τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου μοι πρόεισιν ὁ λόγος ἔς τε τῶν ἀνδριάντων καὶ ἐς τῶν ἀναθημάτων ἐξήγησιν. ἀναμῖξαι δὲ οὐκ ἀρεστὰ ἦν μοι τὸν ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς λόγον. ἐν ἀκροπόλει μὲν γὰρ τῇ Ἀθήνῃσιν οἵ τε ἀνδριάντες καὶ ὁπόσα ἄλλα, τὰ πάντα ἐστὶν ὁμοίως ἀναθήματα· ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἄλτει τὰ μὲν τιμῇ τῇ ἐς τὸ θεῖον ἀνάκεινται, οἱ δὲ ἀνδριάντες τῶν νικώντων ἐν ἄθλου λόγῳ σφίσι καὶ οὗτοι δίδονται. τῶν μὲν δὴ ἀνδριάντων ποιησόμεθα καὶ ὕστερον μνήμην· ἐς δὲ τὰ ἀναθήματα ἡμῖν τραπήσεται πρότερα ὁ λόγος, τὰ ἀξιολογώτατα αὐτῶν ἐπερχομένοις.
ἰόντι γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ στάδιον τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ Μητρῴου, ἔστιν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ κατὰ τὸ πέρας τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ Κρονίου λίθου τε πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ ὄρει κρηπὶς καὶ ἀναβασμοὶ διʼ αὐτῆς· πρὸς δὲ τῇ κρηπῖδι ἀγάλματα Διὸς ἀνάκειται χαλκᾶ. ταῦτα ἐποιήθη μὲν ἀπὸ χρημάτων ἐπιβληθείσης ἀθληταῖς ζημίας ὑβρίσασιν ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα, καλοῦνται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων Ζᾶνες.
πρῶτοι δὲ ἀριθμὸν ἓξ ἐπὶ τῆς ὀγδόης ἔστησαν καὶ ἐνενηκοστῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος· Εὔπωλος γὰρ Θεσσαλὸς χρήμασι διέφθειρε τοὺς ἐλθόντας τῶν πυκτῶν, Ἀγήτορα Ἀρκάδα καὶ Πρύτανιν Κυζικηνόν, σὺν δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ Φορμίωνα Ἁλικαρνασσέα μὲν γένος, Ὀλυμπιάδι δὲ τῇ πρὸ ταύτης κρατήσαντα. τοῦτο ἐξ ἀθλητῶν ἀδίκημα ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα πρῶτον γενέσθαι λέγουσι, καὶ πρῶτοι χρήμασιν ἐζημιώθησαν ὑπὸ Ἠλείων Εὔπωλος καὶ οἱ δεξάμενοι δῶρα παρὰ Εὐπώλου. δύο μὲν δὴ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἔργα Κλέωνος Σικυωνίου· τὰ δὲ ἐφεξῆς τέσσαρα ὅστις ἐποίησεν, οὐκ ἴσμεν.
τῶν δὲ ἀγαλμάτων τούτων παρέντι τρίτον τε ἐξ αὐτῶν καὶ τέταρτον, γεγραμμένα ἐλεγεῖά ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις. ἐθέλει δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τῶν ἐλεγείων δηλοῦν ὡς οὐ χρήμασιν ἀλλὰ ὠκύτητι τῶν ποδῶν καὶ ὑπὸ ἰσχύος σώματος Ὀλυμπικὴν ἔστιν εὑρέσθαι νίκην, τὸ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ δευτέρῳ φησὶν ὡς τὸ ἄγαλμα ἕστηκε τιμῇ τε τῇ ἐς τὸ θεῖον καὶ ὑπὸ εὐσεβείας τῆς Ἠλείων καὶ ἀθληταῖς παρανομοῦσιν εἶναι δέος· πέμπτῳ δὲ καὶ ἕκτῳ, τῷ μέν ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ ἐπιγράμματος γνώμη τά τε ἄλλα ἐς ἔπαινον Ἠλείων καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐπὶ τῇ ζημίᾳ τῶν πυκτῶν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ ὑπολοίπῳ διδασκαλίαν πᾶσιν Ἕλλησιν εἶναι τὰ ἀγάλματα μηδένα ἐπὶ Ὀλυμπικῇ νίκῃ διδόναι χρήματα.
