Ancient Champions: Euthymos The Italian

It's about time I knocked out a few more of these.

Euthymos' story is a bit difficult to grab a source on that isn't too terribly bogged down with details about his sporting rival Theaganes. It's understandable from the point of view of an author writing a book because each one of the men are massive figures in the ancient boxing scene with personalities so huge even with scarce detail you get a sense of who each man is. So there's a whole lot to work with in a part of history most guys are lucky to get a few paragraphs about them, but for articles on websites and posts on forums I think it's a bit long and a bit focused on a one instance of their lives. I'll be using Pausanias' account of Euthymos which can be kind of Yoda-ish sometimes, but I've reread it and I'm pretty confident if you can understand Yoda just fine you can follow Pausanias. That's not to say I won't cover Euthymos vs Theaganes, I just think it's worthy of it's own thread and Theaganes of Thasos likewise is worthy of his own thread.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It would not be right for me to pass over the boxer Euthymos, his victories and his other glories. Euthymos was by birth one of the Italian Locrians, who dwell in the region near the headland called the West Point, and he was called son of Astycles. Local legend, however, makes him the son, not of this man, but of the river Caecinus, which divides Locris from the land of Rhegium and produces the marvel of the grasshoppers. For the grasshoppers within Locris as far as the Caecinus sing just like others, but across the Caecinus in the territory of Rhegium they do not utter a sound.

This river then, according to tradition, was the father of Euthymos, who, though he won the prize for boxing at the seventy-fourth Olympic Festival, but was not to be so successful at the next. For Theagenes of Thasos, wishing to win the prizes for boxing and for the pancratium at the same Festival, overcame Euthymos at boxing, though he had not the strength to gain the wild olive in the pancratium because he was already exhausted in his fight with Euthymos.

Thereupon the Hellanodikai fined Theagenes, to be sacred to the gods, and for the harm done to Euthymos, holding that it was merely to spite him that he entered for the boxing competition. For this reason they condemned him to pay an extra fine privately to Euthymos. At the seventy-sixth Festival Theagenes paid in full the money owed to the gods, and as compensation to Euthymos did not enter boxing. At this Festival, and also at the next following, Euthymos won the crown for boxing. His statue is the handiwork of Pythagoras, and is very well worth seeing.

On his return to Italy Euthymos fought against the Ghost of Temesa, the story about whom is as follows; Odysseus, so they say, in his wanderings after the capture of Troy was carried down by gales to various cities of Italy and Sicily, and among them he came with his ships to Temesa. Here one of his sailors got drunk and violated a maiden, for which offence he was stoned to death by the natives.

Now Odysseus, it is said, cared nothing about his loss and sailed away. But the ghost of the stoned man never ceased killing the people of Temesa without distinction, attacking both old and young, until, when the inhabitants had resolved to flee from Italy for good, the Pythian priestess forbad them to leave Temesa, and ordered them to propitiate the daimon, setting him a sanctuary apart and building a temple, and to give him every year as wife the fairest maiden in Temesa.

So they performed the commands of the gods and suffered no more terrors from the ghost, but Euthymos happened to come to Temesa just at the time when the ghost was being propitiated in the usual way. Learning what was going on he had a strong desire to enter the temple, and not only to enter it but also to look at the maiden. When he saw her he first felt pity and afterwards love for her. The girl swore to marry him if he saved her, and so Euthymos with his armour on awaited the onslaught of the ghost.

Euthymos won the fight, and the ghost was driven out of the land and disappeared, sinking into the depth of the sea. Euthymos had a distinguished wedding and the inhabitants were freed from the ghost forever.

I heard another story also about Euthymos, how that he reached extreme old age, and escaping again from death departed from among men in another way. Temesa is still inhabited as I heard from a man who sailed there as a merchant.

This I heard, and I also saw, by chance, a picture dealing with the subject. It was a copy of an ancient picture. There were a stripling, Sybaris, a river, Calabrus, and a spring, Lyca. Beside there were a hero-shrine and the city of Temesa, and in the midst was the ghost that Euthymos cast out. Horribly black in color, and exceedingly dreadful in all his appearance, he had a wolf's skin thrown round him as a garment. The letters on the picture gave his name as Lycas VII.

So much for the story of Euthymos.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fight of the Millennium: Euthymos vs. Theagenes 480 BC



Heavyweight Champions from Ancient to Present

It isn't terribly often a boxer is deified, but Euthymos was both considered a hero in the Greek pantheon and a demigod. A lot of historians like to sweep myths and legends under the rug, but what other sport has myths and legends? It is my personal opinion that the myths just make the history that much richer and does absolutely nothing to discredit the history or confuse readers. Maybe i'm putting too much faith in people but I think even the least educated numb nuts understands that the Greeks liked to write legends and can discern when they're being mythical or factual. Usually, with modern historians, rather than covering the myth they mention them and follow that mention with a lecture explaining how irresponsible it is to spread these stories. So, maybe I'm being irresponsible, but I think youse can tell the difference between Theaganes portion and Temesa's portion and that historians have become smug, arrogant, dicks.

On that note, thanks for reading bud I really appreciate it.

 

****, I'm a Warsteiner guy myself, German beer fty, but y'all got me wanting it try Mythos myself.

Got to admit the mental image of Joe Louis in full Greek armor fighting a Greek demon dressed in black wolf pelts and greasy pirate hair will probably be the highlight of my day. If I could do art I'd do that.