Pausanias · Description of Greece Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις

Pausanias, Description of Greece 6.3.1–16: Olympia: victor statues and the statue of Lysander

Pausanias continues along the statues at Olympia with athletes from Sicyon, Elis, Lepreus, Aegira and Caulonia, naming the sculptors and their teachers. He discusses the date of the victor Oebotas and the Greek tradition that he fought at Plataea, which Pausanias reports without believing. The section ends with the statue of the Spartan Lysander dedicated by the Samians, with its two inscriptions, and a remark on how the Ionians flattered whoever held power.

Sections 6.3.1–16 · 1210 words · click a number to copy its link

Δαμίσκου δὲ ἐγγύτατα ἕστηκεν ἀνὴρ ὅστις δή, τὸ γὰρ ὄνομα οὐ λέγουσιν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, Πτολεμαίου δὲ ἀνάθημά ἐστι τοῦ Λάγου· Μακεδόνα δὲ αὑτὸν ὁ Πτολεμαῖος ἐν τῷ ἐπιγράμματι ἐκάλεσε, βασιλεύων ὅμως Αἰγύπτου. Χαιρέᾳ δὲ Σικυωνίῳ πύκτῃ παιδὶ ἐπίγραμμά ἐστιν ὡς νικήσειεν ἡλικίαν νέος καὶ ὡς πατρὸς εἴη Χαιρήμονος, γέγραπται δὲ καὶ ὁ τὸν ἀνδριάντα εἰργασμένος Ἀστερίων Αἰσχύλου.

μετὰ δὲ τὸν Χαιρέαν Μεσσήνιός τε παῖς Σόφιος καὶ ἀνὴρ Ἠλεῖος ἀνάκειται Στόμιος, καὶ τῷ μὲν τοὺς συνθέοντας τῶν παίδων παρελθεῖν, Στομίῳ δὲ πενταθλοῦντι ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ Νεμείων τρεῖς ὑπῆρξεν ἀνελέσθαι νίκας. τὸ δὲ ἐπίγραμμα τὸ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ καὶ τάδε ἐπιλέγει, τῆς ἵππου τε Ἠλείοις αὐτὸν ἡγούμενον ἀναστῆσαι τρόπαια καὶ ἄνδρα τοῖς πολεμίοις στρατηγοῦντα ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ Στομίου, μονομαχήσαντά οἱ κατὰ πρόκλησιν·

εἶναι δὲ αὐτὸν ἐκ Σικυῶνος οἱ Ἠλεῖοί φασι καὶ ἄρχειν Σικυωνίων, στρατεῦσαι δὲ ἐπὶ Σικυῶνα αὐτοὶ φιλίᾳ Θηβαίων ὁμοῦ τῇ ἐκ Βοιωτίας δυνάμει. φαίνοιτο ἂν οὖν ἡ ἐπὶ Σικυῶνα Ἠλείων καὶ Θηβαίων στρατεία γεγενῆσθαι μετὰ τὸ ἀτύχημα Λακεδαιμονίων τὸ ἐν Λεύκτροις.

ἐφεξῆς δὲ ἀνάκειται μὲν πύκτης ἐκ Λεπρέου τοῦ Ἠλείων, Λάβαξ Εὔφρονος, ἀνάκειται δὲ καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς Ἤλιδος παλαιστὴς ἀνὴρ Ἀριστόδημος Θράσιδος· γεγόνασι δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Πυθοῖ δύο νῖκαι, ἡ δὲ εἰκών ἐστι τοῦ Ἀριστοδήμου τέχνη Δαιδάλου τοῦ Σικυωνίου, μαθητοῦ καὶ πατρὸς Πατροκλέους.

Ἵππον δὲ Ἠλεῖον πυγμῇ παῖδας κρατήσαντα ἐποίησε Δαμόκριτος Σικυώνιος, ὃς ἐς πέμπτον διδάσκαλον ἀνῄει τὸν Ἀττικὸν Κριτίαν· Πτόλιχος μὲν γὰρ ἔμαθεν ὁ Κορκυραῖος παρʼ αὐτῷ Κριτίᾳ, Πτολίχου δὲ ἦν μαθητὴς Ἀμφίων, Πίσων δὲ ἀνὴρ ἐκ Καλαυρείας ἐδιδάχθη παρʼ Ἀμφίονι, ὁ δὲ παρὰ τῷ Πίσωνι Δαμόκριτος.

