Legends of Olympia II¹by Kleanthis Paleologos ©

MILON OF KROTONTHE WRESTLER

“To ascend the ash coloured heaven wasnot possible, but with his victories atOlympia and at the other sacred games hewon as much fame as we mortals can askfor and the utmost happiness for whichwe can hope”. These are the closing wordsof an Ode by Pindam, the bard of Olympia.These lines are definitely suitable for oneof the greatest athletes in the history ofOlympia and the ancient games. Whatglory! HOW can I put all this into such abrief narrative. What an end! How shall Ibe able to render credible, such tragedy insuch a splendid life.

We are in the midst of the 6th century B.C.Olympia has become the athletic and spi-ritual centre of Hellenism and its gamesare the greatest in the world. At this timethe little town of Kroton in Southern Italy,which had been founded only a centurybefore by the Achaeans, makes its firstappearance. A small town, it takes itsplace in the ancient world with its manyships, rich and fair, with a progressive andorderly democracy, with its wonderfulharbour, renown for its healthy climate, itsdoctors² and its great Olympic winners.The great glorious period for the Kroto-nian athletes starts with Glaukos the Sta-dion-run winner (588 B.C.) continueswith Lykinos (584 B.C.), Eratosthenes(576 B.C.), Hippostratos (564 and 550B.C.), Diognitos (548 B.C.), all of themStadion-run winners, the wrestler Timasi-theos (528 B.C.)³, lsomachos (508 and504 B.C.) and Tisikratis (496 and 492

¹ See Olympic Review No. 64-65.² Herod. 3, 131.³ Paus. 512 B.C.

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B.C.) both again Stadion-run winners, thefamous fleet footed Astylos, who won theStadion race three times (488, 484, 480B.C.) and others. Moreover in this line ofgreat athletes of the small town of Kroton,hardly any but the Stadion winners arerecorded and very few winners of othergames have come down in history. So wecan imagine how many more KrotonianOlympic winners in other games theremust have been, had we only known theirnames.Milon the son of Diotimos, whose namehas been written on the marble stones ofOlympia and the greatest of all the ath-letes from Kroton has gone down in histo-ry as one of the most famed of the ancientworld. And what fame! He won the wres-tling game for boys once and five times formen at Olympia; he won the Pythiangames seven times, the Nemean ninetimes and the lsthmian 10 times. Hecareer-toured the whole of Greece as avictor and won innumerable wreaths atthe games in which he took part.

In order to show Milon’s fabulous powers,the writer Hierapolitis Theodoros tells thefollowing tale of a happening at Olympia.Milon lifted a live bull on his shouldersand carried him around the gapingcrowds, who came to the fair on the day ofthe sacrifices and put him down in front ofthe priests of Zeus. After the priests hadblessed the animal he killed it and leavingthe chosen parts as an offering, he satdown and ate the rest of the bull! Thisincident which is described by Hierapoli-tis made such an impression, that the poetDorieus dedicated a poem mentioned byAthinaeus (∑.4).

“Such was Milon when he lifted a fouryear old calf on Zeus’ feast day. Havinglifted it as if it were a small sheep, he

placed the huge beast on his shouldersand carried it high in triumph amongst thecelebrants. So all remained stupefiedbefore so wonderful a feat; he put it downat the feet of the priest of Pisa who wassacrificing. This ox, which had no equal;then he carried it around, cut it up, roastedit and ate it alone.”

The same writer also mentions in his book“About the Games” that Milon consumed“twenty minas of meat and an equalamount of bread” or 25 kilos of meat andthe same quantity of bread. Once on Aegi-na, at a festival of Dionysos, during themonth of Anthestirion, when new winewas being tasted and seated at a com-munal table, where they were betting whocould drink the most wine at one gulp,Milon succeeded drinking three chœs¹ atone draught and won the bet and prize.

In order to verify all these amounts attrib-uted to Milon, which today seem so exag-gerated, we must refer to another Olympicwinner who had made a name for himselfas a big bodied, heavy eater and drinker.This was Herodoros who performed a featnever repeated. He was proclaimed tentimes Olympic winner at the contest of thetrumpets. According to the Alexandrianwriter Amarantios to whom Athenaios ref-ers us (10, 415) Herodoros the trumpeterwas a man of huge dimensions. His heightwas 3½ cubits and his ribs were huge andterribly strong. He slept on a lion skin laidout on the floor. He used to consume sixchoinikes of bread (about 7 kilos), twentylitres of meat (about 7 kilos), and drink 2chœs of wine (6 litres).