Εὐπώλου δὲ ὕστερόν φασιν Ἀθηναῖον Κάλλιππον ἀθλήσαντα πένταθλον ἐξωνήσασθαι τοὺς ἀνταγωνιουμένους χρήμασι, δευτέραν δὲ ἐπὶ ταῖς δέκα τε καὶ ἑκατὸν Ὀλυμπιάδα εἶναι ταύτην. ἐπιβληθείσης δὲ τῷ Καλλίππῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀνταγωνισαμένοις ζημίας ὑπὸ Ἠλείων, ἀποστέλλουσιν Ὑπερείδην Ἀθηναῖοι πείσοντα Ἠλείους ἀφεῖναί σφισι τὴν ζημίαν· ἀπειπόντων δὲ Ἠλείων τὴν χάριν, ἐχρῶντο ὑπεροψίᾳ τοιᾷδε ἐς αὐτοὺς οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, οὔτε ἀποδιδόντες τὰ χρήματα καὶ Ὀλυμπίων εἰργόμενοι, πρὶν ἤ σφισιν ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἐν Δελφοῖς οὐ πρότερον ἔφησεν ὑπὲρ οὐδενὸς χρήσειν πρὶν ἢ τὴν ζημίαν ἀποδοῖεν Ἠλείοις.
οὕτω δὴ ἀποδόντων ἐποιήθη τῷ Διὶ ἀγάλματα, ἓξ μὲν καὶ ταῦτα, γέγραπται δὲ ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς ἐλεγεῖα οὐδέν τι δεξιώτερα ἐς ποίησιν ἢ τὰ ἔχοντα τὴν ζημίαν τὴν Εὐπώλου. γνῶμαι δέ εἰσι τῶν ἐπιγραμμάτων, πρῶτον μὲν ἀνατεθῆναι τὰ ἀγάλματα μαντείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τιμήσαντος τὰ ἐς τοὺς πεντάθλους δόξαντα Ἠλείοις, τὸ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ δευτέρῳ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἐπὶ τῷ τρίτῳ Ἠλείους ἐπαινοῦντά ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῶν πεντάθλων τῇ ζημίᾳ·
τὸ τέταρτον δὲ ἐθέλει λέγειν τὸν Ὀλυμπίασιν ἀγῶνα ἀρετῆς εἶναι καὶ οὐ χρημάτων, τὰ δὲ ἐπιγράμματα τὰ ἐπὶ τῷ πέμπτῳ τε καὶ ἕκτῳ, τὸ μὲν αὐτῶν δηλοῖ καθʼ ἥντινα αἰτίαν ἀνετέθη τὰ ἀγάλματα, τὸ δὲ ἀναμιμνήσκει τοῦ χρησμοῦ τοῦ Ἀθηναίοις ἐλθόντος ἐκ Δελφῶν.
τῶν δὲ κατειλεγμένων τὰ ἐφεξῆς ἀγάλματα δύο μέν ἐστιν ἀριθμόν, ἀνετέθη δὲ ἐπιτεθείσης παλαισταῖς ἀνδράσι ζημίας· οἵτινες δὲ ἐκαλοῦντο, ἐμέ γε ἢ τοὺς Ἠλείων λέληθεν ἐξηγητάς. ἐπιγράμματα μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις τοῖς ἀγάλμασιν ἔπεστι, λέγει δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον αὐτῶν ὡς τῷ Ὀλυμπίῳ Διὶ Ῥόδιοι χρήματα ὑπὲρ ἀνδρὸς ἀδικίας ἐκτίσαιεν παλαιστοῦ, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον ὡς ἀνδρῶν ἐπὶ δώροις παλαισάντων ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιβληθέντων χρημάτων αὐτοῖς γένοιτο τὸ ἄγαλμα.
