Philammon frustrates me because I'm fairly certain I've read at least one more mention, maybe in a different spelling or in german or spanish, but I can't seem to find it. If anyone runs across more information on Philammon be sure to let me know. Anyway, this is what I've got: ------------------ Demosthenes "Philammon did not leave Olympia without a crown, because he was not so strong as Glaukos of Karystos, or other bygone champions: he was crowned and proclaimed victor, because he fought better than the men who entered the ring against him. You must compare me with the orators of today; with yourself, for instance, or anyone you like: I exclude none." Aeschines was a Grecian political orator and legal scholar who lost a legal dispute with Ktesiphon over the latter’s resolution to reward hated rival statesman, Demosthenes, with a governmental golden crown. Aeschines: “And yet I am told that he intends to say that I am unfair in holding up his deeds for comparison with those of our fathers. For he will say that Philammon the boxer was crowned at Olympia, not as having defeated Glaukos, that famous man of ancient days, but because he defeated the antagonists of his own time; as though you did not know that in case the boxers the contest is of one man against another, but for those who claim a crown the standard is virtue itself; since it is for this they are crowned. For the herald must not lie when he makes his proclamation in the theater before the Greeks. Do not, then, recount to us how you have been a better citizen than Pataecion, but first attain unto nobility of character, and then call on the people for their grateful acknowledgment" Aristotle mentioned Philammon and boxing more than once for examples of expressive language descriptions utilizing similes or metaphors. “Approved hyperboles are also metaphors. For instance, one may say of a man whose eye is all black and blue, ‘you would have thought he was a basket of mulberries,’ because the black eye is somewhat purple, but the great quantity constitutes the hyperbole. Again, when one says, ‘like this or that,’ there is a hyperbole differing only in the wording; ‘like Philammon punching the leather sack,’ or ‘you would have thought that he was Philammon fighting the sack’; ‘carrying his legs twisted like parsley,’ or ‘you would have thought that he had no legs, but parsley, they being so twisted.’ There is something youthful about hyperboles.” -------------------------------- Based on who is referring to him and how it's easy to assume Philammon was fairly popular in his day, but what's really interesting is the extra bit about Glaukos because it's proof that as early as Philammon's day people were already glorifying the past champions. Heavyweight Champions from Ancient to Present
". . . but because he defeated the antagonists of his own time; as though you did not know that in case the boxers the contest is of one man against another, but for those who claim a crown the standard is virtue itself; since it is for this they are crowned." I like this quote for some reason.
