INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

who were also deified as constellations 29 , it is known that they had
exceptional athletic competence, the one – Pollux – as a boxer 30 and
the other – Castor - as a horseman. They are often represented with
their horses, whereas they won in several contests 31 . The two
Homeric heroes, Ajax and Achilles, were eminent for their war virtue
in the battlefield. Ajax was invincible in single combat 32 , whereas
Achilles was running fast and, thus, became an unrivalled model for
runners 33 .
It could be suggested that Aristotle, who composed lists of the
Pythian- and the Olympic-winners 34 , also seeks to deify Hermias like
an athlete who deserves any distinction for the victory he brought to
his state. Presenting virtue as a desired fruit of a laborious contest,
with such competent competitors from the mythological past shows in
other words that virtue was a prize for Hermias who threw himself
into a difficult fight. In this way Aristotle is comparing him with an
athlete that deserves to be honoured with the laureate posthumous
fame and glory.
Still, not only gods and heroes are famous for their athletic records
but also the winners of the games are worshipped like heroes 35 . The
victorious hymns - epinicians 36 of Pindar, Bacchylides, and Simonides
for the winners of the Pythian, Nemean, Isthmian, and Olympic
games, and also the pieces of art by Lysippus, Polycleitos and Myron,
are the ways that the state chooses, in order to express the virtue of the
winners and to glorify them in public 37 . We should not, therefore,
forget that the distinction may be achieved on an individual level 38 ,
but the victory belongs not only to the athlete himself but to his state
as well, which is responsible as a corporate authority to confer the
suitable honours. In ancient coins we often find the representation of
the Winged Victory (Nike) ready to crown the winner. Besides, picture
of athletic victories on coins was a means of propaganda of the polis
or the leader.
Moreover, the moral award for the victory is a share in the divine
superiority and the unrivalled fame of the mythical heroes. This is
how the legends about the heroic or divine genealogy of many
athletes, who won at the Olympic games, were created, like
Theagenes, who was worshipped in Thasos as a therapist god and son
of Hercules. It seems that the traditions about the divine or heroic
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