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Pausanias · Description of Greece §5.21.1-5.21.5

Origin of the Zanes Erected from Fines for Cheating

Passage 213 of 465 · Greek

Summary

Pausanias explains the distinction between athletes' statues and general votive offerings in the Altis, and then describes the origin of the bronze statues of Zeus known as 'Zanes,' which were funded by fines imposed on athletes for bribery, citing the historical offenses of Eupolus and Callippus.

§5.21.1τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου μοι πρόεισιν ὁ λόγος ἔς τε τῶν ἀνδριάντων καὶ ἐς τῶν ἀναθημάτων ἐξήγησιν.
From this point, my account will proceed to the explanation of both the statues and the votive offerings.
ἀναμῖξαι δὲ οὐκ ἀρεστὰ ἦν μοι τὸν ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς λόγον.
But it was not pleasing to me to mix the account concerning them.
ἐν ἀκροπόλει μὲν γὰρ τῇ Ἀθήνῃσιν οἵ τε ἀνδριάντες καὶ ὁπόσα ἄλλα, τὰ πάντα ἐστὶν ὁμοίως ἀναθήματα· ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἄλτει τὰ μὲν τιμῇ τῇ ἐς τὸ θεῖον ἀνάκεινται, οἱ δὲ ἀνδριάντες τῶν νικώντων ἐν ἄθλου λόγῳ σφίσι καὶ οὗτοι δίδονται.
For on the Acropolis in Athens, both the statues and whatever other things there are, are all alike votive offerings; but in the Altis, some are dedicated out of respect for the divine, while the statues of the victors are given to them in the category of a prize.
τῶν μὲν δὴ ἀνδριάντων ποιησόμεθα καὶ ὕστερον μνήμην· ἐς δὲ τὰ ἀναθήματα ἡμῖν τραπήσεται πρότερα ὁ λόγος, τὰ ἀξιολογώτατα αὐτῶν ἐπερχομένοις.
We shall indeed make mention of the statues later; but our account will turn first to the votive offerings as we go through the most noteworthy of them.
§5.21.2ἰόντι γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ στάδιον τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ Μητρῴου, ἔστιν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ κατὰ τὸ πέρας τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ Κρονίου λίθου τε πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ ὄρει κρηπὶς καὶ ἀναβασμοὶ διʼ αὐτῆς· πρὸς δὲ τῇ κρηπῖδι ἀγάλματα Διὸς ἀνάκειται χαλκᾶ.
For to one going to the stadium along the road from the Metroüm, there is on the left, at the end of the hill of Cronius, and close to the hill itself, a stone basement and steps through it; and beside the basement stand bronze statues of Zeus.
ταῦτα ἐποιήθη μὲν ἀπὸ χρημάτων ἐπιβληθείσης ἀθληταῖς ζημίας ὑβρίσασιν ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα, καλοῦνται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων Ζᾶνες.
These were made from the money of a fine imposed on athletes who committed outrages against the games, and they are called Zanes by the locals.
§5.21.3πρῶτοι δὲ ἀριθμὸν ἓξ ἐπὶ τῆς ὀγδόης ἔστησαν καὶ ἐνενηκοστῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος· Εὔπωλος γὰρ Θεσσαλὸς χρήμασι διέφθειρε τοὺς ἐλθόντας τῶν πυκτῶν, Ἀγήτορα Ἀρκάδα καὶ Πρύτανιν Κυζικηνόν, σὺν δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ Φορμίωνα Ἁλικαρνασσέα μὲν γένος, Ὀλυμπιάδι δὲ τῇ πρὸ ταύτης κρατήσαντα.
Six in number, they set up the first ones in the ninety-eighth Olympiad; for Eupolus, a Thessalian, bribed with money those of the boxers who came forward, Agetor an Arcadian and Prytanis of Cyzicus, and with them also Phormio, a Halicarnassian by race, who had won in the Olympiad before this one.
τοῦτο ἐξ ἀθλητῶν ἀδίκημα ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα πρῶτον γενέσθαι λέγουσι, καὶ πρῶτοι χρήμασιν ἐζημιώθησαν ὑπὸ Ἠλείων Εὔπωλος καὶ οἱ δεξάμενοι δῶρα παρὰ Εὐπώλου.
They say that this was the first offense against the games by athletes, and Eupolus and those who accepted gifts from Eupolus were the first to be fined with money by the Eleans.
δύο μὲν δὴ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἔργα Κλέωνος Σικυωνίου· τὰ δὲ ἐφεξῆς τέσσαρα ὅστις ἐποίησεν, οὐκ ἴσμεν.
Two of them indeed are the works of Cleon of Sicyon; but who made the next four, we do not know.
