Diagoras of Rhodes

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Diagoras with his two sons (modern representation)

Diagoras of Rhodes († allegedly 448 BC) was the most famous ancient pugilist . His year of birth is unknown. He was a grandson of Aristomenes , under whom the Messenians rose against the Spartans in the Second Messenian War . Diagoras was born in 464 BC. Chr. Olympic champion . He won the Isthmian Games four times, several times also in the Pythian and Nemean Games .

The poet Pindar dedicated the 7th Olympic Ode to him, which was recited in Ialysos on Rhodes , for the victory in 464 BC. Chr .: "... so that I the straight fighter, the mighty man, / Who has fetched the wreath from Alpheios , / Praise, as a reward for the fist fight / At the Kastalia spring ..."

Diagoras was considered an exceptional athlete ( Periodonike ) because he had won all four Panhellenic games of a round. He was hailed as a fair athlete who fought honestly. His also athletic sons Akusilaos (fistfight) and Damagetos ( pankration ), this already 452 BC. Winner, both were on the same day at the Olympic Games of 448 BC. Olympic champion. As Marcus Tullius Cicero narrates, the father died after this victory when the two sons carried him through the stadium on their shoulders and the crowd shouted to him: “Die, Diagoras! You can't go up to heaven too. "

Another son, Dorieus , later became a triple periodonica through victories in pankration (432-424 BC). In the Peloponnesian War he fought with his own ship on the side of Sparta until he was captured. He owes his release by the Athenians to his Olympic fame. After Pausanias , he was sentenced to death by the Spartans as a traitor.

Even Diagoras' grandchildren were still successful athletes, which is why his family, the Eratids , named themselves Diagorids (after Diagoras). It is considered to be the most successful family of athletes in ancient times.

His daughter Kallipatira was the only known married woman who ever dared to attend the ancient Olympic Games, which was forbidden for women .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pindar, Olympia 7; Translation: Wolfgang Schadewaldt ; in: Uvo Hölscher : Pindar Siegeslieder . Fischer Taschenbuch ( Exempla Classica ) 52, Frankfurt am Main 1962, p. 24.
  2. ↑ Pausanias 6, 7 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Diagoras of Rhodes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient greek boxer
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 448 BC Chr.