What has been said about Milon soundsmythical. Once the Sybarites envious ofthe well being of their neighbouring town,started a war against Kroton and arrivedthreatening to besiege and subject it.Then as Hieropolites Theodoros tells usMilon went out into the square. He wore awreath on his head, had thrown a lion’sskin over his shoulders and brandished aheavy club, like another Heracles.— “Forward fellow countrymen and fol-low me”.

¹ Each “chœ” is equivalent to three litres.

He gathered the men, all those who couldcarry arms, he lined them up and placedhimself in front of them. The assault of theKrotoniats was so crushing that theSybarites took to their heels leaving a lotof dead on the battlefield.

Milon of Kroton belonged to the Pythago-reans, it is said that he had done somewriting. They also said that at a banquet,in the stoa of the Pythagoreans, the roof ofthe hall started shaking and there was adanger of its falling at any moment andcrushing all the guests. So Milon tookhold of the shaking pillar, so as to hold upthe roof, to give time to his friends to clearthe room and in the nick of time managedto jump out while the roof fell in with agreat clatter.

What was being said about Milon’s superhuman strength, has been preserved in thewritings of various authors and surpassesthe most unlikely myths in fantasy.

He once held a pomegranate in his fist andno one was able to move a finger or makehim crush the fruit!

He stood on a disk covered with oil andnobody was able to move him.

He tied a string round his forehead and byholding his breath made his veins swell soas to break the string!

Holding his elbow, glued to his ribs, heheld his forearm out with the hand turnedthumb uppermost and fingers flat andnobody was able to move his little fingerMilon’s fame had crossed the borders ofGreece and had reached The East. Andhow ever much we may believe that theexploits of his great athlete may havepassed into the realm of myth it is evidentboth from the huge statue which stood inthe Altis of Olympia and from his sixOlympic victories, that we are dealingwith a man about whom nothing couldseem an exaggeration. This huge statuefashioned by the sculptor Damias, wastransported in order to be erected at theAltis, by Milon himself, who carried it onhis shoulders! On its base there was anepigram by Simonides:

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“Milon, this fine statue of a fine man, hewon seven times at Pisa and neverdropped to his knees.”

Appolionios of Tya, a charming man, awriter and Pythagorean philosopher wholived in the 2nd century A.D. saw Milon’sstatue at Olympia, tried to interpret themyths about the great Olympic winneraccording to the beliefs of symbolism,current in the Pythagorean stoa. Manythought that the interpretations given byAppolonios were very apt. The citizens ofKroton had made Milon a priest in thetemple of Hera, which is why he wore amitre. The legend of the string stems fromthe mitre. He held the pomegranatebecause this fruit came from a tree sacredto Hera. He stood on a disc because thepriests of Hera stood on a disc whilstsacrificing. And as to the little finger of hishand, the interpretation is that the priestsof Hera held their hands in this positionwhilst praying¹.

There was only one person whom Milonrecognized as being stronger than himselfand that was Titormos of Aetolia, ashepherd². He must really have been aman with a gigantic body and, with titanicstrength. He had lifted and carried a rock adistance of eight fathoms. Milon also triedand only managed to move the rock. Froma herd of bulls he grabbed a bull with onearm by the hindleg and brought it to astandstill. When Milon saw this, he criedout with astonishment:

— “Oh great Zeus, have you sown thisone amongst us to become a secondHeracles?”

¹ Philostr. Apoll. Thy. 4, 28.² Helianos. Star. 12, 22.

¹ These are given by Julian the African. His catalogueof “Stadion-winners”. He is showing in his first book of“Chronicles” The Bishop of Cessaria/Palestine. Euse-bius Pamfilos. According to Pausanias, Milon’s victo-ries took place: The first at the 60th Olympiad (540B.C.)—boy’s wrestling, then followed at the 62nd(532 B.C.), 63rd (528 B.C.), 64th (524 B.C.), 65th(520 B.C.), 66th (516 B.C.). His defeat by Timasi-theos took place in 512 B.C. at the 67th Olympiad.Independently of dates, Milon’s victories remain anundisputable fact.

It was the 63rd Olympiad (528 B.C.).Milon arrived to compete for the so muchwished for wreath for the seventh timeand young Timasitheos for the first. Milonby then had achieved the incredible teet ofhaving been winner six times. The firsttime in the 57th Olympiad he won thewrestling for boys (in 552 B.C.)¹. He wasthen fifteen years old. Then followed fiveOlympic victories in 548, 544, 540, 536and 532 in the men’s wrestling. An in-conceivable achievement. Thus he arrivedin 528 to the 63rd Olympiad seeking towin a prize for the seventh time. We mustbear in mind that by then he was nearingforty, he must at least have been thirtynine. In those days people of that agewere considered old! The still youthfulMilon despite his greying hair entered thestadium and such was his fame the spec-tators broke into clamorous applause. Butthe modest Timasitheos, a well built, care-fully trained athlete did not hide his admi-

But it was not decreed that the hugeMilon should be vanquished by the giantTitormos, as the latter never took part inthe Games. It was from a fellow country-man, a young athlete that the multi-crowned Milon was to experience defeat.The youth was Timasitheos of Kroton andit seems that he used to look on when thegreat Olympic winner was training andstudied his technique so that one day hecould also win this great prize at Olympia.

