor officers under the control
of the Hellanodicae.
All free Greeks who had complied with the rules prescribed to candidates
were allowed to contend in the games. The equestrian contests were necessarily
confined to the wealthy; but the poorest citizens could contend in the athletic
contests, of which Pausanias (vi. 10, § 1) mentions an example. This, however,
was far from degrading the games in public opinion; and some of the noblest as
well as meanest citizens of the state took part in these contests. The owners
of the chariots and horses were not obliged to contend in person; and the wealthy
vied with one another in the number and magnificence of the chariots and horses
which they sent to the games. Alcibiades sent seven chariots to one festival,
a greater number than had ever been entered by a private person (Thuc. vi. 16),
and the Greek kings in Sicily, Macedon, and other parts of the Hellenic world
contended with one another for the prize in the equestrian contests.
All persons who were about to contend had to prove to the Hellanodicae
that they were freemen, of pure Hellenic blood, had not been branded with atimia,
nor guilty of any sacrilegious act. They further had to prove that they had undergone
the preparatory training (progumnasmata) for ten months previously, and the truth
of this they were obliged to swear to in the Bouleuterion at Olympia before the
statue of Zeus Horkios The fathers, brothers, and gymnastic teachers of the competitors,
as well as the competitors themselves, had also to swear that they would be guilty
of no crime (kakourgema) in reference to the contests. (Paus. v. 24, § 2.) All
competitors were obliged, thirty days previous to the festival, to undergo certain
exercises in the Gymnasium at Elis, under the superintendence of the Hellanodicae.
(Pans. vi. 26, § 1-3; 24, § 1.) The different contests, and the order in which
they would follow one another, were written by the Hellanodicae upon a tablet
(leukoma) exposed to public view. (Compare Dio Cass. lxxix. 10.)
The competitors took their places by lot, and were of course differently
arranged according to the different contests in which they were to be engaged.
The herald then proclaimed the name and country of each competitor. (Compare Plato,
Leg. viii. p. 833.) When they were all ready to begin the contest, the judges
exhorted them to acquit themselves nobly, and then gave the signal to commence.
Any one detected in bribing a competitor to give the victory to his antagonist
was heavily fined; the practice appears to have been not uncommon from the many
instances recorded by Pausanias (v. 21).
The only prize given to the conqueror was a garland of wild olive
(kotinos), which according to the Elean legends was the prize originally instituted
by the Idaean Heracles. (Paus. v. 7, § 4.) But according to Phlegon's account
(Peri ton Olumpion, p. 140), the olive crown was not given as a prize upon the
revival of the games by Iphitus, and was first bestowed in the seventh Olympiad
with the approbation of the oracle at Delphi. This garland was cut from a sacred
olive-tree, called elaia kallistephanos, which grew in the sacred grove of Altis
in Olympia, near the altars of Aphrodite and the Hours. (Paus. v. 15, § 3.) Heracles
is said to have brought it from the country of the Hyperboreans, and to have planted
it himself at the terma of the hippodrome outside the Altis. (Pind. Ol. ii. 14;
Muller, Dor. ii. 12, § 3.) A boy, both of whose parents were still alive (amphithales
pais), cut it with a golden sickle (chrusoi drepanoi). The victor was originally
crowned upon a tripod covered over with bronze (tripous epichalkos), but afterwards,
and in the time of Pausanias, upon a table made of ivory and gold. (Paus. v. 12,
§ 3; 20, § 1, 2.) Palm branches, the common tokens of victory on other occasions,
were placed in their hands. The name of the victor, and that of his father and
of his country, were then proclaimed by a herald before the representatives of
assembled Greece. The festival ended with processions and sacrifices, and with
a public banquet given by the Eleans to the conquerors in the Prytaneum. (Pans.
v. 15, § 8.)
