p. 452
TENTH CHAPTER.
XVII. Names and victories of the victor recorded in the Olympic book. But this was started late. XVIII. From their victories, inscribed by name in the register, the Olympic chronology was derived. XIX. Proud images and statues were erected for the victors in the Olympic field. Nero had them broken and treated with contempt, and a magnificent statue erected for himself. One-time victors received only busts. Three-time victors received life-sized images. Some victors erected such images for themselves. Relatives and friends did so too. Sometimes even entire cities and states. They were first made of wood, later of copper. They were in the form of the victors, sometimes completely naked. Also in attitudes that corresponded to the victors' struggle. Their horses, chariots, and heavy armor were also depicted. Sometimes other additions as well. Several magnificent statues for one victor. The pedestal was provided with an inscription. What it all contained. Also with the names of the patrons and the makers. Examples of both.
p. 453
§. I.
One may add to the honors with which the Olympic victor boasted that his name and victory were also written in the Olympic book. The first to apply his zeal to this, according to Pausanias, was a certain EVANORIDAS. The aforementioned Pausanias speaks about it as follows: EVANORIDAS, who was once a victor in the boys' wrestling match, has, when he later became an umpire, described the names of the victors. (Pausanias lib. 6) Although others, according to Plutarch, attribute this work to HIPPIAS the Elean; as these words of the aforementioned writer indicate: (Plutarchus in Numa) "They say that Hippias the Elean, albeit late, drew up the list of Olympic victors, which has no foundation." However, it seems to us that both can be true, because one may have been the first in a different way. Be that as it may, it remains true that this work was undertaken late, because EVANORIDAS cannot have lived before the fiftieth Olympiad, since he was an umpire, while there were no umpires before the said time, as Marsham very learnedly notes from Pausanias. (Marsham. in Chronic. Temp. p. 486.) HIPPIAS (if it is the same one) spoke with SOCRATES and therefore lived at that time, which fell around the ninety-fifth Olympiad, as it is counted from CORAEBUS. Plato makes mention of this HIPPIAS, when he testifies of him that he said he used to travel away after the Olympic festivals and there at the temple declared to every inquirer what (Plato in Hippia. sive de Mendacio.)
p. 454
he wanted to know. From which it appears that this HIPPIAS was a great braggart, and even a liar.
§. II.
But the honor of being inscribed there by name, and also with mention of the homeland, the manner of victory, etc., in the register was increased when, in the course of time, the famous Olympic chronology was derived from it, with respect to which it was said: this or that happened during this or that, or the so manyeth Olympiad, to which one usually added, when this or that person (naming the name) won. And this time anchor has served as a significant light in the dark ages with respect to Greek history and antiquities: for that chronology at least leads to PISISTRATUS, who violated Athenian freedom, since which time the time anchor stands quite higher above water and shows itself more clearly. The learned Marsham discusses in detail when the chronology by Olympiads began, and by whom those almanacs, so to speak, were put in order. (Marsham. loc. cit.) However, since this has been written about more extensively on another occasion in the first book, we want to refer the reader to that, or to Marsham himself.
§. III.
We will then continue with the consideration of something else.
§. IV.
The honor, or rather the accumulation of honor, received a new addition, when proud images and magnificent statues were established and erected for the victors in the so very famous Olympic field. We have a clear argument for this from Pliny, who says: (Plinius Nat. Hift. lib. 34. cap. 4.) images of people were not usually made, unless of those who deserved immortality for some glorious reason: firstly because of the victory in the sacred games, and especially in Olympia: where it was the custom that statues were dedicated to all who had won: but of those who had triumphed there three times, images were made in the likeness of their own limbs, which they call representational.
p. 455
That is: the likenesses of people were not usually portrayed unless it was a matter of those who deserved eternity because of a glorious cause: firstly because of a victory in the sacred games, in particular those of the Olympic field, where it was the custom that magnificent statues were dedicated to all who had won; however, for those who had achieved victory there three times, this happened with a similar representation of their limbs, which they call representational. This is also confirmed by Pausanias with a multitude of examples of likenesses that were erected in honor of the victors in the Olympic field: (Pausanias lib. 6.) as well as that NERO found the magnificent statues of the victors there, and in order to extinguish their splendor and elevate his own, he had them broken, dragged away with hooks and thrown on the garbage heap, as Suetonius relates, (Suetonius in Nerone cap. 24.) and Dio Chrysostomus, (D. Chryfoft. in Rhodiac.) who says that he destroyed almost all old magnificent statues throughout Greece, with the exception of Rhodes, and had his own erected in the attire of a cithara player (to resemble APOLLO), and had such coins struck, according to Faber. (P. Faber Agon. lib. 2. cap. 20.)
