Pausanias Analysis

Mount Kronion extends, as I have already described, alongside the terrace and the treasuries situated upon it. At the summit of this mountain, those called the Basilae sacrifice to Kronos at the spring equinox, during the month of Elaphios according to the Eleians.

At the extremity of the Kronion, towards the north, between the treasuries and the hill, there is a sanctuary of Eileithyia, and within it Sosipolis, a native deity of honor among the Eleans, receives worship. They call Eileithyia by the surname Olympian, and each year choose a priestess who serves this goddess. The elderly woman who attends Sosipolis holds her office according to the sacred custom of the Eleans; she personally brings water for bathing the god and arranges cakes kneaded with honey for him.

In the front part of the temple—for it has indeed been constructed in two sections—there is an altar dedicated to Eileithyia and an entrance accessible to everyone. In the inner area, Sosipolis receives honors, and entry there is permitted to no one except the woman serving the god, who must cover her head and face with a white veil. Maidens and married women wait inside the precinct of Eileithyia and sing hymns; although they perform sacred rites and burn many kinds of incense, they consider it improper to pour wine as an offering to him. Furthermore, they hold that swearing an oath by Sosipolis is reserved for the gravest matters.

It is said also that when the Arcadians invaded Elis with an army and the Eleans had encamped opposite them, a woman came to the Elean generals carrying an infant child at her breast, declaring that the child was hers by birth, but that she offered it according to a dream she had seen, as a helper in war for the Eleans. The Elean magistrates—believing that she had spoken truthfully—placed the child naked before the army.

The Arcadians then advanced, and at that very moment the child was transformed into a serpent. Disturbed by this sudden vision, the Arcadians fell into confusion and took to flight; the Eleans pressed upon them, winning a most conspicuous victory. Thereafter, they named their deity Sosipolis ("Savior of the City"). On the spot where they believed the serpent had concealed itself after the battle, they built a temple. It became their custom also to revere Eileithyia in association with this deity, believing that it was this goddess who had brought forth the child among mankind.

The tomb of those Arcadians who died in the battle is on the hill after crossing the Cladeus river toward the west. Near the sanctuary of Eileithyia are the ruins remaining of a temple of Aphrodite Urania, and here also sacrifice is offered upon the altars.

Within the Altis, near the processional entrance, is an enclosure called the Hippodameion, a piece of ground about one plethron in area, surrounded by a stone fence. Women may enter this place once every year, when they sacrifice to Hippodameia and perform other rites in her honour. It is said that Hippodameia withdrew to Midea in Argolis, because Pelops felt great anger toward her over the death of Chrysippus; later, however, they themselves say an oracle instructed them to recover Hippodameia’s bones and bring them back to Olympia.

At the end of the statues which were set up as penalties against athletes, there is an entrance called the Hidden Gate. Through this entrance, the judges of the Greeks and the competitors pass into the stadium. The stadium itself is an earthen embankment, and within it is a seat constructed for the presidents of the contests. Opposite the judges' seats stands an altar of white stone.

Upon this altar sits a woman who watches the Olympic games, the priestess of Demeter Chamyne, who receives this privilege from the Eleans, now one woman, now another. Maidens, however, are not forbidden to watch. At the far end of the stadium, where the runners have their starting point, stands the tomb of Endymion, according to the Eleans' account.

Beyond the stadium, opposite the place where the Hellanodikai sit, is the ground set apart for the horse races, and the starting point for the horses. This starting-place is built in the shape of the prow of a ship, whose ram faces in the direction of the racecourse. At the end nearest the Stoa of Agnaptus, where the prow widens out, a bronze dolphin attached to a wooden beam has been set at the very tip of this ram.

Each side of the starting-place is over four hundred feet in length, and buildings stand along them. These buildings are assigned by lot to those who enter horses for competition. Before the chariots or the riding-horses there runs a cord instead of a barrier. An altar of unbaked brick, coated on the outside with plaster, is made at each Olympiad near the very middle of the front; an eagle is placed upon it.

