Pindar was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is by far the greatest, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich exuberance of his language and matter, and his rolling flood of eloquence, characteristics which, as Horace rightly held, make him inimitable." His poems can also, however, seem difficult and even peculiar. The Athenian comic playwright Eupolis once remarked that they "are already reduced to silence by the disinclination of the multitude for elegant learning". Some scholars in the modern age also found his poetry perplexing, at least until the 1896 discovery of some poems by his rival Bacchylides; comparisons of their work showed that many of Pindar's idiosyncrasies are typical of archaic genres rather than of only the poet himself. His poetry, while admired by critics, still challenges the casual reader and his work is largely unread among the general public.
The Pythian Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honour of Apollo at his sanctuary at Delphi every four years, two years after the Olympic Games, and between each Nemean and Isthmian Games. The Pythian Games were founded sometime in the 6th century BC. In legend they were started by Apollo after he killed Python and set up the oracle at Delphi. They continued until the 4th century AD.
Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate sports festivals held in ancient Greece. The four Games were:
The Nemean Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, and were held at Nemea every two years.
Isthmian Games or Isthmia were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, and were named after the Isthmus of Corinth, where they were held. As with the Nemean Games, the Isthmian Games were held both the year before and the year after the Olympic Games, while the Pythian Games were held in the third year of the Olympiad cycle.
An olympiad is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games.
Chilon of Sparta was a Spartan and one of the Seven Sages of Greece.
The Hellanodikai were the judges of the Ancient Olympic Games, and the success of the games was attributed to their efforts. It was their sacred duty to maintain the standards and legacy of the games, as well as uphold the rules.
Chionis of Sparta or Chionis of Laconia was an ancient Greek athlete who won multiple events at the ancient Olympic Games representing the city of Sparta in Laconia. Eusebius of Caesarea lists Chionis as victor in both the stadion and diaulos races at the 29th, 30th and 31st Olympiads. Pausanias' Description of Greece credits Chionis with a fourth stadion victory in the 28th games of 668 BC, which Eusebius assigns to Charmis of Sparta. Pausanias says that Chionis was an oikist at Battus of Thera's foundation of Cyrene, Libya. Paul Christesen suggests that claim may, on the one hand, date from much later heroization of Chionis by Sparta's Agiads seeking an alliance with Cyrene, but, on the other hand, may have some basis in fact.
Astylos of Croton was an athlete from ancient Croton who starred in the Olympic Games of the 5th century BC. He was mentioned in records from General Pausanias that claim he excelled in three successive Olympic games from 488 to 480 BC, in the running events of stadion and diaulos. Diodorus Siculus calls him Astylos of Syracuse and uses his third victory to date the Persian invasion in 480 BC. In Italy, Astylos was famous for equaling the achievements of previous champion athlete Chionis of Sparta. Astylos matched the achievements of Chionis by winning the stadion and diaulos events on three occasions, as well as winning the hoplitodromos event.
The Temple of Hera, or Heraion, is an ancient Archaic Greek temple at Olympia, Greece, that was dedicated to Hera, queen of the Greek gods. It was the oldest temple at Olympia and one of the most venerable in all Greece. It was originally a joint temple of Hera and Zeus, chief of the gods, until a separate temple was built for him. It is at the altar of this temple, which is oriented east-west, that the Olympic flame is lit and carried to all parts of the world. The torch of the Olympic flame is lit in its ruins to this day. The temple was built in approximately 590 BC, but was destroyed by an earthquake in the early 4th century CE.
Coroebus of Elis was a Greek cook, baker, and athlete from Elis. He is remembered as the winner of the first recorded Olympics, which consisted of a single footrace known as the stade or stadion. He is frequently described as having won the first Olympic Games, but Eusebius and other ancient writers stated that he was simply the first recorded winner, variously placing the first games in the Heroic Age, 27 olympiads before Coroebus, or 13 olympiads before. Coroebus being the earliest winner known to Hippias, his is still reckoned the "1st Olympiad"; following Hippias's dating, his victory is generally placed in the summer of the year 776 BC. The stadium at Olympia was one stade long and the competition was still clothed in his time, naked competition beginning with Orsippus around 720 BC. For winning the race, Coroebus received an olive wreath and was later revered by the people of Elis, his grave still being known in the time of Pausanias.
Aglaophon was an ancient Greek painter, born on the island of Thasos. He was the father and instructor of Polygnotus. He had another son named Aristophon. As Polygnotus flourished before the 90th Olympiad, Aglaophon probably lived around the 70th Olympiad, that is, around the late 6th or early 5th century BC. Quintilian praises his paintings, which were distinguished by the simplicity of their coloring, as worthy of admiration on other grounds besides their antiquity.
The ancient Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held at the Panhellenic religious sanctuary of Olympia, in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The originating Olympic Games are traditionally dated to 776 BC. The games were held every four years, or Olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule in the 2nd century BC. Their last recorded celebration was in AD 393, under the emperor Theodosius I, but archeological evidence indicates that some games were still held after this date. The games likely came to an end under Theodosius II, possibly in connection with a fire that burned down the temple of the Olympian Zeus during his reign.
Philinus of Cos, son of Hegepolis, was an ancient Greek athlete and five times Olympic winner.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ancient Greece:
Phrynon of Athens was a general of ancient Athens, and a winner in ancient Olympic Games.
Dandes of Argos was an ancient Greek athlete listed by Eusebius of Caesarea as a victor in the stadion race of the 77th Olympiad. He won two races, but the first was probably in the boys' category, maybe in the 75th Olympiad eight years earlier. He also won once at the Pythian Games and three times at the Nemean Games, according to some sources; elsewhere, his victories were celebrated by Simonides of Ceos in a poem, which claims that he won fifteen times at Nemea – the discrepancy could again be due to victories in boys' races not recorded elsewhere.