The most powerful states considered an Olympic victory gained by one
of their citizens to confer honour upon the state to which he belonged; and a
conqueror usually had immunities and privileges conferred upon him by the gratitude
of his fellow-citizens. The Eleans allowed his statue to be placed in the Altis,
which was adorned with numerous such statues erected by the conquerors or their
families, or at the expense of the states of which they were citizens. On his
return home, the victor entered the city in a triumphal procession, in which his
praises were celebrated frequently in the loftiest strains of poetry. (see Athletae)
Sometimes the victory was obtained without a contest, in which case
it was said to be akoniti. This happened either when the antagonist, who was assigned,
neglected to come or came too late, or when an Athletes had obtained such celebrity
by former conquests or possessed such strength and skill that no one dared to
oppose him. (Paus. vi. 7, § 2.) When one state conferred a crown upon another
state, a proclamation to this effect was frequently made at the great national
festivals of the Greeks (Demosth. de Cor. p. 265).
As persons from all parts of the Hellenic world were assembled together
at the Olympic games, it was the best opportunity which the artist and the writer
possessed of making their works known. In fact, it answered to some extent the
same purpose as the press does in modern times. Before the invention of printing,
the reading of an author's works to as large an assembly as could be obtained,
was one of the easiest and surest modes of publishing them;. and this was a favourite
practice of the Greeks and Romans. Accordingly, we find many instances of literary
works thus published at the Olympic festival. Herodotus is said to have read his
history at this festival; but though there are some reasons for doubting the correctness
of this statement, there are numerous other writers who thus published their works,
as the sophist Hippias, Prodicus of Ceos, Anaximenes, the orator Lysias, Dio Chrysostom,
&c. (Compare Lucian, Herod. c. 3, 4, vol. i. p. 834, Reitz.) It must be borne
in mind that these recitations were not contests, and that they formed properly
no part of the festival. In the same way painters and other artists exhibited
their works at Olympia. (Lucian, l. c.)
The Olympic games continued to be celebrated with much splendour under the Roman
emperors, by many of whom great privileges were awarded to the conquerors. In
the sixteenth year of the reign of Theodosius, A.D. 394 (Ol. 293), the Olympic
festival was for ever abolished; but we have no account of the names of the victors
from Ol. 249.
Our limits do not allow us to enter into the question of the influence
of the Olympic games upon the national character; but the reader will find some
useful remarks on this subject in Thirlwall's Hist. of Greece, vol. i. p. 390,
and Grote's Hist. of Greece, iv. pp. 75 if.
There were many ancient works on the subject of the Olympic games
and the conquerors therein. One of the chief sources from which the writers obtained
their materials must have. been the registers of conquerors in the games, which
were diligently preserved by the Eleans. (Eleion es tous Olumpionikas grammata,
Paus. iii. 21, § 1, v. 21, § 5, vi. 2, § 1; ta Eleion grammata archaia v. 4, §
4.) One of the most ancient works on this subject was by the Elean Hippias, a
contemporary of Plato, and was entitled anagraphe Olumpionikon (Plut. Numa, 1).
Aristotle also appears to have written a work on the same subject (Diog. Laert.
v. 26). There was a work by Timaeus of Sicily, entitled 'Olumpionikai e chronika
praxidia, and another by Erastosthenes (born B.C. 275), also called Olumpionikai
(Diog. Laert. viii. 51). The Athenian Stesicleides is mentioned as the author
of an aagraphe ton archonton kai olumpionikon (Diog. Laert. ii. 56), and Pliny
(H. N. viii. § 82) speaks of Scopas (?) as a writer of Olympionicae. [p. 273]
There were also many ancient works on the Greek festivals in general,
in which the Olympic games were of course treated of. Thus the work of Dicaearchus
Peri Agonon (Diog. Laert. v. 47) contained a division entitled ho Olumpikos (Athen.
xiv. p. 620 d).
One of the most important works on the Olympic games was by Phlegon
of Tralles, who lived in the reign of Hadrian; it was entitled peri ton Olumpion
or Olumpion kai Chronikon Sunagoge, was comprised in 16 books, and extended from
the first Olympiad to Ol. 229. We still possess two considerable fragments of
it. The important work of Julius Africanus, Hellenon Olumpiades apo tes protes,
&c., is preserved to us by Eusebius; it comes down to Ol. 249. Dexippus of Athens,
in his chronike historia, carried down the Olympic conquerors to Ol. 262.
In modern works much useful information on the Olympic games is given
in Corsini's Dissert. Agonisticae, and in Boeckh's and Dissen's editions of Pindar.