Κρατῖνος δὲ ἐξ Αἰγείρας τῆς Ἀχαιῶν τότε ἐγένετο κάλλιστος τῶν ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ σὺν τέχνῃ μάλιστα ἐπάλαισε, καταπαλαίσαντι δὲ αὐτῷ τοὺς παῖδας προσαναστῆσαι καὶ τὸν παιδοτρίβην ὑπὸ Ἠλείων ἐδόθη· τὸν δὲ ἀνδριάντα ἐποίησε Σικυώνιος Κάνθαρος, Ἀλέξιδος μὲν πατρός, διδασκάλου δὲ ὢν Εὐτυχίδου.

Εὐπολέμου δὲ Ἠλείου τὴν μὲν εἰκόνα Σικυώνιος εἴργασται Δαίδαλος· τὸ δὲ ἐπίγραμμα τὸ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ μηνύει σταδίου μὲν ἀνδρῶν Ὀλυμπίασι νίκην ἀνελέσθαι τὸν Εὐπόλεμον, εἶναι δὲ καὶ δύο Πυθικοὺς αὐτῷ πεντάθλου στεφάνους καὶ ἄλλον Νεμείων. λέγεται δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ Εὐπολέμῳ καὶ τάδε, ὡς ἐφεστήκοιεν τρεῖς ἐπὶ τῷ δρόμῳ Ἑλλανοδίκαι, νικᾶν δὲ τῷ μὲν Εὐπολέμῳ δύο ἐξ αὐτῶν δοῖεν, ὁ τρίτος δὲ Ἀμβρακιώτῃ Λέοντι, καὶ ὡς χρημάτων καταδικάσαιτο ὁ Λέων ἐπὶ τῆς Ὀλυμπικῆς βουλῆς ἑκατέρου τῶν Ἑλλανοδικῶν οἳ νικᾶν τὸν Εὐπόλεμον ἔγνωσαν.

Οἰβώτα δὲ τὸν μὲν ἀνδριάντα Ἀχαιοὶ κατὰ πρόσταγμα ἀνέθεσαν τοῦ ἐν Δελφοῖς Ἀπόλλωνος ἐπὶ Ὀλυμπιάδος ὀγδοηκοστῆς· ἡ δὲ τοῦ σταδίου νίκη τῷ Οἰβώτᾳ γέγονεν Ὀλυμπιάδι ἕκτῃ. πῶς ἂν οὖν τήν γε ἐν Πλαταιαῖς μάχην μεμαχημένος ὁ Οἰβώτας εἴη μετὰ Ἑλλήνων; πέμπτῃ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ ἑβδομηκοστῇ Ὀλυμπιάδι τὸ πταῖσμα ἐγένετο τὸ ἐν Πλαταιαῖς Μαρδονίῳ καὶ Μήδοις. ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν λέγειν μὲν τὰ ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων λεγόμενα ἀνάγκη, πείθεσθαι δὲ πᾶσιν οὐκέτι ἀνάγκη. τὰ δὲ ἄλλα ὁποῖα τὰ συμβάντα ἦν ἐς τὸν Οἰβώταν, τῇ ἐς Ἀχαιοὺς προσέσται μοι συγγραφῇ.

Ἀντιόχου δὲ ἀνδριάντα ἐποίησε μὲν Νικόδαμος, γένος δὲ ὁ Ἀντίοχος ἦν ἐκ Λεπρέου· παγκρατίῳ δὲ ἄνδρας ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ μὲν ἐκράτησεν ἅπαξ, ἐν Ἰσθμῷ δὲ καὶ Νεμέᾳ δὶς πεντάθλῳ ἐν ἑκατέρῳ τῷ ἀγῶνι. οὐ γάρ τι Ἰσθμίων Λεπρεάταις δεῖμα ὥσπερ γε αὐτοῖς ἐστιν Ἠλείοις, ἐπεὶ Ὕσμωνί γε τῷ Ἠλείῳ—πλησίον δὲ τοῦ Ἀντιόχου καὶ Ὕσμων οὗτος ἕστηκε—τούτῳ τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἀθλήσαντι πένταθλον ἥ τε Ὀλυμπικὴ νίκη καὶ Νεμείων γέγονεν ἡ ἑτέρα, Ἰσθμίων δὲ δῆλα ὡς καὶ οὗτος κατὰ ταὐτὰ Ἠλείοις τοῖς ἄλλοις εἴργετο.

