After this digression we will return to the statue of Arrhachion. Dr. Frazer was unable to decipher the inscription upon the breast with certainty, but made out the following letters, the last four of which are plainly visible in the photograph: ΕΥΝΛΙΑΔ. He believed them to be archaic and the first instance of an inscription on this class of statues. He thought that the name was that of a man, which favored the view that the “Apollo” statues represented mortals rather than gods. The letters form a combination manifestly not Greek, and so may have no significance; it is even possible that they were engraved in modern times.2248 In any case we have the statement of Pausanias that the inscription was illegible in his day.
There seems little doubt, then, that this mutilated and weather-worn statue is the very one seen and described by Pausanias and referred by him to the victor Arrhachion.2249 It is presented here for two reasons. In the first place, it is the oldest dated Olympic victor statue in existence. Only three older ones are recorded, and none of these has survived to our time. These three are the statues of the Spartan Eutelidas at Olympia, who won the boys’ wrestling and pentathlon matches in Ol. 38 ( = 628 B. C.);2250 of the Athenian Kylon on the Akropolis, who won the double running-race in Ol. 35 ( = 640 B. C.);2251 of the Spartan Hetoimokles at Sparta, who won five times in wrestling at the beginning of the sixth century B. C.2252 The statue of Oibotas of Dyme, who won the stade-race in Ol. 6 ( = 756 B. C.), was not set up until Ol. 80 ( = 460 B. C.);2253 that of the Spartan Chionis, who won five running-races in Ols. 28–31 ( = 668–656 B. C.), was made later by Myron.2254 Pausanias’ statement (VI. 18.7) that the wooden statues of Praxidamas and Rhexibios, who won in Ols. 59 and 61 respectively ( = 544 and 536 B. C.), were the oldest at Olympia, is of course incorrect. In the second place, the statue of Arrhachion actually proves what has often been assumed, that some of the statues classed as “Apollos” are really victor monuments. As this question has provoked a good deal of discussion in recent years, I will briefly review the arguments by which the opinion has gradually gained acceptance.
As the earlier examples of the series were discovered under peculiar circumstances, they gave no clue to their meaning. Thus the “Apollo” of Naxos was found in the quarries of the island, while that from Orchomenos (Fig. 10) was first seen in the convent of Skripou, its exact provenience being unknown. From the first they were denominated “Apollos,” chiefly because of their long hair2255 and nudity,2256 while the existence of many small bronzes in the same schema dedicated to the god,2257 and cult statues of similar pose appearing on vase- and wall-paintings,2258 helped to make the identification more probable. Certain ancient texts, describing archaic statues of Apollo in this pose, were also cited as evidence, and it was pointed out that many of these statues were actually found in or near sanctuaries of the god. Thus Diodoros, in his description of the ξόανον of the Pythian Apollo made for the Samians by Telekles and Theodoros, which we have already mentioned, says: τὰς μὲν χεῖρας ἔχον παρατεταμένας, τὰ δὲ σκέλη διαβεβηκότα.2259 Probably the gilded image by the Cretan Cheirisophos in the temple of Apollo at Tegea was of this type.2260 The later type of “Apollo,” with the arms extended at the elbows, was doubtless followed in the statue of Apollo made for the Delians by Tektaios and Angelion,2261 and in the works ascribed to Dipoinos and Skyllis and their school. It would be easy to give an extended list of such “Apollo” statues found in sanctuaries.2262 We might instance one from Naukratis, Egypt;2263 one from Delos;2264 two from Aktion;2265 several from Mount Ptoion in Bœotia;2266 a copy of the head of the Choiseul-Gouffier Apollo (Pl. 7A) found in Kyrene.2267 Still others have been found in temenoi of temples, e. g., two in that of Apollo at Naukratis,2268 and one in that of Aphrodite there.2269
However, against this exclusive interpretation doubts have been raised with ever-increasing precision, until now we can predicate with certainty what Loeschke long ago assumed, that the more statues of the series there are found, the less probable will it become that they should all be ascribed to Apollo.2270 Conze and Michaelis first argued on the basis of Pausanias’ description of Arrhachion’s statue that this type was employed for victor statues.2271 Koerte’s objection to their view on the ground of the long hair was refuted by Waldstein, who demonstrated that athletes were not represented with short hair until after the Persian wars; he pointed out that the archaic grave-figures of the mortals Dermys and Kitylos discovered at Tanagra, which were sculptured in a constrained attitude analogous to that of the “Apollos,” had long hair.2272 We now know that the hair of some of the “Apollos” is short, which shows the irrelevancy of this argument,2273 and we also know that nudity characterizes many archaic statues of mortals. Nor do we learn much from dedications, for we have examples of statues of gods dedicated to other gods and even to goddesses.2274 Ex votos were often more concerned with the dedicator than with the god to whom the statue was dedicated. Doubtless the cult statues portrayed on vase-paintings are actually those of Apollo, for at this epoch other gods, such as Hermes and Dionysos, are bearded.2275
Moreover, that a more advanced schema for representing the god Apollo had already become fixed toward the end of the sixth century B. C., we know from ancient descriptions of the statue of the god made for the Delians by Tektaios and Angelion, which represented him in the usual archaic attitude, i. e., of the statue of Arrhachion, but with the notable difference that the forearms were outstretched.2276 That this was the recognized type in the early years of the fifth century B. C., is attested by the bronze statue of the god fashioned by the elder Kanachos of Sikyon for Branchidai, the pose of which is known from several statuettes and from a long series of Milesian coins.2277 For conservative reasons this favorite pose was kept for cult statues even into the fourth century B. C., as we learn from representations on coins of the golden statue of the god set up in the inmost shrine of the temple at Delphi.2278 But that many of the earlier examples of the “Apollo” series do represent the god, should not be denied. We agree with Homolle that the old appellation “Apollo,” after having received too much favor, has now by reaction become censured too severely, and in general should still be applied to those statues of the series which have been discovered in or near sanctuaries of the god, and in the absence of any other indication to the contrary, also to those which stand upon bases inscribed with dedications to him.2279 Such a statue was found on the island of Thasos at the bottom of the cella of the temple of Apollo at Alki and is now in Constantinople.2280 The colossal statue found on the island of Delos just south of the temple of Apollo,2281 and the huge torso discovered in Megara2282 may be referred to the god, for their size favors an ascription to a deity rather than to mortals. And many other examples of the type found in sanctuaries may very well represent Apollo and other gods.2283
That several of the series were also funerary in character is abundantly proved by the fact that they were discovered in the neighborhood of tombs. Thus the Apollo of Tenea (Pl. 8A) decorated a tomb in the necropolis of Tenea near Corinth.2284 Likewise the example from Thera (Fig. 9) was found in a rock-cut niche.2285 Another, now in the British Museum, was found in the dromos of a tomb on the island of Cyprus,2286 while a fourth was unearthed from the necropolis of Megara Hyblaia in Sicily.2287 The one found at Volomandra in Attika in 1900 was also found in an old cemetery.2288 These furnish proof enough of the sepulchral character of many of these statues. Such funerary monuments may, of course, have been been set up also in memory of victors.