See also Meier's article on the Olympic Games, and Rathgeber's articles on Olympia,
Olympieion, and Olympischer Jupiter in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopadie; Dissen,
(Ueber die Anordnung der Olympischen Spiele, in his Kleine Schriften, p. 185;
Krause, Olympia oder Darstellung der grossen Olynmpischen Spiele, Wien, 1838;
and Boetticher, Olympia, 1886.
In course of time festivals were established in several Greek states
in imitation of the one at Olympia, to which the same name was given. Some of
these are only known to us by inscriptions and coins; but others, as the Olympic
festival at Antioch, obtained great celebrity. After these Olympic festivals had
been established in several places, the great Olympic festival is sometimes designated
in inscriptions by the addition of in Pisa, er en Peisei. (Compare Boeckh, Inscr.
n. 247, pp. 361, 362; n. 1068, p. 564.) We subjoin from Krause an alphabetical
list of these smaller Olympic festivals. They were celebrated at:
Aegae in Macedonia. This<
festival was in existence in the time of Alexander the Great. (Arrian, Anab. i.
11.)
Alexandria. (Gruter, Inscr.
p. cccxiv. n. 240.) In later times, the number of Alexandrian conquerors in the
great Olympic games was greater than from any other state.
Anazarbus in Cilicia. This
festival was not introduced till a late period. (Eckhel, Doctr. Num. iii. p. 44.)
Antioch in Syria. This festival
was celebrated at Daphne, a small place 40 stadia from Antioch, where there was
a large sacred grove watered by many fountains. The festival was originally called
Daphnea, and was sacred to Apollo and Artemis (Strabo, xvi. p. 750; Athen. v.
p. 194), but was called Olympia, after the inhabitants of Antioch had purchased
from the Eleans, in A.D. 44, the privilege of celebrating Olympic games. It was
not, however, regularly celebrated as an Olympic festival till the time of the
Emperor Commodus. It commenced on the first day of the month Hyperberetaeus (October),
with which the year of Antioch began. It was under the presidency of an Alytarches.
The celebration of it was abolished by Justin, A.D. 521. The writings of Libanius,
and of Chrysostom, the Christian Father, who lived many years at Antioch, gave
various particulars respecting this festival.
Athens. There were two festivals
of the name of Olympia celebrated at Athens, one of which was in existence in
the time of Pindar (Pind. Nem. ii. 23, &c.; Schol. ad loc.), who celebrates the
ancestors of the Athenian Timodemus as conquerors in it, and perhaps much earlier
(Schol. ad Thuc. i. 126). It was celebrated to the honour of Zeus, in the spring
between the great Dionysia and the Bendideia. (Boeckh, Inscr. pp. 53, 250-252.)
The other Olympic festival at Athens was instituted by Hadrian A.D. 131; from
which time a new Olympic era commenced. (Corsini, Fast. Att. vol. ii. pp. 105,
110, &c.; Spartian. Hadr. 13.)
Attalia in Pamphylia. This
festival is only known to us by coins. (Rathgeber, l. c. p. 326.)
Cyzicus. (Boeckh, Inscr.
n. 2810.)
Cyrene. (Boeckh, Explicat.
Pind. p. 328.)
Dium in Macedonia. These
games were instituted by Archelaus, and lasted nine days, corresponding to the
number of the nine Muses. They were celebrated with great splendour by Philip
II. and Alexander the Great. (Diodor. xvii. 16; Dio Chrysost. vol. i. p. 73, Reiske;
Suidas, s. v. Anaxandrides.)
Ephesus. This festival appears
by inscriptions, in which it is sometimes called Adriana Olumpia en Ephesoi, to
have been instituted by Hadrian. (Boeckh, Inscr. n. 2810; compare n. 2987, 3000.)
Elis. Besides the great Olympic
games, there appear to have been smaller ones celebrated yearly. (Anecdot. Gr.
ed. Siebenk. p. 95.)
Magnesia in Lydia. (Rathgeber,
l. c. pp. 326, 327.)
Zeapolis. (Corsini, Diss. Agon. iv. 14, p. 103.)
