ἔστι δὲ ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἄλλα ἀναθήματα, κλίνη τε μέγεθος οὐ μεγάλη, τὰ πολλὰ ἐλέφαντι κεκοσμημένη, καὶ ὁ Ἰφίτου δίσκος καὶ τράπεζα ἐφʼ ἧς προτίθενται τοῖς νικῶσιν οἱ στέφανοι. τὴν μὲν δὴ Ἱπποδαμείας λέγουσιν εἶναι παίγνιον· ὁ δὲ τοῦ Ἰφίτου δίσκος τὴν ἐκεχειρίαν, ἣν ἐπὶ τοῖς Ὀλυμπίοις ἐπαγγέλλουσιν Ἠλεῖοι, ταύτην οὐκ ἐς εὐθὺ ἔχει γεγραμμένην, ἀλλὰ ἐς κύκλου σχῆμα περίεισιν ἐπὶ τῷ δίσκῳ τὰ γράμματα.
ἡ τράπεζα δὲ ἐλέφαντος μὲν πεποίηται καὶ χρυσοῦ, Κωλώτου δέ ἐστιν ἔργον· εἶναι δέ φασιν ἐξ Ἡρακλείας τὸν Κωλώτην, οἱ δὲ πολυπραγμονήσαντες σπουδῇ τὰ ἐς τοὺς πλάστας Πάριον ἀποφαίνουσιν ὄντα αὐτόν, μαθητὴν Πασιτέλους, Πασιτέλη δὲ αὐτὸν διδαχθῆναι . καὶ Ἥρα τε καὶ Ζεὺς καὶ θεῶν Μήτηρ καὶ Ἑρμῆς καὶ Ἀπόλλων μετὰ Ἀρτέμιδος πεποίηται· ὄπισθε δὲ ἡ διάθεσίς ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ ἀγῶνος.
κατὰ δὲ ἑκατέραν πλευρὰν τῇ μὲν Ἀσκληπιὸς καὶ τῶν Ἀσκληπιοῦ θυγατέρων Ὑγεία ἐστίν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Ἄρης καὶ Ἀγὼν παρʼ αὐτόν, τῇ δὲ Πλούτων καὶ Διόνυσος Περσεφόνη τε καὶ Νύμφαι, σφαῖραν αὐτῶν ἡ ἑτέρα φέρουσα· ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ κλειδὶ —ἔχει γὰρ δὴ ὁ Πλούτων κλεῖν—, λέγουσιν ἐπʼ αὐτῇ τὸν καλούμενον Ἅιδην κεκλεῖσθαί τε ὑπὸ τοῦ Πλούτωνος καὶ ὡς ἐπάνεισιν οὐδεὶς αὖθις ἐξ αὐτοῦ.
λόγον δέ, ὃν Ἀρίσταρχος ἔλεγεν ὁ τῶν Ὀλυμπίασιν ἐξηγητής, οὔ με εἰκὸς ἦν παριδεῖν· ὃς ἐπὶ τῆς ἡλικίας ἔφη τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τὸν ὄροφον τοῦ Ἡραίου πεπονηκότα ἐπανορθουμένων Ἠλείων ὁπλίτου νεκρὸν τραύματα ἔχοντα μεταξὺ ἀμφοτέρων εὑρεθῆναι, τῆς τε ἐς εὐπρέπειαν στέγης καὶ τῆς ἀνεχούσης τὸν κέραμον· τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα μαχέσασθαι τὴν μάχην τὴν ἐντὸς Ἄλτεως πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους Ἠλείων.
καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν θεῶν τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ ἐς πάντα ὁμοίως τὰ ὑψηλὰ ἐπαναβαίνοντες ἠμύνοντο οἱ Ἠλεῖοι. οὗτος δʼ οὖν ὁ ἀνὴρ ἐφαίνετο ἡμῖν ὑποδῦναι μὲν ἐνταῦθα λιποψυχήσας ὑπὸ τραυμάτων· ὡς δὲ ἀφῆκε τὴν ψυχήν, οὐκ ἔμελλεν ἄρα οὔτε πνῖγος θέρους οὔτε ἐν χειμῶνι κρυμὸς ἔσεσθαι τῷ νεκρῷ βλάβος ἅτε ἐν σκέπῃ πάσῃ κειμένῳ. ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ τόδε ἔτι ὁ Ἀρίσταρχος, ὡς ἐκκομίσαιντο ἐς τὸ ἐκτὸς τῆς Ἄλτεως τὸν νεκρὸν καὶ ὁμοῦ τοῖς ὅπλοις γῇ κρύψαιεν.
ἣν δὲ καλοῦσιν Οἰνομάου κίονα οἱ Ἠλεῖοι , ἔστι μὲν πρὸς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Διὸς ἰόντι ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου βωμοῦ· τέσσαρες δέ εἰσιν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ κίονες καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτῶν ὄροφος, πεποίηνται δὲ ἔρυμα εἶναι ξυλίνῳ κίονι πεπονηκότι ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ὑπὸ δεσμῶν συνεχομένῳ. οὗτος ὁ κίων ἐν οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Οἰνομάου, καθὰ λέγουσιν, εἱστήκει· κεραυνώσαντος δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν μὲν ἄλλην ἠφάνισεν οἰκίαν τὸ πῦρ, ὑπελίπετο δὲ τὸν κίονα ἐξ ἁπάσης μόνον.
πινάκιον δὲ πρὸ αὐτοῦ χαλκοῦν ἐλεγεῖα ἔχει γεγραμμένα· καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ κεινῶν εἴμʼ ὦ ξένε λείψανον οἴκων, / στυλὶς ἐν Οἰνομάου πρίν ποτʼ ἐοῦσα δόμοις· / νῦν δὲ παρὰ Κρονίδην κεῖμαι τάδʼ ἔχουσα τὰ δεσμὰ / τίμιος· οὐδʼ ὀλοὴ δαίσατο φλόξ με πυρός. / συνέβη δὲ καὶ ἄλλο κατʼ ἐμὲ τοιόνδε.
ἀνὴρ βουλῆς τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀνείλετο Ὀλυμπικὴν νίκην· ἐθέλων δὲ ὑπολιπέσθαι τῆς νίκης ὑπόμνημα χαλκῆν εἰκόνα σὺν ἐπιγράμματι, ὤρυσσεν ἐς ποίησιν βάθρου· καὶ ὡς ἐγένετο ἐγγύτατα τὸ ὄρυγμα αὐτῷ τῆς τοῦ Οἰνομάου κίονος, ἐνταῦθα εὕρισκον οἱ ὀρύσσοντες καὶ ὅπλων καὶ χαλινῶν καὶ ψαλίων θραύματα.
ταῦτα μὲν δὴ αὐτὸς ἑώρων ὀρυσσόμενα· ναὸν δὲ μεγέθει οὐ μέγαν καὶ ἐργασίᾳ Δώριον Μητρῷον καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ καλοῦσιν ἔτι, τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῷ διασώζοντες τὸ ἀρχαῖον· κεῖται δὲ οὐκ ἄγαλμα ἐν αὐτῷ θεῶν Μητρός, βασιλέων δὲ ἑστήκασιν ἀνδριάντες Ῥωμαίων. ἔστι δὲ ἐντὸς τῆς Ἄλτεως τό τε Μητρῷον καὶ οἴκημα περιφερὲς ὀνομαζόμενον Φιλιππεῖον· ἐπὶ κορυφῇ δέ ἐστι τοῦ Φιλιππείου μήκων χαλκῆ σύνδεσμος ταῖς δοκοῖς.