We are now in a position, on the basis of Pausanias’ description of Arrhachion’s statue and the actual monument itself, to maintain with certainty what hitherto has been conjectured only, that although some of these archaic sculptures represent Apollo and other gods, sepulchral dedications, and ex votos in general, others were intended to represent athletes also. Doubtless the other early victor monuments recorded, such as the wooden statues of Praxidamas and Rhexibios, and those of Eutelidas, Kylon, and Hetoimokles, already discussed in Ch. III, conformed with the earlier type, while that of Milo, described by Philostratos,2289 conformed with the later. Certain examples of the series have already been ascribed to victors. Thus the marble head of Attic workmanship found in or near Athens and known as the Rayet-Jacobsen head (Fig. 22), has been referred to a pancratiast because of its swollen and deformed ears.2290 Certain statuettes of the same pose as the “Apollos” have been looked upon as copies of athlete statues.2291 So the early doubts2292 as to the meaning of these archaic sculptures have been resolved in many cases. We have added one well-attested example to show that they sometimes represented victor monuments.
Plans A and B.
The first part of this final chapter is a special study in the topography of the Altis at Olympia. It is an attempt to fix, more or less exactly, the positions of victor statues erected there, so far as these can be determined from the data furnished by Pausanias, and from the locations of the inscribed fragmentary bases of the statues which have been recovered during the excavations at Olympia.
We shall first attempt to give the positions of the statues mentioned by Pausanias, who is our chief source of information. After describing the votive offerings (ἀναθήματα) at the end of Book V, he begins the enumeration of the monuments of “race-horses ... and athletes and private individuals” at the beginning of Book VI.2294 This description falls into two routes (ἔφοδοι), the first of which is concerned with the statues of 168 victors,2295 and the second with those of 19.2296 Both accounts also include many “honor” monuments erected to private persons. The first route begins at the Heraion in the northwestern part of the sacred enclosure, while the second begins—manifestly where the first ends—at the Leonidaion at its southwestern corner, and extends to a point near the so-called Great Altar of Zeus near the centre of the Altis (see Plans A and B).2297 Besides these meagre indications of his two routes furnished by Pausanias himself, we are fortunate in knowing exactly the position of one statue, that of Telemachos, the 122d victor mentioned, the base of which still stands in situ near the South wall of the Altis, a little southeast of the temple of Zeus, showing that the route passed before the eastern front of this temple and thence westward to the Leonidaion. With these data and with the help of some forty inscribed bases of statues and other monuments mentioned by Pausanias, many of which were found in or near their original positions, it is possible to trace yet more definitely his routes. Several attempts have been made, since the German excavations, to define topographically the positions of these statues, especially by Hirschfeld,2298 Scherer,2299 Flasch,2300 Doerpfeld,2301 and the present writer.2302
The position of several inscribed base-fragments of statues, corresponding with Pausanias’ order of presentation, should alone be sufficient to confute the doubts raised by some scholars that these routes through the Altis were not topographical.2303 But in any attempt to reconstruct them we must constantly be on our guard against assuming that Pausanias describes a continuous line or row of monuments, as both Hirschfeld and Scherer have done. Though here and there this may have been true, still, generally speaking, we must conceive of these statues as being strewn about the Altis in no other order than that they stood in groups, and that these groups had only a general direction; for we shall see that Pausanias sometimes returns to the same spot without mentioning it and often leaves long spaces unnoticed. Apart from the indication of such groups in the description itself, as attested by the use of such words as παρά, ἐφεξῆς, μετά, πλησίον, ἀνάκειται ἐπί, ἐγγύτατα, ὄπισθεν, μεταξύ, οὐ πόρρω, οὐ πρόσω, κ.τ.λ., I have already shown in my previous work that it is possible to reconstruct many other groups, for abundant proof is there given that statues of nearly contemporaneous victors were often grouped together, as were those of the same family or state, or those victorious in the same contest, or those whose statues were made by the same artist.2304 So, in general, we can group only certain statues in belts or “zones” around some building or monument which is still in situ. Further than this we can seldom go. W. Gurlitt has thus well expressed the difficulty of following these routes of Pausanias: “Jede folgende Statue ist nach der vorhergehenden orientirt zu denken ... Beziehungen auf frueher oder spaeter erwaehnte Monumente waren ueberfluessig ... wir sind ... auf wenige Fixpunkte angewiesen und verfallen daher leicht in den Fehler, die Wegrichtungen in den Plan zu schematisch einzuzeichnen.... Das Hin und Her auf den viel verschlungenen Wegen der Altis koennen wir nicht mehr controllieren”.2305 In his description of the scattered altars (V, 14.4–15.12), Pausanias had not the same problem to meet as in that of the victor statues. As there was so little continuity in describing the altars, which were strewn all over the Altis, he had to introduce many other monuments to make their locations known; but in the case of the victor statues there was great continuity, and consequently such indications would have been superfluous.2306 And, in general, owing to the number and variety of monuments crowded together in the circumscribed area of the Altis, he was not compelled to describe Olympia with such definite detail as Athens. That these victor statues, however, are described in topographical order is not only attested by the internal evidence of Pausanias’ words,2307 but also by the finding of many of their bases in the order of his presentation. With this introductory warning, let us take up the routes of Pausanias in detail.