Nicaea in Bithynia. (Eustath.
ad Dionys. Perieg. pp. 172, 173, in Geogr. Min. ed. Bernhardy.)
Nicopolis in Epeirus. Augustus,
after the conquest of Antony, off Actium, founded Nicopolis, and instituted games
to be celebrated every five years (agon penteterikos) in commemoration of his
victory. These games are sometimes called Olympic, but more frequently bear the
name of Actia. They were sacred to Apollo, and were under the care of the Lacedaemonians.
(Strabo, vii. p. 325.) [see Actia]
Olympus in Thessaly, on the mountain of that name. (Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. Argonaut. i. 599.)
Pergamos in Mysia. (Boeckh,
Inscr. n. 2810; Mionnet, ii. 610, n. 626.)
Side in Pamphylia. (Rathgeber,
p. 129.)
Smyrna. Pausanias (vi. 14,
§ 1) mentions an Agon of the Smyrnaeans, which Corsini (Diss. Agon. i. 12, p.
20) supposes to be an Olympic festival. The Marmor Oxoniense expressly mentions
Olympia at Smyrna, and they also occur in inscriptions. (Gruter, Inscr. p. 314,
1; Boeckh, Inscr. ad n. 1720.)
Tarsus in Cilicia. This festival
is only known to us by coins. (Krause, p. 228.)
Tegea in Arcadia. (Boeckh,
Inscr. n. 1513, p. 700.)
Thessalonica in Macedonia.
(Krause, p. 230.)
Thyatira in Lydia. (Rathgeber,
p. 328.)
Tralles in Lydia. (Krause,
p. 233.)
Tyrus in Phoenicia. (Rathgeber,
p. 328.)
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
An excellent website, which contains:
A tour of the site
Ancient Olympic Events
The Context of the Games and the Olympic Spirit
Athletes' Stories
The Olympics through Time Project by the Foundation of the Hellenic World
The following ancient cities and countries celebrated Olympic victors. Linking
with a selected place you retrieve all available information about that place
and their Olympic victors.
Acharnae, ancient municipality,
Attica
Acragas,
ancient town, Sicily
Acriae,
ancient town, Laconia
Aeolis,
ancient country, (Turkey)
Aetolia,
ancient country, Greece
Adana, ancient town, Cilicia
(Turkey)
Adramyttium, ancient town,
Aeolis (Turkey)
Aegeira, ancient town,
Achaia
Aigai, ancient town, Aeolis
(Turkey)
Alexandria, ancient town,
Egypt
Ambracia,
ancient town, Epirus
Amfissa,
ancient town, Ozolian Locris
Amphipolis,
ancient town, Serres
Amyclae,
ancient town, Laconia
Anthedon,
ancient town, Boeotia
Anticyra,
ancient town, Boeotia
Antiochia,
ancient town, ancient Syria, (today Turkey)
Antissa,
ancient town, Lesbos
Apameia,
ancient town, Bithynia (Turkey)
Argos,
ancient town, Argolis
Aspendus,
ancient town, Pamphylia (Turkey)
Assos, ancient town, Aeolis
(Turkey)
Athens,
ancient town, Attica
Azania, ancient country,
Arcadia
Barca, ancient town, Libya
Camarina,
ancient town, Sicily
Cappadocia, ancient country,
(Turkey)
Caria, ancient country,
(Turkey)
Carystos, ancient town,
Euboea
Caulonia, ancient town,
Italy
Cea,
island, Greece
Ceramus, ancient town,
Caria (Turkey)
Chalcis, ancient town,
Euboea
Chios, ancient town, Chios
island
Clazomenae,
ancient town, Ionia (Turkey)
Cleitor, ancient town,
Kalavryta
Cleonae, ancient town,
Corinthia
Cnossus, ancient town,
Crete
Colophon, ancient town,
Ionia (Turkey)
Corfu, island, Greece
Corinthos,
ancient town, Peloponissos
Crannon, ancient town,
Thessalia
Crete, island, Greece
Croton, ancient town, Italy
Cydonia, ancient town,
Crete
Cyme, ancient town, Aeolis
(Turkey)
Cyparissia, ancient town,