λέγεται δὲ παιδὶ ἔτι ὄντι τῷ Ὕσμωνι κατασκῆψαι ῥεῦμα ἐς τὰ νεῦρα, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τούτῳ μελετῆσαι πένταθλον, ἵνα δὴ ἐκ τῶν πόνων ὑγιής τε καὶ ἄνοσος ἀνὴρ εἴη· τῷ δὲ ἄρα τὸ μάθημα καὶ νίκας ἔμελλεν ἐπιφανεῖς οὕτω παρασκευάσειν. ὁ δὲ ἀνδριὰς αὐτῷ Κλέωνος μέν ἐστιν ἔργον, ἔχει δὲ ἁλτῆρας ἀρχαίους.

μετὰ δὲ Ὕσμωνα παλαιστὴς παῖς ἐξ Ἡραίας ἀνάκειται τῆς Ἀρκάδων, Νικόστρατος Ξενοκλείδου· Παντίας δὲ αὐτῷ τὴν εἰκόνα ἐποίησεν, ὃς ἀπὸ Ἀριστοκλέους τοῦ Σικυωνίου καταριθμουμένῳ τοὺς διδαχθέντας ἕβδομος ἀπὸ τούτου ἦν μαθητής. Δίκων δὲ ὁ Καλλιβρότου πέντε μὲν Πυθοῖ δρόμου νίκας, τρεῖς δὲ ἀνείλετο Ἰσθμίων, τέσσαρας δὲ ἐν Νεμέᾳ, καὶ Ὀλυμπικὰς μίαν μὲν ἐν παισί, δύο δὲ ἄλλας ἀνδρῶν· καί οἱ καὶ ἀνδριάντες ἴσοι ταῖς νίκαις εἰσὶν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ. παιδὶ μὲν δὴ ὄντι αὐτῷ Καυλωνιάτῃ, καθάπερ γε καὶ ἦν, ὑπῆρξεν ἀναγορευθῆναι· τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου Συρακούσιον αὑτὸν ἀνηγόρευσεν ἐπὶ χρήμασι.

Καυλωνία δὲ ἀπῳκίσθη μὲν ἐς Ἰταλίαν ὑπὸ Ἀχαιῶν, οἰκιστὴς δὲ ἐγένετο αὐτῆς Τύφων Αἰγιεύς· Πύρρου δὲ τοῦ Αἰακίδου καὶ Ταραντίνων ἐς τὸν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους πόλεμον καταστάντων ἄλλαι τε τῶν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ πόλεων ἐγένοντο αἱ μὲν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων, αἱ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν ἀνάστατοι, κατέλαβε δὲ ἐς ἅπαν ἐρημωθῆναι καὶ τὴν Καυλωνίαν ἁλοῦσαν ὑπὸ Καμπανῶν, οἳ Ῥωμαίοις μεγίστη τοῦ συμμαχικοῦ μοῖρα ἦσαν.

ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ Δίκωνι ἀνάκειται μὲν Ξενοφῶν Μενεφύλου παγκρατιαστὴς ἀνὴρ ἐξ Αἰγίου τῆς Ἀχαιῶν, ἀνάκειται δὲ Πυριλάμπης Ἐφέσιος λαβὼν δολίχου νίκην. τοῦ μὲν δὴ τὴν εἰκόνα ἐποίησεν Ὄλυμπος, Πυριλάμπει δὲ ὁμώνυμος καὶ ὁ πλάστης, γένος δὲ οὐ Σικυώνιος, ἀλλὰ ἐκ Μεσσήνης τῆς ὑπὸ τῇ Ἰθώμῃ.

Λύσανδρον δὲ τὸν Ἀριστοκρίτου Σπαρτιάτην ἀνέθεσαν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ Σάμιοι, καὶ αὐτοῖς τὸ μὲν πρότερον τῶν ἐπιγραμμάτων ἐστὶν ἐν πολυθαήτῳ τεμένει Διὸς ὑψιμέδοντος / ἕστηκʼ ἀνθέντων δημοσίᾳ Σαμίων· / τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τοὺς τὸ ἀνάθημα ἀναθέντας μηνύει, τὸ δʼ ἐφεξῆς ἐς αὐτὸν ἔπαινός ἐστι Λύσανδρον· ἀθάνατον πάτρᾳ καὶ Ἀριστοκρίτῳ κλέος ἔργων, / Λύσανδρʼ, ἐκτελέσας δόξαν ἔχεις ἀρετᾶς. / δῆλοι οὖν εἰσιν οἵ τε Σάμιοι καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι Ἴωνες,