§. V.
When Pliny says in the aforementioned place that STATUES, magnificent statues, were erected for all who had won in Olympia, but for the three-time victors such as are called representational, he indicates that for the one-time victors only busts were made, or parts of columns (like an inverted pyramid that widens upwards), the upper part of which and especially the head depicted the victor.
§. VI.
However, the honor for the three-time victors was all the greater because images were dedicated to them with a similar display of the limbs, which were called representational, that is, images with full limbs, which, however, were not allowed to be larger than the persons to whom they were dedicated, but exactly corresponding and proportionate to them, from which they also derived the name proportionate images from Plato and others. (Plato in Phaedro.) The umpires were entrusted with the care of ensuring that this was scrupulously observed: if it happened otherwise, they had them thrown down, namely for the main reason that they would not bear the shape of the gods (whom the Greeks and Romans considered to be larger in size), notwithstanding that they otherwise regarded and honored the victors as divine. One may see here what Faber has noted from Lucian and the like. (P. Faber Agon. lib. 2. cap. 20.) One may also see Paschalius. (Pafchalius lib. 6. cap. 8.)
§. VII.
The ones who dedicated these images in praise and remembrance of the victors were either the victors themselves, or their relatives and friends, or entire cities and states. Regarding the first, it is said by Pausanias that CLEOSTHENES placed his image, (Pausanias lib. 6.) although the likeness was not only of himself, but also of his chariot, horses, and so on, as we say elsewhere. The own erection and dedication was also indicated by the verse that was added to the chariot, which in Dutch reads approximately as follows:
Cleosthenes of Epidamnus has placed me
When he won on horseback, and for his companions
Snatched away the Olympic palm branch.
p. 457
However, chariot images, tripods and other gifts and presents, in thanks and honor of JUPITER OLYMPIUS, from whom they believed he had granted them the victory, many victors have dedicated in the Olympic field. We are now talking about the magnificent statues; which at the same time were also dedicated in honor of that supposed god, and also in honor of the victor. Pausanias says: but because Eubotas the Cyrenean, as the oracle of Ammon had predicted to him that he would achieve victory in the running race, had taken care of the production of his magnificent statue in advance, and dedicated it on the same day that he won the palm branch: so it is again sufficiently evident that the victors themselves were indeed founders of their honorary images. We are not so sure whether that strong MILO also made his own himself, but we do know that he himself had carried it on his shoulders inside ATLIS: which must have amazed and bewildered everyone.
Regarding the second, Pausanias mentions that the sons of HIERO dedicated two images to him, one on foot and one on horseback, in the Olympic field. And in another place, speaking of a HIERO of the same name, he testifies that while his people had given him two public images, his sons had given him one.
But regarding the third, we also find a great many testimonies of this from Pausanias. Here are a few.
The Achaeans, he says, erected the image of Oebotas according to a divine utterance of the Delphic Apollo. And elsewhere: Areus, in the form of someone mounting a horse, the Eleans dedicated, Aratus the Corinthians. Then: the Pelleneans erected Agathinus. The Athenian republic placed Aristophon, son of Lycius, an all-fighter.
p. 458
all-fighter. And then: the Aetolian nation dedicated the Elean Olidas. And again after that: The Erythraeans from Ionia dedicated Epitherses, son of Metrodorus, twice victor in Olympia and as many times in the Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean games in the fistfight. But the Syracusans publicly erected two images for Hieron... More such stories can be found with him.
§. VIII.
