Taraxippos
Taraxippus ( ancient Greek Ταράξιππος from ταράττειν , upset ' and ἵππος ' horse ' , so "horses terror") is the name of a demon , the popular belief of the ancient Greeks on to the horse racetrack let it pass, especially with the Olympics and the Isthmian Games . He embodied the danger of horse racing.
According to a report by Pausanias , the deity is associated with a round altar on the eastern side of the hippodrome, although the exact location of the altar described by Pausanias is disputed. According to Pausanias, when the horses passed this point, they were suddenly seized with fear for no apparent reason, so that charioteers were often injured. That is why the charioteers are said to have made sacrifices at the altar of Taraxippus in order to please him. Pausanias offers several explanations for the origin of the phenomenon: On the one hand, it is said that a certain Olenios, who was an excellent rider, is said to have been buried here. According to another version, it is the tomb of Dameon, a son of Phlios, who took part in Herakles ' campaign against the Eleians , and was killed by Kteatos , the actor's son , and buried there with his horse. According to another tradition, Pelops had a memorial built for the charioteer Myrtilus , who was murdered by him , in order to appease his spirit. The charioteer Alkathoos , son of Porthaon , is also associated with Taraxippos: after he was defeated by King Oinomaos in the chariot race and was killed by him, he is said to frighten the horses of other charioteers out of displeasure. Pausanias also gives an Egyptian tradition, according to which Pelops is said to have buried a magical object there, which had already frightened Oinomaos' horses and all the charioteers after him.
Sometimes Taraxippos is also used as a nickname for Poseidon .
Similar phenomena are said to have occurred at other well-known racetracks in ancient Greece: At the Isthmian Games , Glaukos , the son of Sisyphus , who was killed by his own racehorses, is said to unsettle the horses at the racetrack; In Nemea there is said to have been a red rock above the turning point of the Nemeen racecourse , which horses often frightened of. However, Pausanias rates both phenomena as less dangerous than the Taraxippos in Olympia. In his description of Delphis , Pausanias explicitly points out that there is no Taraxippos at the racetrack there, even though charioteers are occasionally injured there too.
literature
- Otto Höfer : Taraxippos . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 5, Leipzig 1924, Sp. 97-99 ( digitized version ).
- Viktor Gebhard : Taraxippos. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, Col. 2288-2292.
- Peter Scherrer: Taraxippos. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12,1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996-2015, ISBN 3-476-01470-3 , Sp. 23.