Pausanias begins his enumeration in the northeastern part of the Altis: ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ ναοῦ τῆς Ἥρας2308—words which have been the subject of much discussion as to whether they are to be understood of the temple pro persona, i.e., the southern side,2309 or of the viewpoint of one facing it, i.e., the space (especially the northern or right hand half) before the eastern front.2310 From the immediate whereabouts of Pausanias we get no clue; for at the end of Book V (27.11) he says that he is in the middle of the Altis, and yet in the following paragraph (27.12)—evidently added as a transition from the account of the altars to that of the victors—he mentions the trophy of the people of Mende, in Thrace, which he says he nearly mistook for the statue of the pancratiast Anauchidas (131), and this, as we shall see, stood near the South wall of the Altis far from the centre. Doerpfeld’s contention, therefore, that Pausanias approached the Heraion from this point, and that consequently the words ἐν δεξιᾷ must refer to its eastern front, is untenable, and we are left dependent on the meaning of these words as gathered from other passages in Pausanias’ work. An examination of several such passages seems to be convincing that they are used here of the Heraion pro persona.2311 Furthermore, the finding of the inscribed tablet from the base of the statue of Troilos (6) and the pedestal of that of Kyniska (7) in the ruins of the Prytaneion, i. e., not far from the western end of the Heraion, and the base of that of Sophios (22) in the bed of the Kladeos still further west,2312 makes it reasonable to conclude that the first statues mentioned (VI, 1.3–3.7), those of the Spartan group (Kyniska-Lichas, 7–14), all of the fifth century, B. C., flanked on either side by statues of the fourth, mostly of Eleans (Symmachos-Troilos, 1–6, and Timosthenes-Eupolemos, 15–28), originally stood in the order named by Pausanias along the southern front of the temple.2313
Leaving the Heraion, we get no further fixed point until we arrive opposite the eastern front of the temple of Zeus. For here around the foundation of the statue of the Eretrian Bull—still in situ 32 meters east of the northeastern corner of the temple (see Plans A and B)2314—have been found fragments of the pedestals of the statues of Narykidas (49) and Hellanikos (65) to the south, of Kallias (50) and Eukles (52), beneath that of Kallias, to the north, of Euthymos (56) and Charmides (58) close together to the east.2315 So it is clear that the series of statues from Narykidas to Charmides (49–58, P., VI, 6. 1–7.1) stood in this neighborhood. Now the statues of the family of Diagoras, the Rhodian athlete, stood together (59–63), as Pausanias says (VI, 7.1–2); one of them, that of Eukles (52), seems to have been moved from its original position later, as we learn from a scholiast on Pindar’s seventh Olympian ode,2316 who, on the authority of the lost works of Aristotle and Apollas on the Olympic victors,2317 enumerates these statues in an order different from that adopted by Pausanias, showing that a change in their positions must have taken place some time between the date of Aristotle and that of the Periegete.2318 The statues of Alkainetos and his son Hellanikos (64–65) must also have stood together. Inasmuch as the victors from Euthymos to Lykinos (56–68) are, with one exception, all pugilists or pancratiasts and of the fifth century B. C., they must have been grouped together, with the family groups of Diagoras and Alkainetos in the centre.2319 We may also add the statues of Dromeus and Pythokles2320 (69–70) of nearly the same date, and we can also extend the group in the other direction; for the same scholiast says that the statue of Diagoras stood near that of the Spartan Lysandros (35 a).2321 Pausanias (VI, 3.14 and 4.1) says that the statue of Lysandros stood between those of Pyrilampes and Athenaios (35–36). Thus we can conclude that the 36 statues (35–70, VI, 3.13–7.10) stood in the zone of the Eretrian Bull, extending perhaps across the Altis to the vicinity of the Echo Colonnade along its eastern boundary.