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ration for his great fellow countryman andopponent, perhaps because he had pre-pared himself thoroughly and thereforeseemed calm and collected. Both Kroto-niats reached the finals having easily dis-posed of the adversaries for whom theyhad drawn. Now they stood face to faceand started the contest. Milon as usualattacked immediately trying for any sort ofhold.

Timasitheos’ plan was to avoid any sort ofcontact which seemed the only way tocurb his invincible opponent. He knewthat he would be lost if only once he fellinto Milon’s iron grip from which he couldonly emerge crushed and defeated. Hehad been studying the invincible athletefor a long time and his plan had to becarried out at all costs. He must avoid hisadversary, he must be all the time on thedefence, he must force him into a constantand desperate attack to tire him out, ex-haust him and even if possible, try to breakhis nerve.

The struggle took a long time. Milon wastired out and gave up the fight. After sixconsecutive victories at Olympia heowed his head in defeat and prepared towithdraw the moment the herald pro-claimed:

— “Timasitheos of Kroton winner of thewrestling”.

But that very moment the crowd rushedinto the arena, they lifted Milon up andcrowning him with wreaths and flowersand laurels on him, carried him round thestadium. Amongst those who were carry-ing him and were cheering him was hisfellow countryman Timasitheos the victor.That day Milon’s statue in the Altis wassmothered in flowers.

But fate ordained a tragic end to the life ofthe overfortunate and so greatly honouredMilon. He lived an honoured notable inKroton when one day, walking in thewoods, he saw a big and newly felled treewith wedges in its big trunk which wereput there in order to split it. Wanting tosplit the trunk by force he pushed his handin, gave it a big pull, the spikes fell out andtrapped his hands. Trapped like this heremained in the wilderness, night over-took him and when it came he wasdevoured by wild beasts!

The gods know when to intervene to endeach man’s life as they had decreed. Theyexalted Milon to immortal glory, but forhis end they inflicted tragedy.

DIAGORAS OF RHODES,THE BOXER

Diagoras son of Damagetos of Rhodeswas a much talked of athlete in boxing. Hewas an Olympic winner and also a periodwinner¹ and, according to the historiansof his time, the greatest of all ancientboxers.Pindar considers Eratos as Diagoras’ fore-father and therefore gives the name ofEratides to all of Diagoras’ descendantsconsidering them of ancient and aristo-cratic lineage. Pindar has written one ofhis more splendid lyric poems about him

¹ Winner at Olymp, Phyt, Nemean and 1st. games.

and this ode¹ had created such an impres-sion on the Rhodians that they had itengraved with golden letters in the templeof Athena of Lindos. Their imagination,fired by the glorious career of this greatathlete made him of divine descent. Hismother, they said, found herself in thecountry and because of the great heattook refuge in the sanctuary of Hermes.There the god found her asleep and madelove to her. In reality Diagoras was of royaldescent, because Damagetos, his father,was the grandson of the King of lalissos,Damagetos.² Diagoras was a very tallman with a handsome face and his proudwalk as well as his sculptural posescaused much admiration. Pindar calls himhuge and Pausanias says that he wasabout 2½ meters tall. It may be that thiswas the height of his statue which wasstanding in the Altis. It was made byKallikles, son of Theokosmos of Megara,who had become famous because of astatue of Zeus which stood in the middleof the Agora of Megara.³

Diagoras had won the 79th Olympiad(464 B.C.), he won twice at Nemea, fourtimes at the Isthmus, many times inRhodes and in many games of towns likeAthens, Argos Lykaion, Aegina, Pellene,Plataea, Thebes, Megara and, elsewhere.Pindar gives him the name of “straightfighter” because he never turned side-ways and also never avoided his op-ponent. This straight way of fighting madethe followers of an athlete very proud andbrought great joy to the audiences whoknew how to appreciate straightforward-ness and bravery, art and the clean way ofcontesting for victory, as well as the keep-ing to the rules, which made a victoryirreproachable.

They believed in those days that thegames were founded by the gods and thatthey themselves had laid down the rules.The gods protected the athletes who con-tested in a straight forward way and whosought a clean vicrory. The keeping of themoral laws harmonised man’s wholecourse with God’s help, whereas any

¹ Pin. Olymp. 7.² Paus. IV, 24.1.³ Paus. VI, 7,2.

deviation from the state laws or the figh-ting rules, shook the god ordained orderand heaped exterminating calamitiesupon the transgressor, his progeny andeven his whole town.