τὰ δὲ ἐπίλοιπα ἐς τοὺς ἀθλητὰς τούτους οἱ ἐξηγηταὶ λέγουσιν οἱ Ἠλείων, ὀγδόην μὲν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν Ὀλυμπιάδα εἶναι, λαβεῖν δὲ Εὔδηλον παρὰ Φιλοστράτου χρήματα, τοῦτον δὲ εἶναι τὸν Φιλόστρατον Ῥόδιον. τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ διάφορα ὄντα εὕρισκον τὰ Ἠλείων ἐς τοὺς Ὀλυμπιονίκας γράμματα· ἔστι γὰρ δὴ ἐν τοῖς γράμμασι τούτοις Στράτωνα Ἀλεξανδρέα Ὀλυμπιάδι ὀγδόῃ μετὰ τὰς ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐπὶ ἡμέρας ἀνελέσθαι τῆς αὐτῆς παγκρατίου καὶ πάλης νίκην. Ἀλεξανδρείας δὲ τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ Κανωβικῷ τοῦ Νείλου στόματι Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν οἰκιστὴς ἐγένετο ὁ Φιλίππου, λέγεται δὲ καὶ πρότερον ἔτι πόλισμα Αἰγυπτίων ἐνταῦθα οὐ μέγα εἶναι Ῥακῶτιν·
Στράτωνος δὲ τούτου τρεῖς μὲν ἡλικίᾳ πρότερον, τοσοῦτοι δὲ ἄλλοι μετʼ αὐτόν εἰσι δῆλοι τὸν κότινον παγκρατίου τε ἆθλα εἰληφότες καὶ πάλης, Κάπρος μὲν ἐξ αὐτῆς Ἤλιδος, Ἑλλήνων δὲ τῶν πέραν Αἰγαίου Ῥόδιός τε Ἀριστομένης καὶ Μαγνήτων τῶν ἐπὶ Ληθαίῳ Πρωτοφάνης. οἱ δὲ ὕστερον τοῦ Στράτωνος Μαρίων τε πόλεως ἐκείνῳ τῆς αὐτῆς καὶ Στρατονικεὺς Ἀριστέας—τὰ δὲ παλαιότερα ἥ τε χώρα καὶ ἡ πόλις ἐκαλεῖτο Χρυσαορίς—, ἕβδομος δὲ Νικόστρατος ἐκ τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ Κιλίκων, οὐδὲν τοῖς Κίλιξιν αὐτοῦ μετὸν εἰ μὴ ὅσα τῷ λόγῳ.
τοῦτον τὸν Νικόστρατον νήπιον παῖδα ἔτι ἐκ Πρυμνησσοῦ λῃσταὶ τῆς Φρυγῶν ἥρπασαν, οἰκίας ὄντα οὐκ ἀφανοῦς· κομισθέντα δὲ αὐτὸν ἐς Αἰγέας ὠνήσατο ὅστις δή. χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον τῷ ἀνδρὶ τούτῳ ὄνειρον γίνεται· λέοντος δὲ ἔδοξεν ὑπὸ τῷ σκίμποδι κατακεῖσθαι σκύμνον, ἐφʼ ᾧ ἐκάθευδεν ὁ Νικόστρατος. Νικοστράτῳ μὲν δή, ὡς ηὐξήθη, καὶ ἄλλαι νῖκαι καὶ Ὀλυμπίασιν ἐγένοντο παγκρατίου καὶ πάλης.
χρήμασι δὲ ὑπὸ Ἠλείων ἕτεροί τε ὕστερον καὶ Ἀλεξανδρεὺς ἐζημιώθη πύκτης Ὀλυμπιάδι ἐπὶ ταῖς διακοσίαις ὀγδόῃ τε καὶ δεκάτῃ. ὄνομα μὲν τῷ ζημιωθέντι Ἀπολλώνιος, ἐπίκλησις δὲ ἦν Ῥάντης· καί πως καὶ ἐπιχώριον τὸ ἐς τὰς ἐπικλήσεις τοῖς Ἀλεξανδρεῦσίν ἐστιν. οὗτος ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀδικεῖν ὑπὸ Ἠλείων κατεγνώσθη πρῶτος Αἰγυπτίων·
κατεγνώσθη δὲ οὐ δοῦναι χρήματα ἢ λαβεῖν αὐτός, ἀλλὰ τοιόνδε ἄλλο ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐξυβρίσαι. ἀφίκετο οὐκ ἐς τὸν εἰρημένον καιρόν, καὶ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ Ἠλείων πειθομένων τῷ νόμῳ ἐλείπετο τοῦ ἀγῶνος εἴργεσθαι· τὴν γάρ οἱ πρόφασιν, ὡς ἐν ταῖς Κυκλάσι νήσοις ὑπὸ ἀνέμων κατείχετο ἐναντίων, Ἡρακλείδης γένος καὶ αὐτὸς Ἀλεξανδρεὺς ἤλεγχεν ἀπάτην οὖσαν· ὑστερῆσαι γὰρ χρήματα ἐκ τῶν ἀγώνων αὐτὸν ἐκλέγοντα τῶν ἐν Ἰωνίᾳ.
