Pausanias Analysis

Directly opposite the dedications I have just listed are some other offerings arranged in a row, facing south, situated closest to the precinct dedicated to Pelops. Among them are the dedications set up by Phormis from Maenalus. Having gone from Maenalus to Sicily, Phormis served under Gelon son of Deinomenes, and afterwards under Gelon's brother Hieron; distinguishing himself brilliantly in their campaigns, he became so prosperous that he dedicated these offerings at Olympia, and others as well to Apollo at Delphi.

The dedications at Olympia consist of two horses with two charioteers; next to each horse stands a charioteer. The first pair of horse and man were made by Dionysios of Argos, while the second are works by Simon the Aeginetan. On the flank of the first horse there is an inscription; the opening words are not in metrical form, but read thus: "Dedicated by Phormis, an Arcadian from Mainalos, but now of Syracuse."

This is the horse concerning which the legend of the "hippomanes" told by the Eleans is maintained. Clearly in other respects also, what happened to the animal was due to the cunning of a magician. It falls far short in size and appearance of all the horses that stand within the Altis; moreover, its tail has been cut off, making it even more disgraceful in this state. Male horses, throughout the entire day and not merely in springtime, are madly attracted to it.

For indeed, they rush into the Altis either breaking their bonds or fleeing from those who lead them, and leap upon it with far greater frenzy than they would mount a living mare, even one most beautiful and gentle. Their hooves slip upon it, yet nevertheless they do not desist, neighing all the louder and springing upon it with more vehement impulse, until finally they are drawn away by lashes and great force; and until that time there is for them no release whatsoever from the bronze.

I have also personally seen something else in Lydia, different indeed in wonder from the horse of Phormis, yet likewise not free from the skill of magicians. For the Lydians called "Persians" have sanctuaries in a city named Hierocaesareia and in Hypaepa; and in each of these temples there is a chamber, and in the chamber on an altar there is ash. This ash, however, in its entire appearance is not like ordinary ash.

Entering the chamber, a magician brought dry sticks and placed them upon the altar; first he put a tiara upon his head, and then began to chant invocations to one of the gods—in a barbarous tongue entirely unintelligible to Greeks. He recited the invocation, reading from a book; and immediately, without any fire, the sticks necessarily ignited, and a bright flame shone forth from them.

Let these remarks suffice to clarify the matter. Among these dedications, Phormis himself is depicted standing against an enemy warrior, and immediately afterward he is shown battling a second, and yet again a third opponent. The inscription on these figures states that the soldier engaged in combat is Phormis of Maenalus, and that the dedicator is Lycurtas of Syracuse. Clearly, this Lycurtas set up the dedication out of friendship toward Phormis. Indeed, although the dedications were made by Lycurtas, even the Greeks themselves call them "the dedications of Phormis."

The Hermes, who carries a ram beneath his arm and wears on his head a helmet, dressed in a tunic and cloak, is no longer among the votive offerings of Phormis; it was dedicated to the god by the Arcadians from Pheneus. The inscription states that it was made by Onatas the Aeginetan, and with him was Calliteles; it seems to me likely that Calliteles was a pupil or son of Onatas. Not far from the Pheneatans' offering there is another statue of Hermes holding the herald's staff; according to the inscription upon it, Glaukias, a native of Rhegium, dedicated it, and it was sculpted by Callon of Elis.

Of the bronze oxen, one was dedicated by the Corcyraeans, and the other is an offering of the Eretrians, wrought by Philesius of Eretria. Concerning the reason for which the Corcyraeans dedicated the ox at Olympia and another ox at Delphi, my account of the Phocaeans will make clear. But I have heard the following story about what happened concerning their dedication at Olympia.

Under this ox, a small boy, seated and leaning downward, was playing; suddenly raising his head, he struck it against the bronze, and from this wound he died not many days afterward. The Eleans, considering the ox defiled with blood-guilt, intended to remove it from the Altis, but the god at Delphi instructed them to leave the dedication in its place and to perform upon it the rites of purification customary among Greeks for involuntary homicide.

There is beneath the plane trees in the Altis, almost precisely in the center of the enclosure, a bronze trophy, and upon the shield of this trophy is an inscription stating that the Eleans set it up as a dedication from their victory over the Lacedaemonians. During this same battle, the man was overtaken by death who was later discovered, armed and still lying in this place, at the time when, as I have already mentioned, the roof of the Heraion was undergoing repairs.

Of the offerings, the one dedicated by the Mendaeans in Thrace came closest to deceiving me into believing that it was an athlete's statue of a pentathlete; it stands near that of Anauchidas of Elis, and holds ancient jumping weights in its hands. An elegiac inscription is written upon its thigh: "To Zeus, king of the gods, the Mendaeans placed me here as a choice offering, Having subdued Sipte by force of arms." Sipte appears to have been a fortress and a city in Thrace; the Mendaeans themselves are of Greek descent and originated from Ionia. They live inland from the sea near the city of Ainos.