Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER XII.

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.

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.

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.

CHAPTER XIII.

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.

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.

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.

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.”