οὕτω δὴ τόν τε Ἀπολλώνιον καὶ εἰ δή τις ἄλλος ἧκεν οὐ κατὰ προθεσμίαν τῶν πυκτῶν, τούτους μὲν οἱ Ἠλεῖοι τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἀπελαύνουσι, τῷ Ἡρακλείδῃ δὲ τὸν στέφανον παριᾶσιν ἀκονιτί· ἐνταῦθα ὁ Ἀπολλώνιος κατεσκευάσατό τε τοῖς ἱμᾶσιν ὡς ἐς μάχην καὶ ἐσδραμὼν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἡρακλείδην ἥπτετο ἐπικειμένου τε ἤδη τὸν κότινον καὶ καταπεφευγότος ἐς τοὺς Ἑλλανοδίκας. τούτῳ μὲν δὴ ἔμελλε τὸ κοῦφον τοῦ νοῦ βλάβος μέγα ἔσεσθαι, ἔστι δὲ καὶ
ἄλλα δύο τέχνης τῆς ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἀγάλματα· ἕκτῃ γὰρ ἐπὶ ταῖς εἴκοσι καὶ διακοσίαις Ὀλυμπιάδι πύκτας ἄνδρας, ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς μαχομένους τῆς νίκης, ἐφώρασαν συνθεμένους ὑπὲρ λήμματος. ἀντὶ τούτων μὲν ἐγένετο ζημία· ποιηθέντων δὲ ἀγαλμάτων Διὸς τὸ μὲν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τῆς ἐς τὸ στάδιον ἐσόδου, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον αὐτῶν ἕστηκεν ἐν δεξιᾷ. τοῖς δὲ πύκταις τούτοις Δίδας τε ὄνομα ἦν καὶ τῷ τὰ χρήματα δόντι αὐτῶν Σαραπάμμων· νομοῦ δὲ ἦσαν τοῦ αὐτοῦ, νεωτάτου τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, καλουμένου δὲ Ἀρσινοΐτου.
θαῦμα μὲν δὴ καὶ ἄλλως ἐν οὐδενὸς λόγῳ τὸν θεὸν θέσθαι τὸν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ δέξασθαί τινα ἢ δοῦναι δῶρα ἐπὶ τῷ ἀγῶνι· μείζονος δὲ ἔτι θαύματος, εἴ γε καὶ αὐτῶν ἐτόλμησεν ἤδη τις Ἠλείων. λέγεται δὲ ὡς Δαμόνικος τολμήσειεν Ἠλεῖος δευτέρᾳ πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατὸν καὶ ἐνενήκοντα Ὀλυμπιάδι· συνεστηκέναι μὲν γὰρ παλαίοντας ἐπὶ τῷ στεφάνῳ τόν τε τοῦ Δαμονίκου παῖδα Πολύκτορα καὶ Σώσανδρον γένος Σμυρναῖον, ὁμώνυμον τῷ πατρί· Δαμόνικον δέ, ἅτε περισσῶς ἐπιθυμοῦντα γενέσθαι τῷ παιδὶ τὴν νίκην, δοῦναι τοῦ Σωσάνδρου τῷ πατρὶ χρήματα.
ὡς δὲ ἐγεγόνει τὰ πραχθέντα ἔκπυστα, ἐπιβάλλουσιν οἱ Ἑλλανοδίκαι ζημίαν, ἐπιβάλλουσι δὲ οὐ τοῖς παισίν, ἀλλὰ ἐς τοὺς πατέρας ἔτρεψαν τὴν ὀργήν· οὗτοι γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἠδίκουν. ἀπὸ ταύτης τῆς ζημίας ἀγάλματα ἐποιήθη· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐν τῷ Ἠλείων ἀνάκειται γυμνασίῳ, τὸ δὲ τῆς Ἄλτεως πρὸ τῆς Ποικίλης στοᾶς καλουμένης, ὅτι ἦσαν ἐπὶ τῶν τοίχων γραφαὶ τὸ ἀρχαῖον. εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ τὴν στοὰν ταύτην καὶ Ἠχοῦς ὀνομάζουσι· βοήσαντι δὲ ἀνδρὶ ἑπτάκις ὑπὸ τῆς ἠχοῦς ἡ φωνή, τὰ δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον ἔτι ἀποδίδοται.
