Pausanias Analysis

Nearby stands a bronze chariot with a man mounted upon it, and beside the chariot on either side is a racehorse with boys seated upon the horses. These memorials commemorate Olympic victories won by Hieron son of Deinomenes, who ruled Syracuse as tyrant after his brother Gelon. It was not Hieron who dedicated these offerings; rather, it was his son Deinomenes who presented them to the god. The chariot is the work of Onatas the Aeginetan, while the horses on either side and the boys riding them are by Calamis.

Next to Hiero's chariot stands a man who shares both the name and role of tyrant in Syracuse with the son of Deinomenes. This Hiero was the son of Hierocles, and after the death of Agathocles, who previously had reigned as tyrant, he rose again as ruler over the Syracusans. His reign began in the second year of the hundred-and-twenty-sixth Olympiad, in which Idaeus of Cyrene gained victory in the stadion race.

This Hieron made ties of friendship with Pyrrhus, son of Aeacides, and along with friendship he also established a marital bond by marrying his son Gelon to Nereis, Pyrrhus' daughter. Later, when the Romans began their war against the Carthaginians over Sicily, the Carthaginians initially occupied more than half of the island. At first, as the war began, Hieron preferred to take the side of the Carthaginians; but, not long afterwards, considering the Roman strength superior and their position more secure, he changed his alliance and entered into friendship with Rome.

The end of his life occurred at the hands of Deinomenes, a man of Syracusan descent who was strongly hostile toward tyranny, and who afterwards made an attack on Hippocrates, the brother of Epicydes, when Hippocrates had just come from Erbessus into Syracuse and had begun to deliver speeches to the populace; Deinomenes set upon him intending to kill Hippocrates, but the latter resisted, and while they engaged, others overpowered Deinomenes' bodyguards and killed him. The statues of Hieron at Olympia, one of which shows him mounted on horseback and the other standing on foot, were dedicated by his sons; they were made by Micon, son of Niceratus, a Syracusan.

After the images of Hiero stand Areus, son of Acrotatus, king of the Lacedaemonians, and Aratus, son of Cleinias; and nearby is Areus again, mounted on horseback. The dedication of Aratus is from the Corinthians, while that of Areus is from the Eleians. In my earlier account, I have not neglected what concerns either Aratus or Areus; moreover, Aratus was proclaimed victor at Olympia with a chariot.

There is a bronze statue dedicated to Timon, son of Aesopus, an Elean who sent horses to Olympia; upon it stands a maiden who, in my opinion, is Victory. Callon son of Harmodius and Hippomachus son of Moschion—both Elians by birth and victorious as boys in boxing—are also commemorated by statues; Daippus made the statue of Callon, whereas the sculptor of the statue of Hippomachus we do not know. They say, however, that Hippomachus defeated three opponents without receiving a single blow or sustaining any injury to his body.

Theochrestus of Cyrene bred horses according to the custom of the Libyans, and won with them himself at Olympia, and, even before him, his grandfather—who shared his name—and his great-grandfather each achieved victories with horses in this place. Moreover, that Theochrestus' father also gained victories at the Isthmus is made clear by the epigram inscribed upon the chariot.

An elegiac inscription bears witness that Agesarchus, son of Haemostratus, a native of Tritaia, triumphed as a men's boxer at Olympia, Nemea, Pytho, and the Isthmus. Yet concerning the claim of this elegiac couplet that the people of Tritaia are Arcadians, I found that the claim is untrue. For regarding the cities of Arcadia, those renowned have not even their founders unknown; whereas those from their inception insignificant and obscure, which consequently were later incorporated into Megalopolis—is not their inclusion at that time sufficiently shown by the decree of the Arcadian League itself?

Nor indeed is it possible to find another Greek city named Triteia aside from this one of the Achaeans. At that time one would certainly have reckoned the Triteians among the Arcadians, just as even now those of the Arcadians living within Argolis still pay tribute. The image of Agesarchus is the work of the sons of Polycleitus. Of these we shall make mention also later in our narrative.