κατὰ τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῶν Ἰώνων, τοὺς τοίχους τοὺς δύο ἐπαλείφοντες. Ἀλκιβιάδου μέν γε τριήρεσιν Ἀθηναίων περὶ Ἰωνίαν ἰσχύοντος ἐθεράπευον αὐτὸν Ἰώνων οἱ πολλοί, καὶ εἰκὼν Ἀλκιβιάδου χαλκῆ παρὰ τῇ Ἥρᾳ Σαμίων ἐστὶν ἀνάθημα· ὡς δὲ ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ἑάλωσαν αἱ ναῦς αἱ Ἀττικαί, Σάμιοι μὲν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν τὸν Λύσανδρον, Ἐφέσιοι δὲ ἐς τὸ ἱερὸν ἀνετίθεσαν τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος Λύσανδρόν τε αὐτὸν καὶ Ἐτεόνικον καὶ Φάρακα καὶ ἄλλους Σπαρτιατῶν ἥκιστα ἔς γε τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν γνωρίμους.

μεταπεσόντων δὲ αὖθις τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ Κόνωνος κεκρατηκότος τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ περὶ Κνίδον καὶ ὄρος τὸ Δώριον ὀνομαζόμενον, οὕτω μετεβάλλοντο οἱ Ἴωνες, καὶ Κόνωνα ἀνακείμενον χαλκοῦν καὶ Τιμόθεον ἐν Σάμῳ τε ἔστιν ἰδεῖν παρὰ τῇ Ἥρᾳ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἐν Ἐφέσῳ παρὰ τῇ Ἐφεσίᾳ θεῷ. ταῦτα μέν ἐστιν ἔχοντα οὕτω τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον, καὶ Ἴωσιν ὡσαύτως οἱ πάντες ἄνθρωποι θεραπεύουσι τὰ ὑπερέχοντα τῇ ἰσχύι.

Close to the statue of Damiscus stands the statue of a man whose name is not given, but the statue was dedicated by Ptolemy, son of Lagus. In the inscription Ptolemy calls himself a Macedonian, though he was king of Egypt. On the statue of Chaereas, a boy boxer of Sicyon, there is an inscription stating that he was young when he gained the victory, and that his father was Chaeremon. The name of the sculptor is also recorded, Asterion, son of Aeschylus. After the statue of Chaereas there are statues of a Messenian boy, Sophius, and an Elean man, Stomius: Sophius outran the boys who competed with him; and Stomius won one victory in the pentathlum at Olympia, and three in the Nemean games. The inscription on the latter statue adds that, as commander of the Elean cavalry, he set up trophies, and challenged a general of the enemy to single combat, and slew him with his own hand. The Eleans say that the slain general was a Sicyonian, and that the troops he commanded were Sicyonians ; and that they themselves, out of friendship to Thebes, had marched with a Boeotian force against Sicyon.

It would appear, then, that the expedition of the Eleans and Thebans against Sicyon took place after the Lacedaemonian disaster at Leuctra. Next there is a statue of a boxer from Lepreus in Elis, Labax, son of Euphron, and one of a wrestler, Aristodemus, son of Thrasis, a native of the city of Elis, who also gained two victories at Pytho. The statue of Aristodemus is a work of Daedalus, the Sicyonian, a pupil and son of Patrocles. The statue of Hippus, an Elean, who won the boxing-match among the boys, is by Damocritus, a Sicyonian, between whom and the Attic Critias three masters intervened. For Ptolichus, the Corcyraean, studied under Critias himself; Amphion was a pupil of Ptolichus ; Pison, a man of Calauria, studied under Amphion ; and Damocritus studied under Pison.

Cratinus, of Aegira, in Achaia, was the handsomest man of his time, and the most skilful wrestler. After his victory over the boys in wrestling the Eleans allowed him to set up also a statue of his trainer. The statue of Cratinus is by Cantharus, a Sicyonian, son of Alexis, and pupil of Eutychides. The statue of Eupolemus, an Elean, is by Daedalus, of Sicyon : the inscription on it sets forth that Eupolemus was victor at Olympia in the men’s foot-race, and that he also won two Pythian crowns both in the pentathlum, and one at Nemea. It is said about Eupolemus that three umpires were appointed to judge the race, and that two of them gave the victory to Eupolemus, but one of them to Leon, an Ambraciot, and that Leon got the Olympic Council to fine both the judges who had decided in favour of Eupolemus.

