Translations of Hellenistic Inscriptions: 11

MILETOS HONOURS A VICTORIOUS ATHLETE

The prestige of the Olympic games, above all other Greek games, is shown by the way that this athlete's two Olympic victories are placed at the head of his impressive list of other victories. As well as the traditional competitions, the list also contains the earliest surviving reference to games held by the 'guild of world-wide sacred and crowned victors' {apo tēs oikoumenēs hieronikai kai stephanitai} - an organisation that is also mentioned in a letter of Marcus Antonius, dated to 41 B.C. ( Sherk_85 ). 

A statue base found at Olympia, honouring '. . . of Miletos, son of ...krates, [who won ] the double race at the Olympic games in the 190th Olympiad' ( Greek text: IvO_219 ), almost certainly refers to the same athlete as this inscription; and an inscription in the sanctuary at Didyma contains another copy of his list of victories ( Greek text: Didyma_277 ).

[A]   . . . [honours] . . . [son of ...krates], who was victor :-

• at the Olympic games, [in the double { diaulos } and heavy-armour { hoplitodromos } races], in the 190th Olympiad 
• at the Pythian games, in the men's stadion, double and heavy-armour races, all on the same day 
• at the Nemean games, in the men's stadion, double and heavy-armour races, one after the other in the same year - the first of all men to achieve this
• at the Eleutheria games in Plataia that are held by the league of Greeks, in the men's stadion race and the armed race from the victory monument; he was proclaimed as the best of the Greeks - the first and only man from Asia to achieve this
• at the great Caesarean Aktian games, 10 in the men's stadion, double and heavy-armour races on the same day - the first of all men to achieve this
• at the Nemean games again, in the double and heavy-armour races
• at the Augustan Romaia games that are held by the league of Asia, in the heavy-armour race - the first of the Ionians to achieve this
• at the Isthmian games, in the heavy-armour race - the first of the Milesians to achieve this
• at the Pythian games for a second time, in the stadion and heavy-armour races - the first of the Ionians to achieve this
• at the [games] held by the world-wide sacred and crowned victors, in the stadion, double and heavy-armour races - the first of all men to achieve this
• at the Heraia games in Argos, in the stadion race - the first of the Milesians to achieve this - and in the heavy-armour race
• at the Nemean games again, in the stadion, double and heavy-armour races - the first of the Ionians to achieve this
• 20 at the Halieia games in Rhodes, in the stadion and heavy-armour races . . . 
   
• [B]   [at the Eleutheria games in Plataia that are held by the league of Greeks, in the men's] stadion, double [and heavy-armour races, and in the armed race] from the victory monument; he was proclaimed [as the best of the] Greeks for a [second time] - the first and [only] man to achieve this - [and he was honoured] by the league of Greeks [with a golden crown] for excellence
• at the Isthmian games for [(?) a second time in the heavy-armour race]
• at the great Eleusinian games [that are held by the people] of Athens, 10 in the double [and heavy-armour races]; he was honoured by the people [of Athens] with citizenship and a statue and [a crown of olive branches] on account of his valour.

→ inscription 12

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