Ancient Champions: Tissandros of Naxos

Victor of the Olympia in 572, 568, 564, & 560 BC

Four time Pythian Champion as well, but I've not found the dates. Pythian Games were held two years after Olympic games so he either started wining them in 574 or 570 BC.

Pausanius: Naxos was founded in Sicily by the Chalcidians on the Euripus. Of the city not even the ruins are now to be seen, and that the name of Naxos has survived to after ages must be attributed to Tissandros, the son of Cleocritus. He won the boxing-match at Olympia four times. He had the same number of victories at Pytho, but at this time neither the Corinthians nor the Argives kept complete records of the victors at Nemea and the Isthmus.

Philostratus: Some trained by competing in speed with horses and hares, bending or straightening thick iron plates, or by having themselves yoked with powerful oxen, and, finally by subduing bulls or even lions…. The arms of the boxer Tissandros from Naxos, who swam around the promontories of the island, carried him far out to sea, this training himself and the body.

According to 1st century historian Diodoras, the tyrant dictator of Syracuse named Dionysius had developed plans growing his influence by force. With the assistance of the Naxos traitor-general Procles the entire region was wiped from this world like excrament from a boot.

Diodoras: Procles delivered his native city to Dionysius, who, after paying the promised gifts to the traitor and handing over his kinsman, sold the inhabitants into slavery, turned the property over to soldiers to plunder, and razed the walls and the dwellings. Now the territory of the Naxians he gave as a present to the neighboring Siceli.

Dionysius failed in his attempt at eradicating evidence of Naxian society from history books. Tissandros of Naxos the eight time major title boxing champion permanently remains silently stoic as the pride of an exterminated community.


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Thanks for reading buds and a special thank you to escudo.

 

I pulled the Pindar quote from Christopher James Shelton's book Boxing in the Time of Christ. I don't mean this in a contest sort of my source is superior sort of way, but I'd be very interested in know who attributed that quote to being about Diagoras. It's no bother if the source is not handy, but I did kind of build my whole post around Tissandros being too popular and too respected to delete.

It seems to me you're going to have a very hard time given Naxos was obliterated with the explicit intention of removing all record of the society. From here I have no other avenues but phoning museums and the likeness.

 

Give me time lads, I will cover them. There is a lot of conflicting information and weak research floating around online so don't be surprised if both of youse pull perfectly valid sources that claim completely opposite events. That's why I lean on Shelton's work the most. He's a bit of a debunker, which is nice because when you've some knowledge and an author makes a claim counter intuitive to that knowledge it's nice when they have the foresight to address it rather than leaving you guessing which claim is correct.

I loved reading about all those guys Rez, it's why I do these posts my man. I want other people to know about Euthymos the River God. I love comparing Theaganese to Floyd. Kleomedes always made me pity him. He doesn't seem like a bad guy just a bit of a **** up with a lot of physical gifts. Melankomas claim to going unpointed against is without doubt one of the biggest boasts in all of boxing history. If we could prove that there'd be little argument for goat outside of his.

Demokrates is the most popular ancient champion I think, if y'all are interested in popularity.

Thanks for the support guys.

 

Oh I see what happened, this is entirely my fault. CJS's book actually says this:

The Grecian, Pindar, wrote during the 400’s BCE which offers a sense of Tisander’s fame and popularity: “Father Zeus, you who rule over the ridges of Atabyrium , grant honor to the hymn ordained in praise of an Olympian victor, and to the man who has found excellence as a boxer, and grant to him honored grace in the eyes of both citizens and strangers. For he walks a straight course on a road that hates arrogance, knowing clearly the sound prophetic wisdom of his good ancestors.”

I didn't read it carefully enough. He's just using Pindar to allude to how popular Tissandros may have been.