As for these images, one may further note that they were formerly made of wood, but later mostly of copper. What the same Faber points out with these words: (Faber loc.cit.) The Cretans were the very first etc. That is: that the Cretans first erected magnificent statues for the Olympic victors for Praxidamas the Aeginetan, victor of the fist-fighters, from cypress wood, around the 59th Olympiad, and for Rexibius the Opuntian, victor of the all-fighters, in the 61st Olympiad, one from fig wood --- I have said elsewhere that Philostratus writes about the copper likeness for that famous wrestler Milo in the Olympic field in his work on Apollonius: where Aristides also adds others of other victors.
§. IX.
Just as the magnificent statues were erected at the place where the victory had been achieved, they also displayed the shape and attitudes of the victors. With regard to the first, one must know that they stood naked, except for the covering for the private parts, as long as the victors, like the other fighters, were provided with such a covering. However, after the fourteenth Olympiad (which may have been mentioned elsewhere), when the fighters were completely naked, their images also stood without any covering.
p. 459
With regard to the second: the images stood in those attitudes that corresponded to the victors' struggle. Those of the fist-fighters for example as fist-fighters, those of the wrestlers as wrestlers, and so also those of the runners as runners. Thus MYRON had so artfully made the copper image of the runner LADAS that it seemed to be running for the prize. This is testified by this poem of PHILIPPUS, noted by Faber, which reads as follows: (Faber loc. cit.)
That is:
As you, Ladas, rush swift as thought,
And your foot barely sets on the outermost toe:
So Myron has depicted one
In copper, life-sized: he seems to be getting the wreath
Of pine leaves: he is full of hope, and from his lip
A sigh, pressed upwards, seems to almost escape.
The image as it were dances to the crown, the pedestal can barely hold it.
Oh work of art, faster than the wind, in the viewing.
The same Faber also relates that the magnificent statue of the Isthmian victor in the fistfight, the all-fight, and wrestling, CLITOMACHUS, showed him in the form in which he fought and won: just as the magnificent statue showed the wrestler LYRON in the form in which he won. He proves one from ALCAEUS, and the other from a certain TROILUS, a literary man.
p. 460
§. X.
Not only of the persons of the victors were magnificent statues erected: but after it had become customary to run with horse, chariots, and the heavy armor, these were often also depicted and exhibited, as were sometimes other things. And to say something about each of these things, Pausanias relates that PHIDOLA's mare, after she had thrown off her master at the very beginning and yet continued the race, had placed herself, as if assured of the victory and demanding the prize, in front of the umpires, who then proclaimed PHIDOLA the victor and granted his horse a likeness. (Pausanias lib. 6.) JULIUS CAESAR also proved a similar honor to his heroic and special horse (because it is said to have had almost human feet and hooves with cloven toes), when he placed an image of it in front of the temple of the generating JUNO. (Suetonius in Jul. Caef. cap. 61.)
However, to stay in the Olympic field, Pausanias tells a more extensive story about the depiction of a horse or horses, when he mentions the jumping horse with which CROCON achieved victory, and such, as well as that CLEOSTHENES the Epidamnian, victor in the sixty-sixth Olympiad, had images erected not only of himself, but also of his horses PHOENIX and CHORAX, and their side horses CNACIAS and SAMUS, and also of his charioteer. (Pausanias loc. cit.) He attributes the depiction of the chariot to GELON, as well as a magnificent statue of his own person. And as for the weapons, he says of DEMARATUS the Heraean that he, after having won in the sixty-fifth and the following Olympiad in the heavy armor fight, received a magnificent statue that, in the manner of the Romans, held a shield in front of it
p. 461
held, with the head armed with a helmet and the legs with military boots. And according to him, POLYCLES, nicknamed POLYCALCHUS, had an image that held a small wreath in the right hand, and with it two little boys, one of whom held a disc and the other reached for the small wreath. And that in the depiction of the soothsayer THRASYBULUS, a cat was seen crawling on his right shoulder, and not far from him a cut-open dog, whose liver was exposed. What the same Pausanias notes as a sign of his soothsayer's office, and that he was the inventor of also using the dog for that, which no one had done until then. For although in ancient times goats, lambs and calves were sacrificed and viewed for said divination, those of Cyprus had added the pig, but forgot to think of the unclean dog. That honor was thus for our THRASYBULUS.
