Μεσσηνίων δὲ τῶν Δωριέων οἱ Ναύπακτόν ποτε παρὰ Ἀθηναίων λαβόντες ἄγαλμα ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ Νίκης ἐπὶ τῷ κίονι ἀνέθεσαν· τοῦτό ἐστιν ἔργον μὲν Μενδαίου Παιωνίου, πεποίηται δὲ ἀπὸ ἀνδρῶν πολεμίων, ὅτε Ἀκαρνᾶσι καὶ Οἰνιάδαις ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἐπολέμησαν. Μεσσήνιοι δὲ αὐτοὶ λέγουσι τὸ ἀνάθημά σφισιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔργου τοῦ ἐν τῇ Σφακτηρίᾳ νήσῳ μετὰ Ἀθηναίων πραχθέντος εἶναι, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιγράψαι τὸ ὄνομα τῶν πολεμίων σφᾶς τῷ ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων δείματι, ἐπεὶ Οἰνιαδῶν γε καὶ Ἀκαρνάνων οὐδένα ἔχειν φόβον.
τὰ δὲ ἀναθήματα Μικύθου πολλά τε ἀριθμὸν καὶ οὐκ ἐφεξῆς ὄντα εὕρισκον, ἀλλὰ Ἰφίτου μὲν τοῦ Ἠλείου καὶ Ἐκεχειρίας στεφανούσης τὸν Ἴφιτον, τούτων μὲν τῶν εἰκόνων ἔχεται τοσάδε ἀναθήματα τῶν Μικύθου, Ἀμφιτρίτη καὶ Ποσειδῶν τε καὶ Ἑστία· Γλαῦκος δὲ ὁ ποιήσας ἐστὶν Ἀργεῖος. παρὰ δὲ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου τὴν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ πλευρὰν ἀνέθηκεν ἄλλα, Κόρην τὴν Δήμητρος καὶ Ἀφροδίτην Γανυμήδην τε καὶ Ἄρτεμιν, ποιητῶν δὲ Ὅμηρον καὶ Ἡσίοδον, καὶ θεοὺς αὖθις Ἀσκληπιὸν καὶ Ὑγείαν.
Ἀγών τε ἐν τοῖς ἀναθήμασίν ἐστι τοῖς Μικύθου φέρων ἁλτῆρας, οἱ δὲ ἁλτῆρες οὗτοι παρέχονται σχῆμα τοιόνδε· κύκλου παραμηκεστέρου καὶ οὐκ ἐς τὸ ἀκριβέστατον περιφεροῦς εἰσιν ἥμισυ, πεποίηται δὲ ὡς καὶ τοὺς δακτύλους τῶν χειρῶν διιέναι καθάπερ διʼ ὀχάνων ἀσπίδος. τούτων μὲν δὴ σχῆμά ἐστι τὸ εἰρημένον· παρὰ δὲ τοῦ Ἀγῶνος τὴν εἰκόνα Διόνυσος καὶ ὁ Θρᾷξ ἐστιν Ὀρφεὺς καὶ ἄγαλμα Διός, οὗ δὴ καὶ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον ἐπεμνήσθην. ταῦτα ἔργα ἐστὶν Ἀργείου Διονυσίου· τεθῆναι δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ Μικύθου καὶ ἄλλα ὁμοῦ τούτοις λέγουσι, Νέρωνα δὲ ἀφελέσθαι φασὶ καὶ ταῦτα.
τοῖς δὲ ἐργασαμένοις αὐτά, γένος οὖσιν Ἀργείοις, Διονυσίῳ τε καὶ Γλαύκῳ, διδάσκαλόν σφισιν οὐδένα ἐπιλέγουσιν· ἡλικίαν δὲ αὐτῶν ὁ τὰ ἔργα ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν ἀναθεὶς ἐπιδείκνυσιν ὁ Μίκυθος. τὸν γὰρ δὴ Μίκυθον τοῦτον Ἡρόδοτος ἔφη ἐν τοῖς λόγοις, ὡς Ἀναξίλα τοῦ ἐν Ῥηγίῳ τυραννήσαντος γενόμενος δοῦλος καὶ ταμίας τῶν Ἀναξίλα χρημάτων ὕστερον τούτων ἀπιὼν οἴχοιτο ἐς Τεγέαν τελευτήσαντος Ἀναξίλα.
τὰ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀναθήμασιν ἐπιγράμματα καὶ πατέρα Μικύθῳ Χοῖρον καὶ Ἑλληνίδας αὐτῷ πόλεις Ῥήγιόν τε πατρίδα καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πορθμῷ Μεσσήνην δίδωσιν· οἰκεῖν δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐπιγράμματα ἐν Τεγέᾳ φησιν αὐτόν, τὰ δὲ ἀναθήματα ἀνέθηκεν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν εὐχήν τινα ἐκτελῶν ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ παιδὸς νοσήσαντος νόσον φθινάδα.
