Φιγαλεῦσι δὲ ἀνδριάς ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς Ἀρραχίωνος τοῦ παγκρατιαστοῦ, τά τε ἄλλα ἀρχαῖος καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐπὶ τῷ σχήματι· οὐ διεστᾶσι μὲν πολὺ οἱ πόδες, καθεῖνται δὲ παρὰ πλευρὰν αἱ χεῖρες ἄχρι τῶν γλουτῶν. πεποίηται μὲν δὴ ἡ εἰκὼν λίθου, λέγουσι δὲ καὶ ἐπίγραμμα ἐπʼ αὐτὴν γραφῆναι· καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἠφάνιστο ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου, τῷ δὲ Ἀρραχίωνι ἐγένοντο Ὀλυμπικαὶ νῖκαι δύο μὲν Ὀλυμπιάσι ταῖς πρὸ τῆς τετάρτης καὶ πεντηκοστῆς, ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ σὺν δικαίῳ τε ἐκ τῶν Ἑλλανοδικῶν καὶ Ἀρραχίωνος αὐτοῦ τῇ ἀρετῇ.
ὡς γὰρ δὴ πρὸς τὸν καταλειπόμενον ἔτι τῶν ἀνταγωνιστῶν ἐμάχετο ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοτίνου, ὁ μὲν προέλαβεν ὅστις δὴ ὁ ἀνταγωνιζόμενος καὶ τοῖς ποσὶ τὸν Ἀρραχίωνα εἶχεν ἐζωκὼς καὶ τὸν τράχηλον ἐπίεζεν ἅμα αὐτοῦ ταῖς χερσίν· ὁ δὲ Ἀρραχίων ἐκκλᾷ τῶν ἐν τῷ ποδὶ τοῦ ἀνταγωνιζομένου δάκτυλον, καὶ Ἀρραχίων τε τὴν ψυχὴν ἀφίησιν ἀγχόμενος καὶ ὁ ἄγχων τὸν Ἀρραχίωνα ὑπὸ τοῦ δακτύλου τῆς ὀδύνης κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἀπαγορεύει τὸν αὐτόν. Ἠλεῖοι δὲ ἐστεφάνωσάν τε καὶ ἀνηγόρευσαν νικῶντα τοῦ Ἀρραχίωνος τὸν νεκρόν.
ἐοικὸς δὲ καὶ Ἀργείους οἶδα ἐπὶ Κρεύγᾳ ποιήσαντας Ἐπιδαμνίῳ πύκτῃ· καὶ γὰρ Ἀργεῖοι τεθνεῶτι ἔδοσαν τῷ Κρεύγᾳ τῶν Νεμείων τὸν στέφανον, ὅτι ὁ πρὸς αὐτὸν μαχόμενος Δαμόξενος Συρακόσιος παρέβη τὰ ὡμολογημένα σφίσιν ἐς ἀλλήλους. ἐφήξειν μὲν γὰρ ἔμελλεν ἑσπέρα πυκτεύουσιν αὐτοῖς, συνέθεντο δὲ ἐς ἐπήκοον ἀνὰ μέρος τὸν ἕτερον ὑποσχεῖν αὐτῶν τῷ ἑτέρῳ πληγήν. τοῖς δὲ πυκτεύουσιν οὐκ ἦν πω τηνικαῦτα ἱμὰς ὀξὺς ἐπὶ τῷ καρπῷ τῆς χειρὸς ἑκατέρας, ἀλλὰ ταῖς μειλίχαις ἔτι ἐπύκτευον, ὑπὸ τὸ κοῖλον δέοντες τῆς χειρός, ἵνα οἱ δάκτυλοί σφισιν ἀπολείπωνται γυμνοί· αἱ δὲ ἐκ βοέας ὠμῆς ἱμάντες λεπτοὶ τρόπον τινὰ ἀρχαῖον πεπλεγμένοι διʼ ἀλλήλων ἦσαν αἱ μειλίχαι.
τότε οὖν ὁ μὲν τὴν πληγὴν ἀφῆκεν ἐς τοῦ Δαμοξένου τὴν κεφαλήν· ὁ δὲ ἀνασχεῖν τὴν χεῖρα ὁ Δαμόξενος ἐκέλευσε τὸν Κρεύγαν, ἀνασχόντος δὲ παίει τοῖς δακτύλοις ὀρθοῖς ὑπὸ τὴν πλευράν, ὑπὸ δὲ ἀκμῆς τε τῶν ὀνύχων καὶ βίας τῆς πληγῆς τὴν χεῖρα ἐς τὸ ἐντὸς καθεὶς καὶ ἐπιλαβόμενος τῶν σπλάγχνων ἐς τὸ ἐκτὸς ἕλκων ἀπέρρηξε.
καὶ ὁ μὲν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτίκα ὁ Κρεύγας ἀφίησιν, οἱ δὲ Ἀργεῖοι τὸν Δαμόξενον ἅτε τὰ συγκείμενα ὑπερβάντα καὶ ἀντὶ μιᾶς κεχρημένον πολλαῖς ἐς τὸν ἀντίπαλον ταῖς πληγαῖς ἐξελαύνουσι, τῷ Κρεύγᾳ δὲ τὴν νίκην τεθνεῶτι ἔδοσαν καὶ ἐποιήσαντο εἰκόνα ἐν Ἄργει· καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔκειτο ἐν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ Λυκίου.
In the market-place at Phigalia there is a statue of Arrhachion the pancratiast. The statue is archaic, especially in its attitude, for the feet are not much separated, and the arms hang down by the side to the hips. It is made of stone, and they say that it bore an inscription, which, however, has been effaced by time.
Arrhachion gained two Olympic victories in the Olympiads before the fifty-fourth, and in the fifty-fourth Olympiad he won yet another victory by the just verdict of the umpires and his own manhood. For when he was contending for the crown of wild olive with the last of the competitors, his adversary, whoever he was, got the first grip, and twining his legs round him held him fast, while he squeezed his throat with his hands. Arrhachion put one of his adversary’s toes out of joint, and expired under the grip that his adversary had on his throat, but the latter in the act of throttling him was obliged at the same moment by the pain in his toe to give in. The Eleans crowned and proclaimed victorious the dead body of Arrhachion.
I know that the Argives treated Creugas, a boxer of Epidamnus, in the same way: they gave him, though dead, the crown at the Nemean games, because his antagonist, Damoxenus of Syracuse, broke the agreement they had made with each other. For evening was about to fall while they were still boxing; and so they agreed, in the hearing of the people, that each should in turn stand up to a blow from the other. In those days boxers did not yet wear the sharp thong on each wrist, but boxed with the soft straps, which they fastened under the hollow of the hand in order that the fingers might be left bare: these soft straps were thin thongs of raw cow-hide, plaited together in an ancient fashion. On the occasion I refer to Creugas discharged his blow at the head of Damoxenus. The latter then bade Creugas hold up his arm, and when Creugas did so he struck him under the ribs with his fingers stretched straight out, and what with the sharpness of his nails and the force of the blow, he drove his hand right into the other’s body, and gripping his guts tore them out with a wrench. Creugas expired on the spot, and the Argives expelled Damoxenus, on the ground that he had broken the terms of the agreement by giving his adversary several blows instead of one. They gave the prize to the dead Creugas, and set up a statue to him in Argos, which down to my time still stood in the sanctuary of Wolfish Apollo.
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