Laconia
Cyrene, ancient town, Libya
Cyzicus,
ancient town, Phrygia (Turkey)
Delphi,
ancient town, Phocis
Dipaea, ancient town, Mantineia
Dyme, ancient town, Achaia
Dyspontium, ancient town,
Elia
Eghio,
ancient town, Achaia
Egina,
ancient town, Attica
Elateia, ancient town,
Fthiotis
Elia,
ancient country, Greece
Ephesus,
ancient town, Ionia (Turkey)
Epidaurus,
ancient town, Argolis
Eretria,
ancient town, Euboea
Gela,
ancient town, Sicily
Halicarnassus,
ancient town, Caria (Turkey)
Heraea,
ancient town, Arcadia
Himera,
ancient town, Sicily
Hypaepa,
ancient town, Lydia (Turkey)
Ialysos,
ancient town, Rhodes
Kos, ancient town, Greece
Laciadae, ancient municipality,
Attica
Lakedemon, ancient country,
Peloponissos
Laodicea-ad-Lycum,
ancient town, Phrygia (Turkey)
Larissa, ancient town,
Thessalia
Lepreum, ancient town,
Elia
Lindus, ancient town, Rhodes
Lycia, ancient country,
(Turkey)
Macedonia, ancient country,
Greece
Maenalus,
ancient town, Arcadia
Magnesia-ad-Maeandrum,
ancient town, Aeolis (Turkey)
Magnesia-ad-Sipylum,
ancient town, Lydia (Turkey)
Mantineia, ancient town,
Arcadia
Maroneia, ancient town,
Rodopi
Megalopolis, ancient town,
Arcadia
Megara, ancient town, Attica
Messene, ancient town,
Peloponissos
Messenia, ancient country,
Peloponissos
Messina (Zancle), ancient
town, Sicily
Miletus,
ancient town, Ionia (Turkey)
Mytilene, ancient town,
Lesbos
Naxos, ancient town, Sicily
Nicaea, ancient town, Bithynia
(Turkey)
Opus, ancient town, Opoundian
Locris
Oresteion, ancient town,
Arcadia
Parrhasia, ancient country,
Arcadia
Parrhasia, ancient town,
Arcadia
Patra, ancient town, Achaia
Pelinna, ancient town,
Thessalia
Pellene, ancient town,
Corinthia
Peparethus, ancient town,
Skopelos
Pergamus, ancient town,
Mysia (Turkey)
Pharsalus, ancient town,
Thessalia
Pheneos, ancient town,
Corinthia
Phigalia, ancient town,
Elia
Philadelphia, ancient town,
Lydia (Turkey)
Pisa,
ancient town, Elia
Poseidonia, ancient town,
Italy
Prussa, ancient town, Bithynia
(Turkey)
Rhegion, ancient town,
Italy
Rodos, ancient town, Greece
Rome, ancient town, Italy
Salamis, island, Greece
Salamis, ancient town,
Cyprus
Samos, ancient town, Greece
Sardes, ancient town, Lydia
(Turkey)
Scotussa, ancient town,
Thessalia
Sicyon,
ancient town, Corinthia
Sidon,
ancient town, Phoenice (Lebanon)
Smyrna, ancient town, Ionia
(Turkey)
Sparta, ancient town, Laconia
Stratonikeia, ancient town,
Caria (Turkey)
Stratus, ancient town,
Acarnania
Stymphalus, ancient town,
Corinthia
Sybaris, ancient town,
Italy
Syracusae, ancient town,
Sicily
Taras, ancient town, Italy
Tarsus, ancient town, Cilicia
(Turkey)
Tegea, ancient municipality,
Arcadia
Tenedos, island, Aeolis
(Turkey)
Thassos, ancient town,
Greece
Thebes,
ancient town, Boeotia
Thelpusa,
ancient town, Arcadia
Thespiae, ancient town,
Boeotia
Thessalia, ancient country,
Greece
Thuria,
ancient town, Messinia
Thurii, ancient town, Italy
Thyateira, ancient town,
Lydia (Turkey)
Tinos,
island, Greece
Tiryns, ancient town, Argolis
Tralleis, ancient town,
Ionia (Turkey)
Tritaea, ancient town,
Achaia
Troas, ancient country,
(Turkey)
Troezen, ancient town,
Argolis
Troy,
ancient town, Troas (Turkey)
Tyana, ancient town, Cappadocia
(Turkey)
Zacynthus, ancient town,
Greece
ILIA (Ancient country) GREECE
Son of Theogonus, an Elean, soothsayer of race of Clytids, Olympic victor.