The statue of Oebotas was dedicated by the Achaeans in obedience to a command of the Delphic Apollo in the eightieth Olympiad ; but the victory of Oebotas in the foot-race took place in the sixth Olympiad. How, then, could Oebotas have fought in the Greek army at the battle of Plataea? For the defeat of Mardonius and the Medes at Plataea happened in the seventy-fifth Olympiad. I am bound to record the Greek traditions, but I am not bound to believe them all. The other incidents in the career of Oebotas will be mentioned in my account of Achaia. The statue of Antiochus was made by Nicodamus. Antiochus was a native of Lepreus. He was once victorious at Olympia in the pancratium for men; and in the pentathlum he was twice victorious in the Isthmian, and twice in the Nemean games. For the Lepreans have not the same dread of the Isthmian games that the Eleans themselves have. For example, Hysmon, an Elean (whose statue stands near that of Antiochus), though he was victorious in the pentathlum both at Olympia and Nemea, nevertheless, like the rest of the Eleans, obviously abstained from competing at the Isthmian games. It is said that when Hysmon was a boy a rheum settled on his sinews, and that for this reason he practised the pentathlum in order that by hard exercise he might grow to be a sound and healthy man. Thus his training was destined to win him also illustrious victories. His statue is a work of Cleon: it has ancient leaping-weights. After the statue of Hysmon there is a statue of a boy wrestler, from Heraea in Arcadia, Nicostratus, son of Xenoclides: the statue was made by Pantias, who came of the school of Aristocles, the Sicyonian, through an intermediate line of five masters.

Dicon, son of Callibrotus, won five victories in running at Pytho, three at the Isthmus, and four at Nemea; and he won at Olympia one victory amongst the boys, and two others amongst the men; and he has at Olympia as many statues as victories. In his boyhood he was proclaimed a Caulonian, as in fact he was; but afterwards for a sum of money he proclaimed himself a Syracusan. Caulonia was an Achaean colony in Italy: its founder was Typhon, of Aegium. In the war which Pyrrhus, son of Aeacides, and the Tarentines waged against the Romans, sundry Italian cities were destroyed, some by the Romans, some by the Epirots, and amongst them it befell Caulonia to be laid utterly waste; for it was taken by the Campanians, the most numerous of the Roman allies. Next to the statue of Dicon is a statue of Xenophon, son of Menephylus, a pancratiast from Aegium, in Achaia, and a statue of Pyrilampes, an Ephesian, who won a victory in the long foot-race. The statue of Xenophon is by Olympus; that of Pyrilampes is by a sculptor also called Pyrilampes, who, however, was a native, not of Sicyon, but of Messene on Ithome.

A statue of the Spartan Lysander, son of Aristocritus, was dedicated in Olympia by the Samians: the first of the inscriptions is this :— In the much-seen precinct of Zeus the high ruler I stand, an offering of the Samian state. This explains who dedicated the offering. The next is in praise of Lysander himself :— Immortal glory in war for thy country and for Aristocritus, O Lysander, hast thou achieved, and enjoyest the fame of valour. It is clear that the Samians and the other Ionians, to use an Ionian expression, painted both walls. For when Alcibiades commanded a powerful Athenian fleet in Ionian waters, most of the Ionians paid him court, and there is a bronze statue of Alcibiades dedicated in the sanctuary of Hera in Samos. But when the Attic fleet was captured at Aegospotami the Samians dedicated a statue of Lysander at Olympia, and the Ephesians dedicated in the sanctuary of Artemis statues of Lysander himself, Eteonicus, Pharax, and other Spartans, who were scarcely known to the rest of Greece. When fortune changed again, and Conon had won the sea-fight off Cnidus and Mount Dorium, the Ionians changed sides also, and you may see bronze statues of Conon and Timotheus in the sanctuary of Hera in Samos, and also in the sanctuary of the Ephesian goddess at Ephesus. It is ever so: all mankind, like the Ionians, flatter the powerful.

People and places in this passage

English translation by Sir James George Frazer (1898). Original text: Friedrich Spiro (ed.), Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, 3 vols., Leipzig: Teubner, 1903 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library, Greek text); translation public domain (OCR from the Internet Archive scan). Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.