τοῦτο τὸ οἴκημα ἔστι μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἔξοδον τὴν κατὰ τὸ πρυτανεῖον ἐν ἀριστερᾷ, πεποίηται δὲ ὀπτῆς πλίνθου, κίονες δὲ περὶ αὐτὸ ἑστήκασι· Φιλίππῳ δὲ ἐποιήθη μετὰ τὸ ἐν Χαιρωνείᾳ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὀλισθεῖν. κεῖνται δὲ αὐτόθι Φίλιππός τε καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος, σὺν δὲ αὐτοῖς Ἀμύντας ὁ Φιλίππου πατήρ· ἔργα δέ ἐστι καὶ ταῦτα Λεωχάρους ἐλέφαντος καὶ χρυσοῦ, καθὰ καὶ τῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος καὶ Εὐρυδίκης εἰσὶν αἱ εἰκόνες.
There are here other offerings also: a small couch mostly adorned with ivory; the quoit of Iphitus; and the table on which the victors’ crowns are displayed. The couch is said to have been a plaything of Hippodamia. On the quoit of Iphitus is inscribed the truce which the Eleans proclaim at the Olympic festival: the inscription is not in a straight line, but the letters run round the quoit in a circle. The table is made of ivory and gold: it is a work of Colotes, who is said to have been a native of Heraclea. But those who have made a special study of the history of the sculptors declare that he was a Parian, a pupil of Pasiteles, and that Pasiteles was himself taught . . . And there are Hera and Zeus, and the Mother of the Gods, and Hermes, and Apollo with Artemis. Behind these is represented the celebration of the games. On the one side there are Aesculapius and Health, one of his daughters, also Ares, and beside him Contest; and on the other side there are Pluto and Dionysus, Proserpine and nymphs, one of them carrying a ball: as to the key which Pluto holds, they say that what is called hell is locked up by Pluto, and that no one will come up out of it again.
I ought not to pass over a story which Aristarchus, the guide at Olympia, told. He said that in his time, when the Eleans were repairing the dilapidated roof of the Heraeum, the wounded corpse of a foot-soldier was found between the ceiling and the roof, and that this soldier had taken part in the battle which the Eleans fought against the Lacedaemonians in the Altis. For the Eleans defended themselves from the roofs of the sanctuaries and from every high place. At all events this man, it seemed to us, must have crept in here faint with his wounds; and after he expired, his body being under complete cover would suffer neither from summer heat nor winter frost. Aristarchus added that they carried the dead man out of the Altis and buried him with his arms.
What the Eleans call the pillar of Oenomaus is as you go from the great altar to the sanctuary of Zeus: on the left there are four pillars with a roof on them. The structure has been erected in order to protect a wooden pillar which is decayed by time and is kept together chiefly by bands. This pillar stood, they say, in the house of Oenomaus, and when the house was struck by lightning the fire which destroyed all the rest of the house spared this pillar alone. A bronze tablet in front of it contains the following inscription in elegiacs :— Stranger, a remnant am I of a famous house, for a pillar Ages ago was I in the mansion of Oenomaus. But now by the temple of Zeus I lie in these bands as you see me. Honoured am I ; and the deadly flame of fire did not devour me.
The following incident occurred in my time. A Roman senator had won an Olympic victory, and desiring to bequeath as a memorial of his victory a bronze statue with an inscription, he dug to make a foundation ; and when the excavation was carried very near to the pillar of Oenomaus, the diggers found there fragments of arms and bridles and curb-chains. I saw them excavated myself.
A small temple in the Doric style still preserves its ancient name of Metroum (‘sanctuary of the Mother’). It contains, not an image of the Mother of the Gods, but statues of Roman emperors. It is within the Altis. Also there is a round building named the Philippeum, on the top of which is a bronze poppy to hold together the beams. This building is on the left of the exit which is at the Prytaneum. It is made of burnt bricks and surrounded by pillars. It was built for Philip after the fall of Greece at Chaeronea. Here are statues of Philip and Alexander, also of Amyntas, the father of Philip. These are also by Leochares, and are made of ivory and gold, like the statues of Olympias and Eurydice.
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