πλησίον δὲ τῶν μειζόνων ἀναθημάτων Μικύθου, τέχνης δὲ τοῦ Ἀργείου Γλαύκου, Ἀθηνᾶς ἄγαλμα ἕστηκε κράνος ἐπικειμένη καὶ αἰγίδα ἐνδεδυκυῖα· Νικόδαμος μὲν εἰργάσατο ὁ Μαινάλιος, Ἠλείων δέ ἐστιν ἀνάθημα. παρὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν πεποίηται Νίκη· ταύτην Μαντινεῖς ἀνέθεσαν, τὸν πόλεμον δὲ οὐ δηλοῦσιν ἐν τῷ ἐπιγράμματι· Κάλαμις δὲ οὐκ ἔχουσαν πτερὰ ποιῆσαι λέγεται ἀπομιμούμενος τὸ Ἀθήνῃσι τῆς Ἀπτέρου καλουμένης ξόανον.
πρὸς δὲ τοῖς ἐλάσσοσιν ἀναθήμασι τοῦ Μικύθου, ποιηθεῖσι δὲ ὑπὸ Διονυσίου, πρὸς τούτοις Ἡρακλέους ἐστὶ τῶν ἔργων τὸ ἐς τὸν λέοντα τὸν ἐν Νεμέᾳ καὶ ὕδραν τε καὶ ἐς τὸν κύνα τοῦ Ἅιδου καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ Ἐρυμάνθῳ ποταμῷ κάπρον· ἐκόμισαν δὲ αὐτὰ ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν Ἡρακλεῶται Μαριανδυνῶν ὁμόρων βαρβάρων καταδραμόντες τὴν χώραν. ἡ δὲ Ἡράκλεια πεπόλισται μὲν ἐπὶ Εὐξείνῳ πόντῳ, ἀπῳκίσθη δὲ ἐκ Μεγάρων· μετέσχον δὲ καὶ Βοιωτῶν Ταναγραῖοι τοῦ οἰκισμοῦ.
The Dorian Messenians, who received Naupactus from the Athenians, dedicated at Olympia the image of Victory that stands on the pillar. It is a work of Paeonius of Mende, and is made from spoils taken from the enemy, at the time, I think, when they made war on the Acarnanians of Oeniadae. But the Messenians themselves say that the offering is a trophy of the battle in which they fought on the Athenian side in the island of Sphacteria, and that they refrained from inscribing the name of the enemy from fear of the Lacedaemonians ; for, say they, they had no fear of the Acarnanians of Oeniadae.
I found that the votive offerings of Micythus were many, and that they were not all together. Next to the group representing Ecechiria crowning Iphitus the Elean, there are the following offerings of Micythus: Amphitrite, and Poseidon, and Hestia, all made by Glaucus, an Argive. Along the left side of the great temple he dedicated the following: the Maid, the daughter of Demeter, and Aphrodite, and Ganymede, and Artemis, and the poets Homer and Hesiod, and then divinities again, Aesculapius and Health.
Amongst the offerings of Micythus, is a figure of Contest carrying leaping-weights. These leaping-weights are of the following shape: they are half of an elongated, not an accurately round, circle, and they are made so that the fingers slip through them just as through the handle of a shield. Such is their shape. Beside the statue of Contest there are Dionysus, the Thracian Orpheus, and an image of Zeus, which I mentioned a little above. These are works of Dionysius, an Argive. They say that other works were dedicated by Micythus besides these, but that Nero carried them off also. Dionysius and Glaucus, who made them, were Argives, but it is not added who was their master: their date is shown by that of Micythus, who dedicated the works at Olympia.
For Herodotus, in his history, says that this Micythus was slave and steward of Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium, and that afterwards, when Anaxilas died, Micythus departed to Tegea. The inscriptions on the offerings represent the father of Micythus as Choerus, and two Greek cities as his place of abode, namely, Rhegium, his native city, and Messene on the Strait; they also record that he dwelt in Tegea. He dedicated the offerings at Olympia in fulfilment of a vow which he had made for the recovery of a son who had fallen into a decline. 5. Near the greater offerings of Micythus, the works of Glaucus the Argive, stands an image of Athena with a helmet on her head and wearing an aegis: it was made by Nicodamus the Maenalian, and dedicated by the Eleans. Beside the image of Athena is one of Victory, dedicated by the Mantineans, but the war is not mentioned in the inscription. Calamis is said to have made it without wings, in imitation of the wooden image of the Wingless Victory at Athens.
Near the smaller offerings of Micythus, the works of Dionysius, there are representations of some of the labours of Hercules, namely, his contests with the Nemean lion, and the hydra, and the hound of hell, and the boar that had his lair by the river Erymanthus. These pieces were brought to Olympia by the people of Heraclea after they had overrun the territory of the Mariandynians, their barbarous neighbours. Heraclea is built beside the Euxine sea: it was a colony of Megara, but some Boeotians of Tanagra also shared in planting the colony.
Cite This Text