Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

“The Argives Eutelidas and Chrysothemis made these statues, having learnt their art from former generations.”

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.”

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.

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.

CHAPTER XI.

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.

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.