¹ Minoan art regularly shows athletes wearing loincloths; see the boxers and wrestlers on the rhyton from Hagia Triada, S. Marinatos, M. Hirmer, Crete and Mycenae (New York 1960) pls 106–7; the boxers of Thera, Marinatos, S., Die Ausgrabungen auf Thera und ihre Probleme (Vienna 1973) pl. 3Google Scholar; Levi, D., ‘Le cretule di Hagia Triada e di Zakrò’, As Atene vii–ix (1925–1926) 156Google Scholar. In Homer heroes don loincloths for athletic contests; see Il. xxxiii 710, 683–5, Od. xviii 66–69, 74ff. with D. H. Ant. Rom. vii 72.3–4, and Bonfante, L., ‘Nudity as a costume in classical art’, AJA xciii (1989) 543–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 547–48.

² The dates are given variously as the fourteenth (724 BC), fifteenth (720 BC), and thirty-second (652 BC) Olympiad; but the last is a patent error, see Moretti, L., Olympionikai, i vincitori negli antichi agoni olimpici (Rome 1957) 62Google Scholar. A number of sources place the innovation during the time when Hippomenes was archon of Athens, a period which spanned the thirteenth to fifteenth Olympiads. The earliest source for Orsippos as innovator is an epigram preserved on a late Megarian inscription (CIG i 1050 = IG vii 52 = Kaibel, Epig. Gr. 843) dated to the Hadrianic period by Dittenberger, to the fifth century AD by Moretti, 61. A. Boeckh (CIG i 1050, p.555) suggested the epigram was composed by Simonides. For the later sources and discussion see CIG i 1050, pp.554–5, Pfister, F., RE xvi (1935)Google Scholar s.v. ‘Nacktheit’ 1544–6, Moretti, 61–2; and Sweet, W. E., ‘Protection of the genitals in Greek athletics’, The ancient world xi (1985) 43–6Google Scholar = Sport and recreation in ancient Greece (New York, Oxford 1987) 124–9.

³ Sturtevant, E. H., ‘GYMNOS and NUDUS’, AJPh xxxiii (1912) 324–9Google Scholar and Mann, J. C., ‘GYMNAZO in Thucydides i.6.5’, CR xxiv (1974) 177–8Google Scholar, have shown that the meaning given in LSJ, γυμνός 5, ‘lightly clad’, is not supported by all the passages cited, e.g., Dem. xxi 216, Ar. Nu. 498, cf. Pl. Lg. xii 954a. The meaning is valid when the limitation is stated, as at Pl. Lg. xi 925a, or when γυμνός is used figuratively or hyperbolically, e.g. Ar. Eccl. 409, Lys. 150–51. Delorme, J., Gymnasion (Paris 1960) 21Google Scholar n.2, held γυμνάζω did not mean ‘nude exercising’ before the classical period, but Delorme based his position on misinterpretations of Th. i 6.5 and Pl. R. v 452c; see below. That ‘Orsippos-Akanthos' competed naked, rather than lightly clad, is clearly stated in the accounts of Dionysios of Halikarnassos (Ant. Rom. vii 72.3) and Pausanias (i 44.1). At Amat. 751f., Plutarch, writing of a contemporary setting, anachronistically states that athletic nudity was introduced recently; surely a thoughtless repetition of Plato who is quoted in this section of Plutarch's dialogue.

⁴ On the Greek mainland an athletic training ground was generally called the ‘nude place’, while on Crete where the tradition of the loincloth was maintained into classical times, it was termed the ‘running place’; see Suda, s.v. δρόμος and Paus. iii 14.6, and Glass, S. L., ‘The Greek gymnasium’, in The archaeology of the Olympics, ed. Raschke, W. J. (Madison 1988) 159Google Scholar.

⁵ Dem. xxiv 114 and Aeschin. i 138 state that restrictions on activities in gymnasia figured in Solon's legislation, see Glass (n.4) 160, but note the doubts of Delorme (n.3) 36–37 and Kyle, D. G., Athletics in ancient Athens (Leiden 1987) 22, 72–3Google Scholar. For the evidence connecting the Academy and the Peisistratid dynasty see Natorp, P., RE i.1 (1893)Google Scholar s.v. ‘Akademia’ 1133, and Delorme, 36–37, and the doubts of Kyle, 73 and Lynch, J. P., ‘Hipparchos' wall in the Academy at Athens’, in Studies presented to Sterling Dow, ed. Rigsby, K. J. (Durham 1984) 173–9Google Scholar. Theopompos (FGrH 115 F 136) states that the Lykeion was founded by Peisistratos, but Philochoros (FGrH 328 F 37) records that Perikles built it; see Delorme, 43, Kyle, 79. Delorme, 36–42, believed that public gymnasia were founded and supported by the Peisistratids, but see the cautious scepticism of Kyle, 73, 79.