The origins of the gods and men may havebeen the same, i.e. Earth, the Mother. Butthe gods differ from the common mortalby a power which is inaccessible to man.It is the bronze coloured sky, where seatedon their unshakable pedestal, the immor-tals rule the world. The gods command,but also help. They accept the prayers andare pleased with the sacrifices, the agre-able odour of the burnt meat and derivegreat satisfaction from reverence andworship. They praise good deeds but pun-ish strayings and deviations. The gamesare their invention. They too had to fight ahard battle when they hurled the almightyTitans into Tartarus and established them-selves on snowcapped Olympus. Theydelight in sporty contests and the proud,selfrespecting merit can only triumph ifthe gods deign to bestow the splendidrays of their divine patronage. But meritand valour can only be acquired with agreat deal of toiling, uncountable labour,and even the frequent danger of heavytraining if one wished to contest thosegolden prizes which finally lead to immor-tality.

Diagoras’ countenance, as history de-scribes him, breathes out highmindednessand nobility, modesty and capability.When he was alive he was greatlyhonoured, which reflected like a god-sentheritage on his descendants and hiswhole progeny. It should be mentionedthat all this glory was not only because ofhis size, his many victories, and hisstraight way of fighting. From the Olympicarenas many a great athlete had passedwho had been crowned five and six timeswith the glorious Olympic wreath. Thegreat fame of Diagoras hailed straightfrom the Altis. There his huge statuestood. Next to it was the statue of his firstborn son, Damagetos, the Olympic boxingchampion. On the other side was theportrait of his second son, Akousilaos,who won the Olympics in the Pankration.Then there was the statue of his youngerson Dorieas, the most deserving of them

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all, who won the Olympics three times,eight times the Isthmians, seven times thegames at Nemea and once the Pythiangames in the Pankration. Further therewere two more statues erected in honourof the Diagorides. Eukles, Olympic winnerin boxing and Peisidoros also winner ofthe Olympics, both grand-sons.

An incomparable glory for his house!Not easily to be borne, I think, by a mortal!Not that the gods were envious. But theythemselves have decreed that greathappiness should not be long lived!

Diagoras had the god-sent gift of goodfame and he was able to hand down thisrich heritage to his children. But it seemsthat the hour destined by the Fate Atro-pos, she who severs the thread of life, hadcome. And the gods sent even death tothe fortunate Diagoras in a mild andhonoured guise; we can call it a gloriousend!

This took place in 448 B.C. during the83rd Olympiad. Diagoras, the proud fatherwas seated in the stadium and watchedhis sons contesting. He was surroundedby an admiring crowd who embraced andcongratulated him when the herald’sthundering voice proclaimed his nametwice, making it echo from the Chronoshill far to the swift running Alpheus wherethe women, mothers, sisters and daugh-ters were encamped, eager for news.

— “Damagetos son of Diagoras wins theBoxing”.— “Akousilaos son of Diagoras wins thePankration”.The modest youths receive their wreaths.Their virile faces shine from sheer joy andthey run. Forgotten is the sacred toilwhich the much desired victory has

caused them. There, seated amongst thecrowd is Diagoras, their old father, thegreat Diagoras, the straight fighter. Theyrun to him and embrace him. The old manis deeply moved and the youths, withgreat spontaneity, crown him with theirwreaths of victory. The crowds cheer:— “Well done ... well done ...”.— “Long live Diagoras”.

The youths lift him on their shoulders andproceed into the arena. They want toshow him to the crowd and rejoice in theirmutual pride. The crowds follow andcheer and throw flowers and laurels. It isthe peak of Diagoras’ life. It is the blessingof the gods.And then among the crowds a boomingvoice is heard. It comes from a Spartan. Isit out of envy for so much happiness andglory? No! He also wished to acclaim thetriumph of a greatly honoured father, buthis strict upbringing makes him realisethat man cannot and must not push hisambitions further than the limits pre-scribed by the gods.He fears the gods, he fears that this exces-sive joy borders on impiety. Lifting up hishands he shouts out loudly:— “Die oh Diagoras! You cannot aspireto ascend Olympus!”¹Diagoras heard the voice, he heard theexhortation, and carried by his felicitoussons he lowered his twice crowned headin utter happiness and contentment, leav-ing his breath in the same place he and hissons had toiled and triumphed:He did not ascend Olympus, but heremained immortal! K.P.

(To follow.)

¹ Plutarch, Pelopidas’ life, 34 and Aul. Gellius, Atticnights, III, 15.3.