παγκρατιαστὴν δέ φασιν Ἀλεξανδρέα, ὄνομα δὲ εἶναί οἱ Σαραπίωνα, τοῦτον ἐν Ὀλυμπιάδι τῇ πρώτῃ μετὰ τὰς διακοσίας ἐς τοσοῦτο δεῖσαι τοὺς ἀνταγωνιστὰς ὥστε ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ πρότερον ἢ ἐσκληθήσεσθαι τὸ παγκράτιον ἔμελλεν ἀποδράντα οἴχεσθαι. τοῦτον ζημιωθέντα ἐπὶ δειλίᾳ μόνον τῶν τε ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων καὶ αὐτῶν μνημονεύουσιν Αἰγυπτίων. ταῦτα μὲν τὰ κατειλεγμένα ἐπὶ αἰτίαις τοιαῖσδε ποιηθέντα εὕρισκον·
I will now proceed to describe the statues and the dedicatory offerings, but I think it best not to mix up the descriptions of them together. For although on the Acropolis at Athens the statues and everything else are all alike dedicatory offerings, it is not so in the Altis, where, while some of the objects are dedicated to the honour of the gods, the statues of the victors are merely one of the prizes assigned to the successful competitors. The statues I will mention afterwards, but first I will turn to the dedicatory offerings and go over the most remarkable of them.
On the way from the Metroum to the stadium there is on the left, at the foot of Mount Cronius, a terrace of stone close to the mountain, and steps lead up through the terrace. At the terrace stand bronze images of Zeus. These images were made from the fines imposed on athletes who wantonly violated the rules of the games: they are called Zanes (Zeuses) by the natives. At first six were set up in the ninety-eighth Olympiad ; for Eupolus, a Thessalian, bribed the boxers who presented themselves, to wit, Agetor, an Arcadian, Prytanis of Cyzicus, and Phormio of Halicarnassus, the last of whom had been victorious in the preceding Olympiad. They say that this was the first offence committed by athletes against the rules of the games, and Eupolus and the men he bribed were the first who were fined by the Eleans. Two of the images are by Cleon of Sicyon: I do not know who made the next four. These images, with the exception of the third and fourth, bear inscriptions in elegiac verse. The purport of the verses on the first is that an Olympic victory is to be gained, not by money, but by fleetness of foot and strength of body. The verses on the second declare that the image has been set up in honour of the deity and by the piety of the Eleans, and to be a terror to athletes who transgress. The sense of the inscription on the fifth image is a general praise of the Eleans, with a particular reference to the punishment of the boxers; and on the sixth and last it is stated that the images are a warning to all the Greeks not to give money for the purpose of gaining an Olympic victory.
After Eupolus they say that Callippus, an Athenian, a competitor in the pentathlum, bribed his antagonists, and that this happened in the hundred and twelfth Olympiad. A fine being imposed on Callippus and his antagonists by the Eleans, the Athenians sent Hyperides to persuade them to remit the fine. As the Eleans refused this favour, the Athenians treated them with great disdain, neither paying the money nor attending the games, till the god at Delphi declared that he would give them no oracle about anything till they paid the fine to the Eleans. So they paid it, and six more images were made for Zeus, inscribed with verses not a whit better than those about the punishment of Eupolus. The purport of the first inscription is that the images were set up in consequence of an oracle of the god who respected the decision of the Eleans touching the pentathletes. The inscriptions on the second and third images are in praise of the Eleans for punishing the pentathletes. The fourth declares that the Olympic games are a contest of manliness and not of money: the inscription on the fifth explains for what cause the images were set up; and the sixth recalls the oracle which was sent to the Athenians from Delphi.
The images next to those I have enumerated are two in number, and were dedicated from the proceeds of a fine imposed on wrestlers. [The names of the wrestlers neither I nor the Elean guides knew.] These images also have inscriptions: the first of them states that the Rhodians paid money to Olympian Zeus on account of the knavery of a wrestler; and the other declares that the image was made from the fines imposed on men who had wrestled for bribes.
