Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 5.12.5: the victories of Cynisca of Sparta

Title

Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 5.12.5: the victories of Cynisca of Sparta

Date

mid 2nd century CE

Type

Travel Writing

Source Type

Literary source

Commentary

On Cynisca see also Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 3.8.1-2; 3.15.1; 6.1.6; Plutarchus, Moralia 212b; Plutarchus, Agesilaus 20.1; Xenophon, Agesilaus 9.6; IG V,1 1564a (cf. IvO 160; CEG 820; Anthologia Palatina 13.16).

The dates for Cynisca's two Olympian victories in the four-horse chariot race given by Moretti 1957, no. 373, (396 and 392 BCE) are widley accepted, but not certain.

Translation

The offerings inside, or in the fore-temple include: a throne of Arimnestus, king of Etruria, who was the first foreigner to present an offering to the Olympic Zeus, and bronze horses of Cynisca, tokens of an Olympic victory. These are not as large as real horses, and stand in the fore-temple on the right as you enter. There is also a tripod, plated with bronze, upon which, before the table was made, were displayed the crowns for the victors.

Translation used

William H. S. Jones/ Henry A. Ormerod, Pausanias, Description of Greece, vol. 2, Books 3-5 (= Loeb Classical Library; 188), London 1926.

Text

ἀναθήματα δὲ ὁπόσα ἔνδον ἢ ἐν τῷ προνάῳ κεῖται, θρόνος ἐστὶν Ἀριμνήστου βασιλεύσαντος ἐν Τυρσηνοῖς, ὃς πρῶτος βαρβάρων ἀναθήματι τὸν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ Δία ἐδωρήσατο, καὶ ἵπποι Κυνίσκας χαλκοῖ, σημεῖα Ὀλυμπικῆς νίκης: οὗτοι μέγεθος μὲν ἀποδέουσιν ἵππων, ἑστήκασι δὲ ἐν τῷ προνάῳ τοῖς ἐσιοῦσιν ἐν δεξιᾷ. κεῖται δὲ καὶ τρίπους ἐπίχαλκος, ἐφ᾽ οὗ πρὶν ἢ τὴν τράπεζαν ποιηθῆναι προετίθεντο τοῖς νικῶσιν οἱ στέφανοι.

Edition used

Frederick Spiro (ed.), Pausaniae Graeciae Descriptio, vol. 2, Leipzig 1903.

Bibliography

W. Dittenberger, K. Purgold (eds.), Die Inschriften von Olympia, Berlin 1896. (= IvO)

P.A. Hansen (ed.), Carmina epigraphica Graeca saeculi IV a.Chr.n. (CEG 2) (Texte und Kommentare 15), Berlin 1989. (= CEG)

W. Kolbe (ed.), Inscriptiones Graecae, V,1: Inscriptiones Laconiae et Messeniae, Berlin 1913. (= IG V,1)

L. Moretti, Olympionikai: i vincitori negli antichi agoni olimpici, Rome 1957.

Collection

Citation

Pausanias, “Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 5.12.5: the victories of Cynisca of Sparta,” Cynisca: Documenting Women and Girls in Ancient Greek Sports, accessed December 22, 2024, https://fdz.bib.uni-mannheim.de/cynisca/items/show/38.

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