48 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTOR STATUES AT OLYMPIA. 
to Olympia disguised as a trainer, and in her joy at his victory she 
leaped over the barrier and disclosed her sex.! ‘The practice does not 
appear to have become universal with all athletes in all the com- 
petitions at Olympia until some time after Orsippos’ day, since 
Thukydides says the abandonment of the girdle took place shortly 
before his time and that in his day it was still retained by certain for- 
eigners, notably Asiatics, in boxing and wrestling matches.? The 
change is not illustrated in sculpture. The earliest victor statues, 
1. €., those of the “Apollo” type, are all nude. The nudity of this 
type shows an essential difference between Greek and foreigner and 
also between the later Greek and his rude ancestor. Plato gives the 
use of the loin-cloth as an example of convention, by which what 
seems peculiar to one generation becomes usual to another.* We see 
the change, however, in vase-paintings. The loin-cloth is common 
on seventh-century vases, but is gradually left off in later ones. 
There were exceptions to the rule of nudity. Statues of charioteers 
were usually partly or wholly dressed in the long chiton, a custom 
explained in various ways.* The Delphi bronze Charioteer (Fig. 66) 
is a good example of a draped one. Another auriga almost nude 
is shown on a decadrachm of Akragas in the British Museum, dating 
from the end of the fifth century B.C. ‘There are also several ex- 
amples of nude charioteers.6 The Olympic runners and athletes 
generally were also bareheaded and barefoot. ‘The only exceptions 
were the hoplite-runners, who wore helmets, and possibly charioteers, 
who wore sandals.’ Gennes of women victors also were draped. 
Though Ionian women could witness games,! and Spartan girls took 
part in athletic contests with boys,” women were rigorously excluded 


1Ph., 17. The story is told also by P., V, 6.7-8. Peisirhodos won in Ol. (?) 88 (=428 B.C.): 
P., VI, 7.2; Hyde, 63; Foerster, 314. This brings the change near the end of the fifth century 
B.C. For the spelling of the name of the victor, see Foerster, /. c. 
27. 6. Here the historian is speaking of athletes in general; Dionysios, VII, 72 and P., I, 44.1, 
speak only of runners. 
Scherer, p. 20, n. 1 (following Krause, I, pp. 405 and 501, n.18) thought that the words of Thuky- 
dides (76 6€ raXar) referred to the time antedating Ol. 15, and not later, and concluded that in 
wrestling (introduced in Ol. 18 =708 B. C.) and boxing (introduced in Ol. 23 =688 B. C.) the 
contestants were always nude. Boeckh, however, rightly concluded that the historian meant 
that in Ol. 15 only the runners laid off the loin-cloth, while other athletes did so just before his 
day2.Ci Ga Tip. $54) 
8De Rep., 452 D. He says that the custom of nudity was introduecd first by the Cretans and 
then by the Spartans. 
4Thus von Mach says (p. 240): ‘‘They were dedicatory statues representing events that had 
taken place in honor of the gods,” and adds that on such occasions persons were draped, except 
where such drapery would cause inconvenience, 7. ¢., in gymnastic contests. 
5See Gardiner, p. 465, fig. 172. 
6. g., the statue in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome: Helbig, Fuehrer, II, no. 973 (fig. 29, 
p. 557, restored); Guide, 597 (fig. 28); Joubin, p. 134, fig. 40; Reinach, Rép., II, 2, 536.6 
B. Com. Rom., XVI, 1888, Pls. XV, XVI, 1, 2, (two views) and XVIII (restored), pp. 335-365 
(G. Ghirardini). 
7Pollux, III, 155, wrongly states that runners wore soft leathern boots (édpouides); these never 
appear on vases, as Krause, I, p. 362 and n. 5, and Gardiner, p. 273, point out,and were the 
usual footwear of messengers. Cf. Mueller, Arch. d. Kunst, §363, 6. 
