36 EARLY GREEK GAMES AND PRIZES. 
athlete was looked upon as especially happy. In Aristophanes’ Plutus, 
“Hermes deserts the gods and serves Plutus “the presider over contests,”’ 
thinking no service more profitable to the god of wealth than holding 
contests in music and athletics.' Plato thought an Olympic victor’s 
life was the most blessed of all from a material point of view.” In the 
myth of Er the soul of Atalanta chooses the body of an athlete, on see- 
ing “the great rewards bestowed on an athlete.’’* ‘The great Rhodian 
pancratiast Dorieus, who won in Ols. 87, 88, 89 (=432-424 B. C.), was 
taken prisoner by Athens during the Peloponnesian war, but was freed 
beause of his exploits at Olympia.*~ The honor in which a victor.was 
held may also be judged by the story of the Spartan ephor Cheilon, 
who died of joy while embracing his victorious son Damagetos.° 
To quote from Ernest Gardner: ‘The extraordinary, almost super- 
human honours paid to the victors at the great national contests 
made them a theme for the sculptor hardly less noble than gods and 
heroes, and more adapted for the display of his skill, as trained by the 
observation of those exercises which led to the victory.’® Some of 
the greatest artists were employed, and great poets from Simonides 
of Keos down, including such names as Bacchylides and Pindar, were 
employed in singing their praises. Although it must be confessed 
that the majority of the artists of victor statues at Olympia are little 
known or wholly unknown masters, Pausanias mentions among them 
such renowned namesas Hagelaidas, Pythagoras, Kalamis, Myron, Poly- 
kleitos, Lysippos, and possibly Pheidias. Certain ‘other great names; 
however, are absent from his lists, ¢. g., Euphranor, Kresilas, Praxiteles, 
and Skopas. Such extravagant reverence of Olympic and other victors 
as we have outlined met, of course, with violent protests all through 
Greek history, just as the excessive popularity of athletics has jn our 
time. [he philosopher Xenophanes of Kolophon, who died 480 B. C., 
was scandalized at the offering of divine honors to athletes.“ While he . 
denounced the popularity of athletics, Euripides later denounced the pro- 
fessionalism whic ad begun to creep in after the middle of the fifth 
century B.C.® lato, though a strong advocate of practical physical 
training for war, was.opposed to the vain spirit of competition in the 
athletics of his day. . He complained that professional athletes paid 
excessive attention to diet, slept their lives away, and were in danger 
of becoming brutalized.? The last attack on professional athletics in 
point of time was made in the second century A. D. by Galen, in his 

171. 1161 f. 2De Rep., V, 465 D. E. 
8De Rep., 620 B.; cf. Gardiner, pp. 199. 130. 
4Xen., Heil., I, 5.19; P., VI, 7.4.f.; Hyde, 61; Foerster, 258, 260, 262. 
Fania patos won in Beene (?) in Ol. 56 ey B..C.): Hermipp., fr. 14 (=F) a ag ete 
A.G., VII, 88; Pl., H. N., VII, 119; Foerster, 108. ®Hbk., pp. 215-216. 
TAp, AGhenecue NGO ioe pee 14); Gardiner, p. 79, has given a translation of ha protest. 
8Ap. Athen., X, 5 (p. 413). 
De Rep., 404 A.; 410 D. (ef. 535 D.). 