§5.21.4τῶν δὲ ἀγαλμάτων τούτων παρέντι τρίτον τε ἐξ αὐτῶν καὶ τέταρτον, γεγραμμένα ἐλεγεῖά ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις.
Of these statues, if one passes by the third and the fourth of them, elegiac verses are written on the others.
ἐθέλει δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τῶν ἐλεγείων δηλοῦν ὡς οὐ χρήμασιν ἀλλὰ ὠκύτητι τῶν ποδῶν καὶ ὑπὸ ἰσχύος σώματος Ὀλυμπικὴν ἔστιν εὑρέσθαι νίκην, τὸ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ δευτέρῳ φησὶν ὡς τὸ ἄγαλμα ἕστηκε τιμῇ τε τῇ ἐς τὸ θεῖον καὶ ὑπὸ εὐσεβείας τῆς Ἠλείων καὶ ἀθληταῖς παρανομοῦσιν εἶναι δέος· πέμπτῳ δὲ καὶ ἕκτῳ, τῷ μέν ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ ἐπιγράμματος γνώμη τά τε ἄλλα ἐς ἔπαινον Ἠλείων καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐπὶ τῇ ζημίᾳ τῶν πυκτῶν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ ὑπολοίπῳ διδασκαλίαν πᾶσιν Ἕλλησιν εἶναι τὰ ἀγάλματα μηδένα ἐπὶ Ὀλυμπικῇ νίκῃ διδόναι χρήματα.
The first of the elegiac verses intends to show that it is not by money but by swiftness of feet and by strength of body that an Olympic victory is to be won; that on the second says that the statue stands both out of respect for the divine and by the piety of the Eleans, and to be a source of fear to athletes who transgress the rules; as for the fifth and sixth, for the one, the meaning of the inscription is, among other things, in praise of the Eleans and not least for the punishment of the boxers, and on the remaining one, that the statues are a lesson to all Greeks that no one should give money for an Olympic victory.
§5.21.5Εὐπώλου δὲ ὕστερόν φασιν Ἀθηναῖον Κάλλιππον ἀθλήσαντα πένταθλον ἐξωνήσασθαι τοὺς ἀνταγωνιουμένους χρήμασι, δευτέραν δὲ ἐπὶ ταῖς δέκα τε καὶ ἑκατὸν Ὀλυμπιάδα εἶναι ταύτην.
And they say that after Eupolus, Callippus, an Athenian who competed in the pentathlon, bought off his competitors with money, and this was the hundred and twelfth Olympiad.
ἐπιβληθείσης δὲ τῷ Καλλίππῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀνταγωνισαμένοις ζημίας ὑπὸ Ἠλείων, ἀποστέλλουσιν Ὑπερείδην Ἀθηναῖοι πείσοντα Ἠλείους ἀφεῖναί σφισι τὴν ζημίαν· ἀπειπόντων δὲ Ἠλείων τὴν χάριν, ἐχρῶντο ὑπεροψίᾳ τοιᾷδε ἐς αὐτοὺς οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, οὔτε ἀποδιδόντες τὰ χρήματα καὶ Ὀλυμπίων εἰργόμενοι, πρὶν ἤ σφισιν ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἐν Δελφοῖς οὐ πρότερον ἔφησεν ὑπὲρ οὐδενὸς χρήσειν πρὶν ἢ τὴν ζημίαν ἀποδοῖεν Ἠλείοις.
When a fine was imposed on Callippus and his competitors by the Eleans, the Athenians sent Hypereides to persuade the Eleans to remit the fine for them; but when the Eleans refused the favor, the Athenians treated them with such insolence, neither paying the money and being excluded from the Olympic games, until the god in Delphi declared that he would not deliver oracles to them for anything before they paid the fine to the Eleans.

Notes

  1. §5.21.1ἐπερχομένοις — Present participle dative plural, agreeing with the dative pronoun `ἡμῖν`. It functions circumstantially, meaning 'as we go through / encounter' the most noteworthy of them.
  2. §5.21.2ἰόντι — Present participle dative singular, used as a dative of reference (often called the dative of the local point of view, common in geographical descriptions): 'to one going / as you go to the stadium...'.
  3. §5.21.4παρέντι — Aorist participle dative singular (from παρίημι), functioning as a dative of reference similar to `ἰόντι` above. It conveys a conditional sense: 'if one passes by (omits) the third and fourth of them...'.
  4. §5.21.5πρὶν ἤ — The conjunction `πρὶν ἤ` is used correlatively with `οὐ πρότερον` to form a strong negative conditional statement ('not... until'). The second `πρὶν ἢ ... ἀποδοῖεν` uses the optative mood (oblique optative) due to the main verb being in a past tense (`ἔφησεν`).

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §5.21.1-5.21.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.21.1-5.21.5

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