It would follow, then, that the intervening statues from Oibotas to Xenophon (29–34, P., VI, 3.8–3.13) stood somewhere between the Heraion and the Eretrian Bull. It is idle to discuss the route between these two monuments more definitely.2322
Our next fixed point is the Victory of Paionios, whose foundation is still standing in its original position, 37 meters due east of the southeast corner of the temple of Zeus.2323 For, of the next few statues mentioned, the base of that of Sosikrates (71) was found “somewhere” east of the temple, that of Kritodamos (80) before the “Southeast Building,” and that of Xenokles (85), 4 meters to the northeast of the Victory base, presumably near its original position.2324 Pausanias groups the three Arkadian athletes, Euthymenes-Kritodamos (78–80, P., VI, 8.5); then, after naming four statues of victors from other states, he mentions two more Arkadians together, Xenokles and Alketos (85–86, VI, 9.2); and he continues by saying that the statues of the Argives Aristeus and Cheimon (87–88, VI, 9.3) stood together. One more statue, that of Phillen or Philys2325 of Elis (89), is named before he comes to the chariot of Gelo. Thus we may conclude that the series of statues denoted by the numbers 71–89 (P., VI, 8.1–9.4) stood to the south of the Eretrian Bull in the parallel zone of the Victory.
We next come to the series of statues mentioned between the chariots of Gelo and Kleosthenes (90–99). The position of the bases of these chariots is practically certain. In describing the statues of Zeus in Book V, Pausanias says he is proceeding north from the Council-house (23.1), and first mentions a statue of Zeus set up by the Greeks who fought at Platæa; in describing the victor statues he says that the chariot of Kleosthenes stands behind this statue of Zeus (P., VI, 10.6). After describing the Zeus of Platæa, he mentions a bronze inscribed tablet as standing in front of it (V, 23.4), which recorded the thirty years’ treaty of peace between Sparta and Athens, and then says that the statue of the Zeus of the Megarians stands near the chariot of Kleosthenes (23.5). As he is proceeding north, this Megarian Zeus must have stood north of the Platæan one; thus in one group we have the two statues of Zeus and the chariot of Kleosthenes. Immediately to the north he next mentions the chariot of the Syracusan tyrant Gelo (90), which he says is near the statue of the Zeus of the Hyblæans (23.6). Now in coming south, in the athlete periegesis, he names eight statues between these chariots. Doerpfeld2326 has identified the base of the Platæan Zeus with a large pedestal to the northwest of that of the victor Telemachos (122) found in situ near the South Altis wall,2327 a position which is in harmony with the description of the statues of Zeus; just behind it he has identified two large foundations near together as those of the two chariots. So the eight intervening statues stood here. Of the statues between the chariot of Kleosthenes and the base of the statue of Telemachos, the base of that of Tellon (102) was found in the East Byzantine wall near the South Altis wall; that of Aristion (115) nearby, embedded in the same wall; that of Akestorides (119), whose name I have inserted in the lacuna in the text of Pausanias (VI, 13.7),2328 just northeast of the base of Telemachos.2329 Thus the series of statues from that of Gelo to that of Agathinos (90–121a, P., VI, 9.4–13.11) can be grouped in the zone of the Chariots.
As the fragment of the base of the statue of the Athenian pancratiast Aristophon (123) was found near the base of Telemachos, but to the east of it, and likewise that which supported the equestrian monument of Xenombrotos and Xenodikos (133–134) still further to the east near the Echo Colonnade,2330 we can conclude that the twenty-one statues from Aristophon to Prokles (123–138, P., VI, 13.11–14.13), mostly of the fifth century B. C., stood near the South Altis wall to the east (and not to the west of the base of Telemachos, where all other investigators have wrongly placed them),2331 and thus form a group which we can call the zone of Telemachos. So we conclude that the long list of statues from Pyrilampes to Prokles (35–138), nearly two-thirds of all those mentioned in the first ἔφοδος of Pausanias, stood in the space to the east and southeast of the temple of Zeus, grouped in the parallel zones of the Bull, Victory, Chariots, and Telemachos.
On the other hand, the statues beginning with the two of Aischines (139) and extending to that of Philonides (154 a) (P., VI, 14.13–16.5) must have stood to the west of the base of Telemachos and along the South Terrace wall some 20 meters south of the temple of Zeus, where many of the following pedestals were found in the order named by Pausanias: that of Aischines (139) was found in the Council-house; that of Archippos (140) nearby between the South Terrace wall and the north wing of the Council-house; that of Epitherses (147) opposite the sixth column of the temple from the west, some eleven paces from the South Terrace wall, and the fragment of the base of the honor statue of Antigonos (147 f) very near it; the bronze foot of one of the statues of Kapros (150) was found in the South Terrace wall, 24.40 meters from the southwest corner of the temple; and lastly, the base of the “honor” statue of Philonides (154 a), Alexander’s courier, was found in the southwest corner of the Altis at the extreme west end of the South Terrace wall, almost, if not exactly, in its original position.2332 Thus Pausanias, after coming south to the statue of Telemachos, first goes eastward as far as the statue of Prokles, then returns, repassing the two chariots on the way without remark, and then continues westward to the southwestern corner of the Altis. All statues west of that of Telemachos are of the fifth and fourth centuries B. C., with the exception of one, that of Eutelidas (148), who won in Ol. 38. This is the oldest statue in the Altis, despite Pausanias’ statement,2333 and it doubtless originally stood in the area occupied later toward the middle of the fifth century B. C. by the temple of Zeus, but was then transferred to its new position south of the temple.
