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.
CHAPTER XXIV.
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.”
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.”[74]
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.