Acanthus of Sparta

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Acanthus of Sparta
Personal information
BornSparta, Laconia
Sport
Event(s) Diaulos and Dolichos
Medal record
Ancient Greek Olympics
Representing Laconia
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 720 BC Olympia Diaulos
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 720 BC Olympia Dolichos

Acanthus the Lacedaemonian (Ancient Greek : Ἄκανθος [1] ), was the victor in two footrace events, the diaulos (δίαυλος) and dolichos (δόλιχος), in the Olympic Games of 720 BC. [2] He was also, according to some accounts, the first who ran naked in these games. [3] [4] [5] Other accounts ascribe this to Orsippus the Megarian. Thucydides says that the Lacedaemonians were the first who contended naked in gymnastic games, although he does not mention Acanthus by name. [6]

Diaulos was a double-stadion race, c. 400 metres , introduced in the 14th Olympiad of the ancient Olympic Games.

Ancient Olympic Games athletic competitions in Ancient Greece

The ancient Olympic Games were originally a festival, or celebration of and for Zeus; later, events such as a footrace, a javelin contest, and wrestling matches were added. The Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of ancient Greece. They were held in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The first Olympics is traditionally dated to 776 BC. They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule, until the emperor Theodosius I suppressed them in AD 393 as part of the campaign to impose Christianity as the State religion of Rome. The games were held every four years, or olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies.

Orsippus was a Greek runner from Megara who was famed as the first to run the footrace naked at the Olympic Games and "first of all Greeks to be crowned victor naked." Others argue that it was Acanthus instead who first introduced Greek athletic nudity. Orsippus won the stadion-race of the 15th Olympic Games in 720 BC.

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References

  1. ↑ Christesen, Paul (2007). Olympic Victor Lists and Ancient Greek History. Cambridge University Press. p. 528.
  2. ↑ Smith, William (1867), "Acanthus", in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology , 1, Boston, p. 5
  3. ↑ Pausanias, v. 8. § 3.
  4. ↑ Dionys. vii. 72.
  5. ↑ Sextus Julius Africanus. apud Eusebius , p. 143.
  6. ↑ Thucydides, i. 6.

Sources

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William Smith (lexicographer) English lexicographer

Sir William Smith was an English lexicographer. He also made advances in the teaching of Greek and Latin in schools.

<i>Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology</i> encyclopedia/biographical dictionary

The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 pages. It is a classic work of 19th-century lexicography. The work is a companion to Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.

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