§. XI.
Not only one single magnificent statue was erected for the victor, but according to the different victories, different ones were erected, namely of the person with respect to the running race, the fistfight, etc., but also with respect to the horse race and chariot races, etc. Either alone, or added to the person, on the person, or the one who had driven and raced in his name, placed on top of it, namely in his likeness. We will mention only one example of this kind from Pausanias: (Pausanias lib. 6.) the magnificent statues of Hieron, one on foot and the other on horseback, Hieron's sons themselves dedicated in the Olympic field.
§. XII.
The pillar or the pedestal of the magnificent statues was provided with an inscription. This is clear from what Pausanias indicates everywhere, and on which he usually bases himself
p. 462
in the description of the Olympic matters: and is particularly evident when he speaks as follows about the magnificent statue of EUTELIDES: The image of EUTELIDES is very old, and the letters, engraved in the pedestal, are almost worn away by age. The inscription told the story of the name of the victor, his homeland, his deeds, and also by whom he was crowned. That the name of the person and of his homeland were carved on it, is again as clear as day from the entire register that Pausanias gives of the images of the victors. For although the names from the Olympic list, started by EUAGORAS, were known, it nevertheless had to be clear to posterity from the inscription of the images themselves that this and that image were of this and that person, and not of another. And as for the homeland, that is evident from the same reason, and from the fact that he says of ERGOTENES; he was not a Himeraean, as the inscription says.
Regarding the deeds, not only those of some game victory, but also foreign ones (so to speak), that they were engraved on the pedestal, Pausanias shows very clearly in the example of POLYDAMAS. He had torn apart a very cruel lion on the Olympic mountain, in imitation of HERCULES: he had grabbed a strong bull by the hind legs and held it so tightly that it could barely escape, and not otherwise than by leaving its claws behind: he had also held a chariot so tightly and strongly from behind that the horses, although whipped by the driver, could not pull it forward: he had struck down three from the king's gang at the Persian court, from those who are called the immortals. And about this Pausanias says: those deeds, which I have mentioned, are partly seen on the pedestal of the image, but partly heard from the testifying inscription. (Pausanias ibid.) And
p. 463
that it was also engraved by whom the victor was crowned, namely by the Eleans or by the Pisans (since a great rivalry had taken place between these two peoples concerning this point), is also apparent from several examples of Pausanias, as in particular from what he relates about the victor MOLPION, of whom he says that one of those two magnificent statues, which follow Chilon, was erected to him, and that the inscription testified that he had received the crown from the Eleans.
§. XIII.
Here we must add that something else was engraved on the pedestal or the column, namely also the name or names of those who had commissioned and dedicated the magnificent statues. Thus the same person says that the inscription testifies that Gelon, son of Dinomenes, dedicated it to Gelous. I will pass over others.
§. XIV.
It must also be added here that the names of the makers of the images were also inscribed on the pedestal, as they were honored for having made such proud honorary images, and because they were usually from the greatest artists, at the same time honored the image and the victor, as having been made by such and such great masters. Pausanias also gives us a large register of this. (Pausanias ibid.) He speaks of sculptor ALYPUS, pupil of Naucydes, LYCIPPUS, CLEON the Sicyonian, MYRON the Athenian (who had so artfully made the image of LADA, about which above § 9), POLYCLETUS, EUTYCHIDES the Sicyonian, Leucippus' pupil DEDALUS the Sicyonian, ASTERION son of Aeschylus, PATROCLES son and pupil of Daedalus, DEMOCRITUS the Sicyonian, CANTHARUS the Sicyonian, son of Alexides and pupil of Euty-
p. 464
chides, NICODAMUS, PANTIAS, OLYMPUS, PYRILAMPES, PYTHAGORAS the Rhegian, SILANION the Athenian, MICON, NAUCIDES, CALLICLES the Megarian, PHRADMON the Argive, EUTELIDES and CHRYSOTHEMIS the Argives, HIPPIAS, and many others, too many to mention here.