κατελύθη δὲ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ ἀγωνίσματα, μεταδόξαν μηκέτι ἄγειν αὐτὰ Ἠλείοις. πένταθλόν τε γὰρ παίδων ἐπὶ τῆς ὀγδόης Ὀλυμπιάδος καὶ τριακοστῆς ἐτέθη, καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ τὸν κότινον Εὐτελίδα Λακεδαιμονίου λαβόντος οὐκέτι ἀρεστὰ Ἠλείοις ἦν πεντάθλους ἐσέρχεσθαι παῖδας. τῆς δὲ ἀπήνης καὶ κάλπης τὸν δρόμον, τὸν μὲν Ὀλυμπιάδι νομισθέντα ἑβδομηκοστῇ, τὸν δὲ τῆς κάλπης τῇ ἐφεξῆς ταύτῃ, κήρυγμα ὑπὲρ ἀμφοτέρων ἐποιήσαντο ἐπὶ τῆς τετάρτης Ὀλυμπιάδος καὶ ὀγδοηκοστῆς μήτε κάλπης τοῦ λοιποῦ μήτε ἀπήνης ἔσεσθαι δρόμον. ὅτε δὲ ἐτέθη πρῶτον, Θερσίου μὲν ἀπήνη Θεσσαλοῦ, Παταίκου δὲ Ἀχαιοῦ τῶν ἐκ Δύμης ἐνίκησεν ἡ κάλπη.
ἦν δὲ ἡ μὲν θήλεια ἵππος, καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ἀποπηδῶντες ἐπὶ τῷ ἐσχάτῳ δρόμῳ συνέθεον ταῖς ἵπποις εἰλημμένοι τῶν χαλινῶν, καθὰ καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι οἱ ἀναβάται καλούμενοι· διάφορα δὲ τοῖς ἀναβάταις ἐς τῆς κάλπης τὸν δρόμον τά τε σημεῖά ἐστι καὶ ἄρσενές σφισιν ὄντες οἱ ἵπποι. ἀπήνῃ δὲ οὔτε τῷ ἀνευρήματι οὐδὲν ἀρχαῖον οὔτε εὐπρέπεια αὐτῇ προσῆν, ἐπάρατόν τε Ἠλείοις ἐκ παλαιοῦ καὶ ἀρχὴν γενέσθαι σφίσιν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τὸ ζῷον· ἦν γὰρ δὴ ἀπήνη κατὰ τὴν συνωρίδα ἡμιόνους ἀντὶ ἵππων ἔχουσα.
ὁ δὲ κόσμος ὁ περὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐφʼ ἡμῶν, ὡς θύεσθαι τῷ θεῷ τὰ ἱερεῖα πεντάθλου μὲν καὶ δρόμου τῶν ἵππων ὕστερα, τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν πρότερα ἀγωνισμάτων, οὗτος κατέστη σφίσιν ὁ κόσμος Ὀλυμπιάδι ἑβδόμῃ πρὸς ταῖς ἑβδομήκοντα· τὰ πρὸ τούτων δὲ ἐπὶ ἡμέρας ἦγον τῆς αὐτῆς ὁμοίως καὶ ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἵππων ἀγῶνα. τότε δὲ προήχθησαν ἐς νύκτα οἱ παγκρατιάζοντες ἅτε οὐ κατὰ καιρὸν ἐσκληθέντες, αἴτιοι δὲ ἐγένοντο οἵ τε ἵπποι καὶ ἐς πλέον ἔτι ἡ τῶν πεντάθλων ἅμιλλα· καὶ ἐκράτει μὲν Ἀθηναῖος Καλλίας τοὺς παγκρατιάσαντας, ἐμπόδιον δὲ οὐκ ἔμελλε παγκρατίῳ τοῦ λοιποῦ τὸ πένταθλον οὐδὲ οἱ ἵπποι γενήσεσθαι.
τὰ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀγωνοθετοῦσιν οὐ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ἃ καθεστηκότα ἦν ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἐς αὐτοὺς νομίζουσιν, ἀλλὰ Ἴφιτος μὲν τὸν ἀγῶνα ἔθηκεν αὐτὸς μόνος, καὶ μετὰ Ἴφιτον ἐτίθεσαν ὡσαύτως οἱ ἀπὸ Ὀξύλου· πεντηκοστῇ δὲ Ὀλυμπιάδι ἀνδράσι δύο ἐξ ἁπάντων λαχοῦσιν Ἠλείων ἐπετράπη ποιῆσαι τὰ Ὀλύμπια, καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἀπὸ ἐκείνου διέμεινε τῶν ἀγωνοθετῶν ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν δύο.