After the statue of Philonides, there are still 19 statues of victors and “honor” men to dispose of in this first ἔφοδος, those from Brimias to Glaukon (155–169, P., VI, 16.5–16.9). Of these statues, the base of that of Leonidas of Naxos (155a), the founder of the great building just outside the southwestern corner of the Altis named after him, was discovered in a Byzantine wall before the eastern end of the north front of that building, while that of Seleadas (159) was unearthed within the ruins of the same building; the base which supported the group-monument of Polypeithes and Kalliteles (160–161)—which, owing to the early dates of their victories, some time between Ols. (?) 66 and 70 ( = 516 and 500 B. C.), must have stood originally in the area later occupied by the temple of Zeus, like that of the above-mentioned Eutelidas—a little to the south of the Byzantine church, between the bases of the statues of Leonidas and Glaukon; two fragments of the base of the statue of Deinosthenes (163) have been found, one east of the apse of the church, the other in the ruins of the Palaistra further north; and lastly, that of Glaukon, built into late walls northwest of the church.2334 As the statue of Philonides stood at the extreme western end of the South Altis wall, and as most of these fragments were found in the vicinity of the Leonidaion, it would be natural to conclude that the majority of these later statues stood in the spaces just outside the West Altis wall. But at the end of the first ἔφοδος (VI, 17.1) Pausanias says that he has so far named statues “within the Altis”; hence most investigators have placed these 19 statues either west of the temple of Zeus or in the space at the southwestern corner of the Altis. A little further on we shall see that many other victor statues, not mentioned by Pausanias, stood just outside the West Altis wall, and it is doubtful whether his words ἐν τῇ Ἄλτει (VI, 17.1) should be taken thus literally, especially on any theory of his use of earlier accounts in the final compiling of his own. If they were “within” the Altis, they could scarcely have stood to the west or southwest of the temple of Zeus, for the second ἔφοδος, as we shall see, passed there.
A better alternative can be found. In describing the Leonidaion (V, 15.2), Pausanias says that this building stood “outside the sacred enclosure at the processional entrance into the Altis ... separated from this entrance by a street; for what the Athenians call lanes, the Eleans name streets.”2335 Now Doerpfeld has shown that inside the West Altis wall and parallel to it—just south of the base of Philonides’ statue—is a line of bases ending in the later South wall of the Altis, so that this West wall and row of pedestals form a cul de sac (see Plan B).2336 It is clear that no such row of statues would have been placed leading up to a dead wall; therefore these statues must have stood there before the wall was built, and must once have formed the eastern boundary of a broad street skirting the eastern side of the Leonidaion, which was twice as wide as later, when the wall cut off half its breadth and made it a “lane,” though the older name “street” was retained. The later Roman enlargement of the Altis is well known. The long row of pedestals to the south of and parallel to those already discussed as standing along the line of the South Terrace wall, westward of the base of Telemachos, once constituted the southern boundary of the “Processional Way” (ὁδὸς πομπική), which ran from the Leonidaion to where it debouched into the Altis at its southeastern corner. Originally outside the Altis, they were later, together with the road itself, included in it. The pedestals, then, in the above-mentioned cul de sac, and also the fourteen (among them that of Metellus Macedonicus; see Plan B) that adorned the south side of the Processional Way, may be the remains of some of these last statues mentioned by Pausanias.
We next come to the second ἔφοδος, which is introduced by these words: Εἰ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Λεωνιδαίου πρὸς τὸν βωμὸν τὸν μέγαν ἀφικέσθαι τῇ δεξιᾷ θελήσειας, τοσάδε ἔστι σοὶ τῶν ἀνηκόντων ἐς μνήμην.2337 The Leonidaion, the site of which was still in dispute till after the close of the excavations, was finally identified by Treu2338 with the so-called Suedwestbau, as had been already assumed by many investigators.2339 The site of the Great Altar, however, is still undetermined. The elliptical depression to the east of the Pelopion, whose dimensions (125 feet in circumference) agree with the figures of Pausanias2340 for the prothysis, or lowest stage of the altar, identified with it by most scholars,2341 must now be given up since the more recent excavations of Doerpfeld, which prove it to be the remains of two prehistoric dwelling houses with apse-like ends.2342 Nor can the remains of walls lying between the Heraion and the Pelopion, formerly supposed to be those of an altar, any longer be referred to the Great Altar (as Puchstein and Wernicke referred them)2343 since Doerpfeld’s recent discoveries. So we are dependent on the words of Pausanias alone for its location, who says that it stood “equidistant from the Pelopion and the sanctuary of Hera, but in front of both,”2344 therefore somewhat northwest of the elliptical depression nearer the centre of the Altis.2345 Our problem, then, is to find Pausanias’ route between these two points, and here again, as at the beginning of the first ἔφοδος, we must rightly interpret the words ἐν δεξιᾷ. Michaelis, in his article on the use of ἐν δεξιᾷ and ἐν ἀριστερᾷ in Pausanias’ work, made these words refer to the southern side of the Processional Way, i. e., to the side at the right of Pausanias, who was facing east after arriving at the Leonidaion.2346 Thus the statues already mentioned along the South Terrace wall (Aischines to Philonides, 139–154a) would now be on his left side. On this interpretation both Hirschfeld and Doerpfeld had the second ἔφοδος follow the Processional Way eastward parallel to the first—thus including the line of pedestals, which we have referred to the end of the first—and then, near the Councilhouse, curve northward in front of the temple of Zeus, which virtually would be a repetition of the first ἔφοδος. On this theory Doerpfeld2347 wrongly explained the first route as containing statues ἐν τῇ Ἄλτει, while the second was outside the older Altis, and so, though equally long, contained fewer statues. But against this interpretation it must be urged that the Periegete is describing the Altis of his day, when the road in question