Greek Texts & Translations

Damaretus of Heraea, his son and his grandson, each won two victories at Olympia. Those of Damaretus were gained at the sixty-fifth Festival ^note (at which the race in full armour was instituted) and also at the one succeeding. His statue shows him, not only carrying the shield that modern competitors have, but also wearing a helmet on his head and greaves on his legs. In course of time the helmet and greaves were taken from the armour of competitors by both the Eleans and the Greeks generally. Theopompus, son of Damaretus, won his victories in the pentathlum, and his son Theopompus the second, named after his father, won his in the wrestling-match.

Who made the statue of Theopompus the wrestler we do not know, but those of his father and grandfather are said by the inscription to be by Eutelidas and Chrysothemis, who were Argives. It does not, however, declare the name of their teacher, but runs as follows:— Eutelidas and Chrysothemis made these works,
Argives, who learnt their art from those who lived before.

Iccus the son of Nicolaidas of Tarentum won the Olympic crown in the pentathlum, and afterwards is said to have become the best trainer of his day.

After Iccus stands Pantarces the Elean, beloved of Pheidias, who beat the boys at wrestling. Next to Pantarces is the chariot of Cleosthenes, a man of Epidamnus. This is the work of Ageladas, and it stands behind the Zeus dedicated by the Greeks from the spoil of the battle of Plataea. Cleosthenes' victory occurred at the sixty-sixth Festival, and together with the statues of his horses he dedicated a statue of himself and one of his charioteer.

There are inscribed the names of the horses, Phoenix and Corax, and on either side are the horses by the yoke, on the right Cnacias, on the left Samus. This inscription in elegiac verse is on the chariot :— Cleosthenes, son of Pontis, a native of Epidamnus, dedicated me
After winning with his horses a victory in the glorious games of Zeus.

This Cleosthenes was the first of those who bred horses in Greece to dedicate his statue at Olympia. For the offering of Evagoras the Laconian consists of the chariot without a figure of Evagoras himself; the offerings of Miltiades the Athenian, which he dedicated at Olympia, I will describe in another part of my story. ^note The Epidamnians occupy the same territory to-day as they did at first, but the modern city is not the ancient one, being at a short distance from it. The modern city is called Dyrrhachium from its founder.

Lycinus of Heraea, Epicradius of Mantineia, Tellon of Oresthas, and Agiadas of Elis won victories in boys' matches; Lycinus for running, the rest of them for boxing. The artist who made the statue of Epicradius was Ptolichus of Aegina; that of Agiadas was made by Serambus, also a native of Aegina. The statue of Lycinus is the work of Cleon. Who made the statue of Tellon is not related.

Not far from the kings mentioned stands a Thasian, Theagenes the son of Timosthenes. The Thasians say that Timosthenes was not the father of Theagenes, but a priest of the Thasian Heracles, a phantom of whom in the likeness of Timosthenes had intercourse with the mother of Theagenes. In his ninth year, they say, as he was going home from school, he was attracted by a bronze image of some god or other in the marketplace; so he caught up the image, placed it on one of his shoulders and carried it home.

The citizens were enraged at what he had done, but one of them, a respected man of advanced years, bade them not to kill the lad, and ordered him to carry the image from his home back again to the market-place. This he did, and at once became famous for his strength, his feat being noised abroad through-out Greece.

The achievements of Theagenes at the Olympian games have already—the most famous of them—been described ^note in my story, how he beat Euthymus the boxer, and how he was fined by the Eleans. On this occasion the pancratium, it is said, was for the first time on record won without a contest, the victor being Dromeus of Mantineia. At the Festival following this, Theagenes was the winner in the pancratium.