Plutarchus, Apophthegmata Laconica, Agesilaus 49 (Moralia 212b): the victories of Cynisca of Sparta

Plutarchus, Apophthegmata Laconica, Agesilaus 49 (Moralia 212b): the victories of Cynisca of Sparta

46 - after 120 CE

Historical Anecdotes

Literary source

On Cynisca see also Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 3.8.1-2; 3.15.1; 5.12.5; 6.1.6; 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.

Seeing that some of the citizens thought themselves to be somebody and gave themselves great airs because they kept a racing stud, he persuaded his sister Cynisca to enter a chariot in the races at Olympia, for he wished to demonstrate to the Greeks that this sort of thing was no sign of excellence, but only of having money and being willing to spend it.

Frank Cole Babbitt (ed.), Plutarch’s Moralia, vol. 3, 172a-263c (Loeb Classical Library 245), Cambridge, MA 1931.

ὁρῶν δ᾽ ἐνίους τῶν πολιτῶν ἀπὸ ἱπποτροφίας δοκοῦντας εἶναί τινας καὶ μεγαλοφρονοῦντας, ἔπεισε τὴν ἀδελφὴν Κυνίσκαν ἅρμα καθεῖσαν Ὀλυμπίασιν ἀγωνίσασθαι, βουλόμενος ἐνδείξασθαι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὡς οὐδεμιᾶς ἐστιν ἀρετῆς πλούτου δὲ καὶ δαπάνης τὰ τοιαῦτα.

Gregorios N. Bernardakis (ed.), Plutarchi Chaeronensis moralia, vol. 2, Leipzig 1889.

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.