was included within its boundaries, and that the Great Altar and the two last statues mentioned (187, 188) as standing near the pillar of Oinomaos were always inside.2348 And neither this Processional Way nor the space before the eastern front of the temple of Zeus were localities for “unimportant mixed statues.”2349 Furthermore, if he had merely retraced his steps after arriving at the Leonidaion—and he says nothing of returning—he would not have begun a new route2350, but would have said something like this: Εί δὲ ὀπίσω ἀναστρέψας ἀπὸ τοῦ Λεωνιδαίου πρὸς τὸν βωμὸν αὐθις ἀφικέσθαι τῇ δεξιᾷ θελήσειας.2351 So it is simpler to conclude that the new route wound around the western and northern sides of the temple of Zeus over the temple terrace.2352 As no building is mentioned on the way, and as the north side of the temple would probably have been called ἀριστερὰ πλευρά (in accordance with the usage discussed above in connection with the Heraion), and as the Pelopion faces southwest, the words ἐν δεξιᾷ can refer only to the right hand of Pausanias, i. e., the right side of the road followed. If we assume that these words originally stood after τοσάδε ἔστι σοί and were transferred by a later copyist, the difficulty is resolved.2353
Of the nineteen victor statues in this second route (170–188, VI, 17.1–18.7) no bases have been found.2354 But of the three “honor” statues included, one base, that of the rhetorician Gorgias of Leontini (184a), was recovered 10 meters northeast of the temple of Zeus, and so probably not very far from its original position;2355 for Pausanias mentions only three more statues, before he comes to the last two in this ἔφοδος, which two stood in this vicinity. The parts of the Altis to the west and north of the temple were unimportant till the time of Alexander the Great, and were, therefore, remarkably free of monuments. In the whole description of Pausanias, we know of only three altars (those of Aphrodite, the Seasons, and the Nymphs) and a wild olive tree (the “Olive of the Beautiful Crown”) to the west of the temple (V, 15.3), and only of the votive offerings of a certain Mikythos or Smikythos to the north of it (V, 26.2).2356 As the statue of Gorgias stood among the “unimportant mixed statues” already mentioned (184–186), these must have stood somewhere north of the temple near its eastern end. Finally, the two ancient wooden statues of Praxidamas and Rhexibios (187–188, P., VI, 18.7) are mentioned by themselves as near the column of Oinomaos, which Pausanias elsewhere2357 says stood near the Great Altar of Zeus to the left of a road running south from it to the temple. Pausanias, after describing these “mixed” statues, may have finally left the route thus far followed and introduced these last two statues as quite distinct from the second ἔφοδος.2358 But he does not seem to have gone far from his route, for immediately after ending his account of the victor statues, he begins his account of the Treasuries, which lay beyond the Great Altar farther north.2359 (Plans A and B.)
Thus Pausanias ends his second route somewhere short of the Great Altar, and it appears after all to be only a continuation of the first, forming with it one unbroken “Rundgang,” though in quite a different sense of the word from that intended by Doerpfeld.
From a study of these two routes, and a comparison of the dates of the victorious athletes,2360 we can draw the following conclusions as to the positions of the victor statues mentioned by Pausanias as standing in the Altis at Olympia:
1. The twenty-eight oldest statues—exclusive of the five already mentioned as having been removed from the area of the later temple of Zeus2361—dating from Ol. 58 ( = 548 B. C., Pythokritos, 128 b) to Ol. 76 ( = 476 B. C., Theognetos, 83), i. e., approximately down to the date of the founding of the temple,2362 stood in the space between the eastern front of the temple and the Echo Colonnade, or to the south of it near the South Altis wall. Only one statue (that of Protolaos, 48) stood as far north as the Eretrian Bull. Thus the southeastern part of the Altis was the oldest part dedicated to victor statues.
2. After this space was mostly filled, the next statues, those dating from Ol. 77 ( = 472 B. C., Kallias, 50) to Ol. 93 ( = 408 B. C., Eubotas, 75), i. e., from about the time of the foundation of the temple to near the date of the battle of Aigospotamoi, fifty-one in number, stood between the Heraion and the Victory of Paionios; only one stood as far south as the Altis wall, while seven stood around the Chariots, ten around the Victory, twenty around the Bull, and the rest further north (including 176, 185 of the second ἔφοδος, which stood north of the eastern end of the temple). Diagoras and his family (59–63), boxers and pancratiasts, had their statues near the older famous boxer Euthymos (56); Alkainetos and his sons (64–66), boxers, besides many other pugilists, had theirs near the Diagorids; Tellon (102) had his near that of his compatriot Epikradios (101); later Achæans had theirs near that of their countryman Oibotas (29), and Spartans near that of Chionis (111); some, as the three victors from Heraia (176, 177, 32),2363 stood far apart only apparently, for the last one had his statue near the Bull, and so not far from the other two, though these are named in the second ἔφοδος.
3. From near the date of the battle of Aigospotamoi, down to about the birth of Alexander the Great, i. e., from Ol. 94 to Ol. 106 ( = 404 to 356 B. C.), thirty-six statues filled in the intervals left among these older statues; fifteen stood near the Heraion; five between it and the Bull, seven around the Bull, five around the Victory, one near the Chariots, and three along the South Altis wall. Euthymenes and Kritodamos (78, 80) had their monuments near that of their older countryman (79), whose statue was made by Myron; the Ephesians, Pyrilampes and Athenaios (35, 36), had their statues beside that of their benefactor Lysandros (35 a).
4. After Alexander’s time, in consequence of the recent building of the Philippeion, Leonidaion, and Theekoleon to the west of the Altis, the western side of the temple of Zeus (and, to a lesser extent, the northern) became important, and henceforth statues surrounded the temple on all sides. Of the thirty-three statues of this epoch, nine stood to the west of the temple, four to the north, and seven to the south, while the rest stood either to the east, or, perhaps, near the Heraion. We shall see also that many later statues, known to us from inscriptions only, stood outside the Altis, to the west and northwest.
