Description of Greece

​As the racecourse extends, one of the sides stretches out further than the other; on this longer side, which is a mound, by the passage through the mound, is Taraxippos, the terror of the horses. It has the shape of a round altar, and as the horses run past it, a sudden and violent fear seizes them from no apparent cause, and from this fear arises confusion; the chariots are generally shattered and the charioteers injured. For this reason the charioteers offer sacrifices and pray that Taraxippos will be propitious to them.

​The Greeks do not hold the same opinions about Taraxippos, but some say that it is the tomb of a native man who was skilled in horsemanship—and they give him the name Olenios, after whom they say the Olenian rock in Eleia was also named—while others say that Dameon of Phlius, who shared with Heracles in the expedition against Augeas and the Eleans, was killed along with the horse on which he rode by Cteatus the son of Actor, and that the monument became a common tomb for Dameon and his horse.

​And they also say that Pelops made a cenotaph here for Myrtilus, and offered sacrifices to him to heal his anger at the murder, and named it Taraxippos, because the horses of Oenomaus were thrown into confusion by the cunning of Myrtilus. But by some it is said that it is Oenomaus himself who harms those who drive horses on the course. I have also heard some who attribute the blame to Alcathous the son of Porthaon, saying that Alcathous, having been killed by Oenomaus for the sake of the marriage with Hippodameia, received his share of earth here; and because he was unfortunate on the racecourse, he became a malevolent influence to those who drive horses and an unfriendly deity.

​An Egyptian man said that Pelops, having received something from Amphion of Thebes, buried it here where they call Taraxippos, and that by the influence of the buried thing Oenomaus’ horses were thrown into confusion then, and the horses of everyone else are still thrown into confusion afterward. This Egyptian claimed that Amphion, and also Orpheus the Thracian, were clever at magic, and that by their incantations wild beasts came to Orpheus, and to Amphion the rocks came for the building of the wall. But the most persuasive of the accounts, in my opinion, says that it is a surname of Poseidon Hippios.

​There is also a Taraxippos at the Isthmus, Glaucus the son of Sisyphus; and they say that his end came by his horses, when Acastus held the games in honor of his father. But in Nemea of the Argives there was no hero who harmed the horses; but above the turning-point of the horses there rose a rock of a red color, and the light reflecting from it, just as if it were fire, caused fear in the horses. However, the Taraxippos in Olympia is by far the most outstanding in causing fear to horses. And upon one turning-post is a bronze image of Hippodameia, holding a ribbon and about to bind the head of Pelops for his victory.