Aristeides. An Elean, conquered in the armed race at the Olympic, in the Diaulos at the Pythian, and in the boys' horse-race at the Nemean games. (Paus. vi. 16.3)
An Elean, Olympic victor.
Son of Lysianax, an Elean, Olympic victor.
Victor at boys' boxing, 40 BC, 185th Olympiad and at boxing, 32 BC, 187th Olympiad.
LEPREON (Ancient city) ILIA
Son of Euphron, a Leprean, Olympic victor.
ILIA (Ancient country) GREECE
Olympic victor, 488 BC, 73rd Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 444 BC, 84th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 432 BC, 87th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 320 BC, 115th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 316 BC, 116th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 308 BC, 118th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 304 BC, 119th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 300 BC, 120th Olympiad.
Boys' boxing 72 BC, 177th Olympiad.
Champion at boys' boxing, 40 BC, 185th Olympiad and at boxing, 32 BC, 187th Olympiad.
LEPREON (Ancient city) ILIA
Son of Theantus, a Leprean, Olympic victor.
Boys' boxing, 420 BC, 90th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 632 BC, 37th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 380 BC, 100th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 300 BC, 120th Olympiad.
LEPREON (Ancient city) ILIA
Son of Calliteles, a Leprean, Olympic victor.
ILIA (Ancient country) GREECE
Olympic victor, 436 BC, 86th Olympiad, makes peace between Eleans and Achaeans, loved by Phidias.
An Elean, Olympic victor.
An Elean, Olympic victor.
Son of Paraballon, an Elean, Olympic victor.
An Elean, Olympic victor, inscribes names of Olympic victors at Olympia.
Evanoridas, (Euanoridas), an Elean, was one of the prisoners taken by Lycus of Pharae, the lieutenant-general of the Achaeans, in B. C. 217, when he defeated Euripides the Aetolian, who had been sent, at the request of the Eleans, to supersede the former commander Pyrrhias. (Polyb. v. 94.) Pausanias (vi. 8) mentions Evanoridas as having won the boys'prize for wrestling at the Olympic and Nemean games, and as having drawn up a list of the Olympic victors, when he afterwards held the office of Hellanodikes.
An Elean, Olympic victor.
An Elean wrestler, son of Damonicus, fined.
Son of Philys, an Elean, Olympic victor.
Chariot race 84 BC, 174th Olympiad.
Chariot race, 84 BC, 174th Olympiad.
Chariot race, 60 BC, 180th Olympiad.
Chariot race, 1 AD, 195th Olympiad.
An Elean, Olympic victor.
Chariot race, 96 BC, 171st Olympiad.
An Elean, Olympic victor.
Olympic victor, inscribes names of Olympic victors in gymnasium at Olympia.
PISSA (Ancient city) ANCIENT OLYMPIA
A Pisan, Olympic victor.
Event unknown, 96 BC, 171st Olympiad.
Event unknown, 76 BC, 176th Olympiad.
Son of Thrasybulus, an Elean.
Foals with riders race, 56 BC, 181st Olympiad.
Foals with riders race, 52 BC, 182nd Olympiad.
Foals with riders race, 1 AD, 195th Olympiad.
Foals with riders race, 53 AD, 208th Olympiad.
DYSPONTION (Ancient city) PYRGOS
672 BC, 27th Olympiad.
ILIA (Ancient country) GREECE
Son of Aegyptus, an Elean, Olympic victor in the chariot-race, father of Aesypus.
An Elean, Olympic victor.
An Elean, Olympic victor.
Chariot-race, 84 BC, 174th Olympiad.
Chariot-race, 84 BC, 174th Olympiad.
Chariot-race, 76 BC, 176th Olympiad.
Chariot- race, 72 BC, 177th Olympiad.
Chariot- race (or synoris) 52 BC, 182nd Olympiad.
Chariot- race 153 AD, 233rd Olympiad.