Having established these data, it is not difficult, from the positions of the many inscribed fragmentary bases found at Olympia and referred to victor statues not mentioned by Pausanias, from the approximate dates of the victories as gained from the age of the inscriptions, and by again employing the system of groups already mentioned, to state quite definitely where many of these other statues stood. Pausanias, who mentions 187 victors with 192 monuments in his two ἔφοδοι, expressly states that he enumerates only those “who had some title to fame or whose statues were better made.”2364 The reasons for his selection and the fact that he mentions the statue of no athlete certainly later than the middle of the second century B. C. (although we know from inscriptions that statues were set up far into the third century A. D., at least)2365 have been subjects of much discussion, but hardly concern us here.2366 The three latest statues of victors mentioned by Pausanias, whose dates are fixed, may be given: those of Kleitomachos, who won παγκράτιον and πύξ in Ols. 141 and 142 ( = 216 and 212 B. C.);2367 of Kapros, victor in παγκράτιον and πάλη in Ol. 142 ( = 212 B. C.);2368 and of Akestorides, victor πώλων ἅρματι sometime between Ols. 142 and 144 ( = 212 and 204 B. C.).2369 Still later statues of victors named by Pausanias, whose dates can not be exactly determined, are those of Sodamas, who won παίδων στάδιον some time between Ols. 142 and 145 ( = 212 and 200 B. C.);2370 of Amyntas, victor in παίδων παγκράτιον in Ol. (?) 146 ( = 196 B. C.);2371 of Timon, victor in πένταθλον in Ols. 146 or 147 ( = 196 or 192 B. C.);2372 and of Lysippos, victor in παίδων πάλη some time between Ols. 149 and 157 ( = 184 and 152 B. C.).2373 Of the first century A. D., Pausanias mentions three victors without statues: Artemidoros, who won παγκράτιον in Ol. 212 ( = 69 A. D.);2374 Polites, victor in στάδιον, δίαυλος and δόλιχος in Ol. 212;2375 and Hermogenes, victor in στάδιον twice, δίαυλος once, and as ὁπλίτης thrice, in Ols. 215, 216, 217 ( = 81–89 A. D.).2376 The words of Pliny, Olympiae, ubi omnium qui vicissent statuas dicari mos erat2377 refer, of course, as we have already pointed out, only to the privilege and not to the actual fact, for many victors would have no statues, as it was necessary for them or their relatives or city-states to meet the expenses of their erection.2378 No more is the rest of his statement to be taken literally, i. e., that those victors who were victorious three times had the right to erect portrait statues in their honor; for we have, as has already been shown, at least one exception.2379 Besides we know that portrait statues were practically unknown before the fourth century B. C. Most of the victor statues were mere types—those of Hermes and Herakles being common—without individualized features, simply representing the various contests by position or some characteristic, e. g., the helmet and shield for “hoplite” victors.2380
Five of these inscriptions have been referred to the sixth and fifth centuries B. C.2381 Of these the inscribed base of Pantares was found near the South Altis wall, and the statue must originally have stood east of the temple of Zeus, near the chariot of Gelo (90), for these two were the only victors from Gela, and won in the same kind of contest and at nearly the same date.2382 The statues of Phrikias of Pelinna and Phanas of Pellene, both representing victors in the heavy-armed race, to which I have ascribed the two archaic marble heads (Fig. 30), the former found west of the temple of Zeus and the latter to the south of it, must originally have stood in the area of the later temple and then have been removed.2383 That of an unknown victor, whose name ended in ... αδας,2384 the two fragments of whose base were found, one near the Heraion and the other to the east of the temple of Zeus, should have stood near the statues of the only other pancratiasts of a similar age, either near those of Dorieus (61), who won in Ols. 87 to 89 ( = 432 to 424 B. C.), and Damagetos (62), who won in Ols. 82 and 83 ( = 452 and 448 B. C.), in the zone of the Bull, or near that of Timasitheos (82), who won some time between Ols. (?) 65 and 67 inclusive ( = 520 and 512 B. C.), in the zone of the Victory. Lastly, the second inscribed base of Xenombrotos (133), found near the Council-house outside the South Altis wall, doubtless once stood near the first (the epigram from which is preserved by Pausanias, VI, 14.12), along this wall to the east of the base of Telemachos.2385
No inscribed fragments of bases dating from the fourth century B. C. have been found.