On the altar itself stands an eagle of bronze, spreading its wings to their full length. The mechanism within the altar is set in motion by the attendant appointed to manage the race; when activated, the eagle leaps up into the air so that it becomes clearly visible to all the spectators who have come to witness the spectacle, while the dolphin falls down onto the ground.

First at each side near the Stoa of Agnaptos the starting-gates are lowered, and the horses standing at these gates are the first to rush out. As they rush forward, they come level with those arranged by lot to hold the second position, and at that moment, the gates of the second rank are opened. Likewise, the same procedure occurs through all the horses in order, until they form a straight alignment with each other at the prow-shaped turning-post. After this point, the contest is established as a display of the skill of the charioteers and the swiftness of their horses.

The starting device was originally a contrivance of Cleoitas, who indeed seemed proud of his invention, as he even inscribed an epigram on his statue in Athens stating he was the first to devise the horse-racing starting gate at Olympia: "Cleoitas, son of Aristocles, made me." They say that afterwards Aristides himself also contributed some skill towards the improvement of the apparatus.

When the hippodrome stretches forward, passing along one side to a greater length, there is on the larger side, which consists of an embankment, at the point where the passage runs through this embankment, an altar-like shape known as Taraxippus ("Horse-frightener"), which brings terror to horses. Its form is circular. As the horses dash past this spot, a sudden and powerful alarm seizes them without any evident cause, and from this fear comes confusion: chariots commonly crash, and the charioteers are injured. For this reason, the chariot-drivers offer sacrifices and pray that Taraxippus may be gracious to them.

The Greeks, however, do not agree in their beliefs about Taraxippos. Some say it is the tomb of a native-born hero, excellent in horsemanship, giving him the name Olenios. From him, they say, the Olenian rock in Elis also takes its name. Others say he is Dameon of Phlius, who accompanied Herakles in his expedition against Augeas and the Eleans; according to them, Dameon himself was killed, along with the horse he rode, by Kteatos the son of Aktor, and a common tomb was made for Dameon and his horse.

They also say that Pelops here created an empty tomb for Myrtilus, sacrificed to him to soothe the wrath caused by the murder, and named him Taraxippus ("Horse-terrifier"), because Oenomaus's horses were thrown into confusion by means of Myrtilus's trickery. Some, however, maintain that it is Oenomaus himself who harms the charioteers in the racecourse. I have also heard that Alcathous, son of Porthaon, is responsible, inasmuch as Alcathous, having been slain here by Oenomaus because of Hippodameia's marriage, was given a portion of earth; since he had suffered misfortune in the racecourse, he became a spiteful and unfriendly spirit hostile toward charioteers.

An Egyptian man stated that Pelops, having received something from Amphion of Thebes, buried it at the place they call Taraxippus ("Horse-frightener"); and due to what had been buried there, Oenomaus' horses were thrown into confusion at that time, and afterwards horses have continued to be similarly troubled. This same Egyptian claimed that Amphion and the Thracian Orpheus were both great sorcerers, and as they sang incantations, animals came willingly to Orpheus, and stones moved themselves to Amphion during the building of his wall. But the most plausible explanation, in my opinion, is that Taraxippus is a title given to Poseidon Hippios ("Poseidon of horses").

There is also on the Isthmus a Taraxippos named Glaukos, the son of Sisyphos; they say that he met his end from his horses when Akastos established funeral games in honor of his father. At Nemea in Argive territory there was no hero who harmed horses, but there were rocks standing above the turning point of the racecourse colored with a reddish hue, whose gleam, exactly as if it were fire, inspired fear in the horses. But in fact the Taraxippos at Olympia greatly surpasses all others in terrifying horses. On one of the turning-posts is a bronze image of Hippodameia, holding a ribbon, ready to bind Pelops with it in honor of his victory.