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[1] It seems that from the beginning, the sanctuary at Delphi has been plotted against by a vast number of men. Attacks were made against it by this Euboean pirate, and years afterwards by the Phlegyan nation; furthermore, by Pyrrhos, son of Achilles, by a portion of the army of Xerxes, by the chieftains of Phokis, whose attacks on the wealth of the god were the longest and fiercest, and by the Gallic invaders. It was fated too that Delphi was to suffer from the universal irreverence of Nero, who robbed Apollo of five hundred bronze statues, some of gods, some of men.
Pythian Games, Mythical History
[2] The oldest contest and the one for which they first offered prizes was, according to traditional memory, the singing of a hymn to the god. The man who sang and won the prize was Khrysothemis of Crete, whose father Carmanor is said to have purified Apollo. After Khrysothemis, according to traditional memory, Philammon won with a song, and after him, his son Thamyris. But they say that Orpheus, a proud man and conceited about his mysteries, and Musaeus, who copied Orpheus in everything, refused to submit to the competition in musical skill.
[3] They say too that Eleuther won a Pythian victory for his loud and sweet voice, for the song that he sang was not of his own composition. The story is that Hesiod too was debarred from competing because he had not learned to accompany his own singing on the harp. Homer too came to Delphi to inquire about his needs, but even though he had learned to play the harp, he would have found the skill useless, owing to the loss of his eyesight.
Pythian Games, History
[4] In the third year of the forty-eighth Olympiad,
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at which Glaukias of Kroton was victorious, the Amphiktyones held contests for harping as from the beginning but added competitions for
aulos playing and for singing to the
aulos. The conquerors proclaimed were Melampos, a Cephallenian, for harping, and Ekhembrotos, an Arcadian, for singing to the
aulos [‘double-reed’], with Sacadas of Argos for
aulos playing. This same Sacadas won victories at the next two Pythian festivals.
[5] On that occasion, they also offered for the first time prizes for athletes, the competitions being the same as those at Olympia, except the four horse chariot, and the Delphians themselves added to the contests running races for boys, the long course, and the double course. At the second Pythian Festival, they no longer offered prizes for events and hereafter gave a garland for victory. On this occasion, they no longer included singing to the
aulos [‘double-reed’], thinking that the music was ill-omened to listen to. For the tunes of the
aulos [‘double-reed’] were most dismal, and the words sung to the tunes were lamentations.
[6] What I say is confirmed by the votive offering of Ekhembrotos, a bronze tripod dedicated to the Hēraklēs at Thebes. The tripod has as its inscription:
Ekhembrotos of Arcadia dedicated this pleasant gift to Hēraklēs
When he won a victory at the Games of the Amphiktyones,
Singing for the Greeks tunes and lamentations.
When he won a victory at the Games of the Amphiktyones,
Singing for the Greeks tunes and lamentations.
In this way the competition in singing to the
aulos [‘double-reed’] was dropped. But they added a chariot race, and Cleisthenes, the tyrant of Sikyon, was proclaimed victor in the chariot race.
[7] At the eighth Pythian Festival, they added a contest for harpists playing without singing; Agelaos of Tegea was garlanded. At the twenty-third Pythian Festival, they added a race in armor. For this, Timainetos of Phleious won the laurel, five Olympiads after Damaretos of Heraia was victorious. At the forty-eighth Pythian Festival, they established a race for two horse chariots, and the chariot that won belonged to Exekestides of Phokis. At the fifth Festival after this, they yoked foals to a chariot, and the chariot of Orphondas of Thebes came in first.
[8] The pankration for boys, a race for a chariot drawn by two foals, and a race for ridden foals, were many years afterwards introduced from Elis. The first was brought in at the sixty-first Pythian Festival, and Iolaidas of Thebes was victorious. At the next Festival but one, they held a race for a ridden foal, and at the sixty-ninth Festival, a race for a chariot drawn by two foals;
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the victor proclaimed for the former was Lykormas of Larisa, for the latter, Ptolemy the Macedonian. For the kings of Egypt liked to be called Macedonians, as in fact they were.
The reason why a garland of laurel is the prize for a Pythian victory is, in my opinion, simply and solely because the prevailing tradition has it that Apollo fell in love with the daughter of Ladon.
Amphityonic League, Mythical History
Description of Greece. Pausanias. ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy. . .