Furthermore, as to these particular athletes, the Elean guides say that it was in the hundred and seventy-eighth Olympiad that Eudelus accepted a bribe from Philostratus, and that this Philostratus was a Rhodian. I found that the Elean register of the Olympic victors was at variance with this statement. For in that register it is said that Strato, an Alexandrian, in the hundred and seventy-eighth Olympiad, was victorious on the same day in the pancratium and in wrestling. Alexandria, on the Canopic mouth of the Nile, was founded by Alexander, son of Philip; but it is said that there was a small Egyptian town, Rhacotis, on the spot before. Three men before Strato and three after him are known to have won the crown of wild olive both for the pancratium and for wrestling. The first of them was Caprus of Elis, and two were Greeks from beyond the Aegean, namely, Aristomenes, a Rhodian, and Protophanes of Magnesia on the Lethaeus. The three after Strato were Marion, of the same city as Strato, Aristeas of Stratonicea (anciently both the district and the city of Stratonicea were called Chrysaoris), and seventhly, Nicostratus, from Cilicia on the sea, but he was only a Cilician in name. This Nicostratus was a native of Prymnessus in Phrygia: his family was respectable, but in his infancy he was kidnapped by robbers, who took him to Aegeae and sold him to some one. Afterwards his master had a dream: he thought that a lion’s cub lay under the pallet on which Nicostratus was asleep. So when he came to manhood Nicostratus gained victories at Olympia in the pancratium and in wrestling, and he gained other victories elsewhere. Amongst others who were afterwards fined by the Eleans was a boxer of Alexandria in the two hundred and eighteenth Olympiad. The name of the man thus fined was Apollonius, and his surname was Rhantes: the use of surnames is apparently an Alexandrian custom. He was the first Egyptian condemned by the Eleans for misconduct, and he was convicted, not of having given or taken a bribe, but of the following misdemeanour in respect to the games. He did not appear at the appointed time, and therefore the Eleans, in accordance with the law, had no choice but to exclude him from the games. For the excuse he offered, that he had been detained by contrary winds amongst the Cyclades, was proved to be a lie by Heraclides, himself an Alexandrian, who showed that the delay was caused by his stopping to make money at the games in Ionia. So Apollonius and any other of the boxers who did not come at the appointed time were excluded from the games by the Eleans, who allowed the crown to go to Heraclides without a contest. Then Apollonius put on the gloves as if for a fight, and running at Heraclides began to maul him, though Heraclides already had the wild olive on his head, and had taken refuge amongst the umpires. His levity was to cost him dear.
There are also two other images, works of the present age. For in the two hundred and twenty-sixth Olympiad they found that boxers who were contending for victory had made a private monetary agreement. For this a fine was inflicted; and of the images of Zeus which were made, the one stands on the left of the entrance into the stadium, and the other on the right. The name of one of these boxers was Didas, and the name of the one who gave the money was Sarapammon. They both hailed from the same county, Arsinoites, the newest county in Egypt.
It is strange in any case that a man should have no respect for the god of Olympia, and should give or take a bribe for the contest ; but it is stranger still that one of the Eleans themselves should have dared to do so. It is said, however, that Damonicus, an Elean, did so dare in the hundred and ninety-second Olympiad. For Polyctor, son of Damonicus, was pitted against Sosander of Smyrna (whose father’s name was also Sosander), in the wrestling-match, and Damonicus was so exceedingly anxious for his son to be victorious that he bribed Sosander’s father. When this leaked out the umpires imposed a fine. They did not, however, impose it on the sons, but visited their displeasure on the fathers, for it was they who were the wrong-doers. Images were made from the fine thus levied : one of them is set up in the gymnasium at Elis, the other in the Altis in front of the Painted Colonnade, as it is called, because anciently there were paintings on the walls. Some name it the Colonnade of Echo, for the echo repeats a word seven times or even oftener. They say that in the two hundred and first Olympiad a pancratiast of Alexandria, called Sarapion, was so much afraid of his antagonists that the day before the pancratium was to come on he took to his heels. He is the only man, not to say the only Egyptian, who is known to have been fined for cowardice.
Cite This Text