Messengers 396 BC, 96th Olympiad.
FIGALIA (Ancient city) ILIA
Arrhachion, of Phigalea in Arcadia, a celebrated Pancratiast, conquered in the Olympic games in the 52nd, 53rd and 54th Olympiads. In the last Olympiad he was unfairly killed by his antagonist, and was therefore crowned and proclaimed as conqueror, although dead. (Paus. viii. 40.2). Philostratus calls him Arrichion, and Africanus (ap. Euseb. Chron.) Arichion.
LEPREON (Ancient city) ILIA
A Leprean, Olympic victor.
Antiochus (Antiochos), an Arcadian, was the envoy sent by his state to the Persian court in B. C. 367, when embassies went to Susa from most of the Grecian states. The Arcadians, probably through the influence of Pelopidas, the Theban ambassador, were treated as of less importance than the Eleans--an affront which Antiochus resented by refusing the presents of the king. (Xen. Hell. vii. 1. § 33, &c.) Xenophon says, that Antiochus had conquered in the pancratium; and Pausanias informs us (vi. 3. § 4), that Antiochus, the pancratiast, was a native of Lepreum, and that he conquered in this contest once in the Olympic games, twice in the Nemean, and twice in the Isthmian. His statue was made by Nicodamus. Lepreum was claimed by the Arcadians as one of their towns, whence Xenophon calls Antiochus an Arcadian; but it is more usually reckoned as belonging to Elis.
ILIA (Ancient country) GREECE
Olympic victor, 452 BC, 82nd Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 384 BC, 99th Olympiad.
Hysmon, (Husmon), an Eleian athlete, who began when a boy to practise the pentathlon as a cure for rheumatism, and who was victorious in that kind of contest, once in the Olympian games, and once in the Nemean: from the Isthmian games the Eleians were excluded. His statue in the Altis at Olympia, representing him as holding old-fashioned halteres, was the work of Cleon. (Paus. vi. 3.4.)
An Elean, Olympic victor, commands Elean cavalry.
Pentathlum 252 BC, 132nd Olympiad.
An Elean, victorious in the pentathlum in all the Greek games except the Isthmian.
DYSPONTION (Ancient city) PYRGOS
Stadion 772 BC, 2nd Olympiad.
Coroebus, (Koroibos). an Elean, who gained a victory in the stadium at the Olympian games in Ol. 1. (B. C. 776.) According to tradition, he slew the daemon Poene, whom Apollo had sent into the country of the Argives. He was represented on his tomb in the act of killing Poene, and his statue, which was made of stone, was one of the most ancient that Pausanias saw in the whole of Greece. (Paus. i. 43.7, 44.1, v. 8.3, viii. 26.2; Strab. viii.)
An Elean, Olympic victor, 750 BC, 5th Olympiad.
Stadium 572 BC, 52nd Olympiad.
Stadium 540 BC, 60th Olympiad.
An Elean, Olympic victor.
Stadium 392 AD, 97th Olympiad.
Olympic victor, 380 BC, 100th Olympiad.
Trumpeter 396 BC, 96th Olympiad.
Chariot race and four horse chariot, 72 BC, 177th Olympiad.
Caper (Kapros), of Elis, the son of one Pythagoras, who acquired great renown from obtaining the victory in wrestling and the pancratium on the same day, in the Olympic games. (Ol. 142, B. C. 212.) He is said to have been the first after Heracles, according to Pausanias, or the second, according to Africanus, who conquered in these two contests on the same day. (Paus. v. 21.5, vi. 15.3, 6; Euseb. Ell. dl.)
FIGALIA (Ancient city) ILIA
Son of Damaretus, a Phigalian, Olympic victor.
ILIA (Ancient country) GREECE
Son of Aeschylus, an Elean, Olympic victor.
Son of Thrasis, an Elean, Olympic victor.
Wrestling 272 BC, 127th Olympiad.
Son of Damatrius, an Elean, Olympic victor.
Son of Silenus, an Elean, Olympic victor.
Riding horse 228 BC, 138th Olympiad.
Riding horse 84 BC, 174th Olympiad.
Riding horse, 84 BC, 174th Olympiad.
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