Beginning with the third century B. C., we shall see that most of the recovered bases were found either in the western part of the Altis, in the neighborhood of the Philippeion, Theekoleon, and Leonidaion, on both sides of the West Altis wall, or still farther west and northwest, especially in or near the Palaistra and Prytaneion. We have already seen that most of the statues named by Pausanias dating from Alexander’s time stood to the west (and north) of the temple of Zeus. As Pausanias enumerates only statues ἐν δεξιᾷ of his route around the temple to the Great Altar, these statues farther west and northwest are omitted from his account. Of the four bases of statues referred to the third century, all belong to Elean victors; three were found west and northwest of the Prytaneion and beyond, showing that these statues once stood in the vicinity of this building, and the fourth was found farther south, by the Palaistra, where it probably stood. Thus the base of the wrestler Nikarchos, son of Physsias, was found in a late wall west of the Prytaneion;2386 that of the statue of an unknown victor, son of Taurinos, was found at the southeast corner of the Palaistra;2387 that of another unknown victor, the son of ... phinos, was found in the Nordwestgraben;2388 the base of the statue of Thersonides, son of Paianodoros, victor κέλητι πωλικῷ, was found northwest of the Prytaneion, between the Roman baths and east hall of the Gymnasion.2389
Of the four statues referred with certainty to the second century B. C., all but one were found to the west of the Altis, in a region ranging from the Philippeion, northwest of the temple of Zeus, to the Leonidaion southwest of it. Two of them were found outside the West Altis wall, between the Leonidaion and the Byzantine church. Thus the base of the statue of D ... gonos, twice victor in πύξ, was found outside the apse of the Byzantine church and west of the West Altis wall;2390 the fragments of that of an unknown boy victor in wrestling or the pankration were found in the East Byzantine wall;2391 that of an unknown victor, συνωρίδι τελείᾳ (twice), and ἅρματι τελείῳ, was found south of the Philippeion.2392 The fragment of the base of the statue of another unknown victor in wrestling, the son of the Elean Aigyptos, was found to the northeast of the Leonidaion.2393
Of the seven bases referred to the second and first centuries B. C., three were found in or near the Byzantine church, showing that such statues may have stood in the Greek building which was later converted into the church.2394 Two more were found near the southwest corner of the Altis, and therefore may once have stood near the statue of Philonides, which Pausanias mentions as standing in that vicinity. Two others stood farther away, one inside the Prytaneion, the other northeast of the temple of Zeus. Thus the base of an unknown victor, the son of Aristotle, συνωρίδι πωλικῇ, was found in front of the north side of the Byzantine church;2395 that of Aristodamos, the son of Aleximachos of Elis, was found in the floor of the church;2396 that of an unknown victor was found northeast of the temple of Zeus;2397 that of a victor συνωρίδι πωλικῇ, whose name ended in ... chos, the son of the Elean Nikodromos, was found southwest of the Altis before the West Altis wall;2398 the base of two unknown victors from Elis were found respectively in the Prytaneion2399 and northwest of the Byzantine church,2400 while that of another Elean, Antigenes, the son of Jason, victor συνωρίδι πωλικῇ, was found in the southwest corner of the Altis.2401
The positions of the twenty-four bases (belonging to monuments of twenty-two victors) with certainty referred to the first pre-Christian century were very scattered. One large Pentelic marble bathron, supporting the monuments of seven victors of the family of Philistos, must have stood just south of the Philippeion, where most of the fragments were found. The bases of the statues of two other sons and a grandson of the same victor have been recovered, and doubtless stood near by, thus forming a family group of ten, outnumbering that of Diagoras (59–63 and 52) mentioned by Pausanias. The omission of so important a monument in the description of the Periegete has, of course, been used as an indication of his employment of earlier lists. Of the other bases, two were found outside the South Altis wall, west of the Council-house, and two east of it; two east of the temple of Zeus (one of them that of the youthful Tiberius, afterwards Roman emperor, which must have stood near the Eretrian Bull, where it was found); one southwest of the temple, along the South Terrace wall, pointing to a position among the statues there named by Pausanias; one east of the Byzantine church, pointing to a position south of the Theekoleon, two to the northwest of the Altis in the vicinity of the Prytaneion; while the others were found scattered all the way from the northeastern part of the Altis to the bed of the Kladeos. Thus over half (13) of these statue-bases were found in the west and northwest of the Altis and beyond; the space to the east of the temple of Zeus—called frequentissimus celeberrimusque by Scherer—seems now not to have been greatly prized. Most of these victories were gained in hippic contests. Horse-racing had early been discontinued, but was revived at the end of the first century B. C., when members of the imperial family, emulating the earlier triumphs of the princes of Sicily and Macedonia, became competitors. Thus Tiberius won in the chariot-race, and a few years later his nephew Germanicus in the same event. The list of these bases of victor statues of the first century B. C. and their provenience follows. A fragment of the base of the victor Agilochos, son of Nikeas of Elis, victor κέλητι πωλικῷ, was found in the East Byzantine wall.2402 One fragment of the bathron of the family group of the Elean Philistos,2403 victors in hippic contests, was found southwest of the Pelopion, while four others were discovered south of the Philippeion; the base of the statue of Philonikos, a son of Philistos, was also found south of the Philippeion,2404 and that of another unnamed son was discovered to the west of the Prytaneion,2405 while the place of finding of that of Charops, the son of Telemachos, has not been recorded.2406 The base of the monument of Aristarchos was found east of the Byzantine church,2407 that of Damaithidas, son of Menippos of Elis, a victor συνωρίδι πωλικῇ, west of the Council-house (south building),2408 and that of Thrasymachos (or Thrasymedes) in the Nordostgraben.2409 A fragment of the base of the statue of Demokrates of Antioch in Karia was found in the bed of the river Kladeos,2410 that of a victor whose name began with Demo..., northeast of the Prytaneion,2411 while that of Thaliarchos, the son of Soterichos of Elis, victor πὺξ παίδων καὶ ἀνδρῶν, was found east of the Council-house.2412 Bases from two statues of Menedemos, son of Menedemos of Elis, victor συνωρίδι πωλικῇ, were found, one east of the temple of Zeus, the other inside the Heraion.2413 Lykomedes, the son of Aristodemos of Elis, victor συνωρίδι πωλικῇ, also had two statues; the base of one was found in front of the West Byzantine wall on the south side of the temple of Zeus, that of the other in the Westgraben.2414 The front part of the base of the statue of Archiadas, the son of Timolas of Elis, who won κέλητι πωλικῷ, was discovered southwest of the temple of Zeus, on the Terrace wall.2415 That of an unknown victor in the δίαυλος, the son of ... krates of Miletos, was found near the Osthalle,2416 while that inscribed with the name of Tiberius Claudius Nero of Rome, who won a victory τεθρίππῳ just before the end of the century, was found south of the Eretrian Bull.2417