[447] P., I, 44.1; Eustath., on Iliad, XXIII, 683, p. 1324, 12 f. Dionys. Hal., Antiq. Rom., VII, 72, says that it was the Spartan Akanthos, who won in a running race, i. e., δόλιχος, in Ol. 16; so also Afr.; see P., V, 8.6; Foerster, 17. Orsippos won the stade-race in Ol. 15: Afr.; Eustath., l. c.; Dionys., l. c. Foerster, 16. But Didymos, schol. on Iliad, XXIII, 683, says that Orsippos won in Ol. 32 ( = 652 B. C.); similarly Etym. magn., p. 242, s. v. γυμνάσια; however, Boeckh, Kleine Schriften, IV, p. 173, has shown that Ol. 15 is right. Isidoros, in a confused passage, Orig., XVIII, 17.2, says that athletes were early girded and dropped the loin-cloth in consequence of a runner getting weary, whence a decree of the time of the archon Hippomenes at Athens (Ol. 14.2) allowed athletes to contend nude; the same story is told in the Schol. Venet. on the Iliad, XXIII, 683; see Foerster, 16.
[448] A. G., App. 272; Cougny, Anth. Pal., 1890, III (App. nov.), p. 4, no. 24; P., I, 44.1, says that his tomb was near that of Koroibos.
[449] C. I. G., I, 1050 (with Boeckh’s commentary on the loin-cloth); C. I. G. G. S., 52; Kaibel, Epigr. Gr., ex lapid. conl., 1878, no. 843; Frazer, II, p. 538. The schol. on Thukyd., I, 6, quotes four lines of it. The name was spelled Orrippos in the Megarian dialect.
[450] Ph., 17. The story is told also by P., V, 6.7–8. Peisirhodos won in Ol. (?) 88 ( = 428 B. C.): P., VI, 7.2; Hyde, 63; Foerster, 314. This brings the change near the end of the fifth century B. C. For the spelling of the name of the victor, see Foerster, l. c.
[451] I. 6. Here the historian is speaking of athletes in general; Dionysios, VII, 72 and P., I, 44.1, speak only of runners.
Scherer, p. 20, n. 1 (following Krause, I, pp. 405 and 501, n. 18) thought that the words of Thukydides (τὸ δὲ πάλαι) referred to the time antedating Ol. 15, and not later, and concluded that in wrestling (introduced in Ol. 18 = 708 B. C.) and boxing (introduced in Ol. 23 = 688 B. C.) the contestants were always nude. Boeckh, however, rightly concluded that the historian meant that in Ol. 15 only the runners laid off the loin-cloth, while other athletes did so just before his day: C. I. G., I, p. 554.
[452] De Rep., 452 D. He says that the custom of nudity was introduced first by the Cretans and then by the Spartans.
[453] Thus von Mach says (p. 240): “They were dedicatory statues representing events that had taken place in honor of the gods,” and adds that on such occasions persons were draped, except where such drapery would cause inconvenience, i. e., in gymnastic contests.
[454] See Gardiner, p. 465, fig. 172.
[455] E. g., the statue in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome: Helbig, Fuehrer, II, no. 973 (fig. 29, p. 557, restored); Guide, 597 (fig. 28); Joubin, p. 134, fig. 40; Reinach, Rép., II, 2, 536.6; B. Com. Rom., XVI, 1888, Pls. XV, XVI, 1, 2, (two views) and XVIII (restored), pp. 335–365 (G. Ghirardini).