πέμπτῃ δὲ Ὀλυμπιάδι καὶ ἐνενηκοστῇ ἐννέα ἑλλανοδίκας κατέστησαν· τρισὶ μὲν δὴ ἐπετέτραπτο ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁ δρόμος τῶν ἵππων, τοσούτοις δὲ ἑτέροις ἐπόπταις εἶναι τοῦ πεντάθλου, τοῖς δὲ ὑπολειπομένοις τὰ λοιπὰ ἔμελε τῶν ἀγωνισμάτων. δευτέρᾳ δὲ ἀπὸ ταύτης Ὀλυμπιάδι προσετέθη καὶ ὁ δέκατος ἀθλοθέτης. ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς τρίτης καὶ ἑκατοστῆς φυλαί τε Ἠλείοις δώδεκα καὶ εἷς ἀπὸ φυλῆς ἑκάστης ἐγένετο Ἑλλανοδίκης.
πιεσθέντες δὲ ὑπὸ Ἀρκάδων πολέμῳ μοῖράν τε ἀπέβαλον τῆς γῆς καὶ ὅσοι τῶν δήμων ἦσαν ἐν τῇ ἀποτμηθείσῃ χώρᾳ, καὶ οὕτως ἐς ὀκτώ τε ἀριθμὸν φυλῶν ἐπὶ τῆς τετάρτης συνεστάλησαν Ὀλυμπιάδος καὶ ἑκατοστῆς καὶ Ἑλλανοδίκαι σφίσιν ἴσοι ταῖς φυλαῖς ᾑρέθησαν. ὀγδόῃ δὲ ἐπὶ ταῖς ἑκατὸν Ὀλυμπιάδι ἐπανῆλθον αὖθις ἐς ἀνδρῶν δέκα ἀριθμόν, καὶ ἤδη τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου διαμεμένηκεν ἐς ἡμᾶς.
Some competitions, on the other hand, were abolished at Olympia, the Eleans resolving to hold them no longer. The pentathlum for boys was instituted in the thirty-eighth Olympiad, and after Eutelidas, a Lacedaemonian, had won the wild olive for it, the Eleans decided that boys should no longer compete in the pentathlum. The race between mule-carts and the trotting-race, instituted respectively in the seventieth and seventy-first Olympiad, were both abolished by proclamation in the eighty-fourth Olympiad. At their first institution, Thersius, a Thessalian, won the cart-race ; and Pataecus, an Achaean from Dyme, won the trotting-race.
The latter race was ridden on mares, and in the last part of the course the riders leaped down and ran beside their horses, holding on by the bridle just as the Mounters, as they are called, still do. The Mounters, however, differ from the riders in the trotting-race in wearing different badges, and riding horses instead of mares. As for the cart-race, it had neither antiquity nor dignity to recommend it. Besides, the carts were drawn by pairs of mules instead of horses, and an ancient curse rests on the people of Elis if ever the animal is born in their land.
The present order of the games, according to which the sacrifices for the pentathlum and the chariot-race are offered to the god after the other contests, was first instituted in the seventy-seventh Olympiad. Previously the contests for men and chariots had both been held on the same day. On that occasion the pancratiasts had to prolong their contest into the night because they had not been called on early enough. The cause of the delay was the chariot-race, and still more the contest in the pentathlum. Callias of Athens was victorious in the pancratium; but for the future neither the pentathlum nor the chariot-race was to interfere with the pancratium.
The present rules as to the presidents of the games are not what they were originally. Iphitus presided alone over the games, and after Iphitus the descendants of Oxylus did likewise. But in the fiftieth Olympiad two men, selected by lot from the whole body of the Eleans, were entrusted with the presidency of the festival, and for a long time afterwards the number of the presidents continued to be two.
But in the twenty-fifth Olympiad nine umpires were appointed, of whom three were entrusted with the chariot-race, three were to watch the pentathlum, and the rest were to take charge of the other contests. In the next Olympiad but one a tenth umpire was added. In the hundred and third Olympiad the Eleans were divided into twelve tribes, and one umpire was taken from each tribe. But being hard put to it by the Arcadians in war, they lost a piece of their territory, together with all the townships which were contained in the district thus severed from Elis, and so in the hundred and fourth Olympiad they were reduced to the number of eight tribes, and the number of the umpires chosen corresponded to the number of the tribes. But in the hundred and eighth Olympiad they reverted to the number of ten, which has remained unaltered from that day to this.
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