Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

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.

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.”

They say too that Aristides subsequently somewhat improved the invention.

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.

CHAPTER XXI.

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.

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.

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.

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.