⁶ Carrière, J., Théognis: poèmes élégiaques (Paris 1948Google Scholar) translated ‘fréquente au gymnase’, but for the erotic association of γυμνάζω, cf. Alkibiades' attempted seduction of Sokrates, συνεγυμνάζετο οὖν μοι κσὶ προσεπάλαιε πολλάκις οὐδενὸς παρόντος, Pl. Sym. 217c. If the couplet were by Theognis it would speak for the practice of nude exercising in mid-sixth (Carrière, 4), or perhaps even late seventh century Megara (West, M. L., Studies in Greek elegy and iambus [Berlin, New York 1974] 65–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar)

⁷ For geometric boxers see Laurent, M., BCH xxv (1901) 150Google Scholar, fig. 3, Waldstein, C., The Argive Heraeum (Boston, New York 1905) 113Google Scholar, no. 11, cf. Arch. Zeit. 1885, pl.8, 2, and recently Ahlberg-Cornell, G., ActaArch lviii (1987) 55–86Google Scholar, esp. 62–63. For eighth century bronze statuettes see Richter, G. M. A., Kouroi: archaic Greek youths³ (London New York 1970) 26–27Google Scholar, figs 3–16. The difficulty in discerning and interpreting nudity on geometric vases is caused by the silhouette technique, by the abstract element in early Greek art which tended to reduce all figures to basic elements, and by the use of male and female physical attributes to distinguish gender. For nudity on geometric vases see Becatti, G., Enc. dell'Arte Antica (1963) s.v. ‘nudo’ 578Google Scholar, Benson, J. L., Horses birds & man—the origin of Greek painting (Amherst 1970) 106–7Google Scholar, Ahlberg, G., Prothesis and ekphora in Greek geometric art (Göteborg 1971) 72–4Google Scholar, and Bonfante (n.1) 549.

⁸ The controversy over kouros as Apollo or youth is old. For kouroi representing athletic nudity see Richter (n.7) 1–2, citing Paus, viii 40.1, and Becatti, Enc. dell'Arte Antica v, 579. Ridgway, B. S., The archaic style in Greek sculpture (Princeton 1977) 43–59Google Scholar, esp. 53ff., denied the athletic connection and argued that kouroi portray not generic youths but Apollo. Recently Stewart, A. F., in Corinthiaca: studies in honor of D. A. Amyx, ed. Del Chiaro, M., Biers, W. R. (Columbia, MO 1986) 54–76Google Scholar, argued for kouroi as generic youths embodying the aristocratic ideal. Large stone kouroi first appear c.650 BC and show a rapid and wide distribution during the latter half of the seventh century; see Ridgway, 40ff. For the smaller figures in bronze and lead see Richter, figs 111–25, 157–68.

⁹ What may be nude runners appear on the neck of the protoattic amphora at Oxford, 1935.19; see Vickers, M., Greek vases (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1978Google Scholar) no. 3 and King, C., AJA lxxx (1976) 79–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar, pl. 13, figs. 1–2. For the Kynosarges amphora, see Smith, C., JHS xxii (1902) 32Google Scholar and 41 with pl. iia, with Cook, J. M., BSA xxxv (1934–1935) pl. 56Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Payne, H., Necrocorinthia (Oxford 1931) 222Google Scholar, pl. 45, 3 for the nude boxers on the bronze found at Corfu. For the early Corinthian runners see Payne, 467A = Amyx, D. A., Corinthian vase painting of the archaic period (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 1988) i, 339Google Scholar (Brit. Mus. 1885.12–13.10 [A1394]); Amyx, CV 102; Amyx CV 339; and perhaps Payne 552 = Amyx CV 124, 43. For other examples see Amyx, CV ii, 649. Compare the seventh century Corinthian bronze relief showing four nude runners, Payne, H., Perachora (Oxford 1940) 7–8, pl. 40Google Scholar. For late Corinthian nude wrestlers see Payne 1471 = Amyx, CV 263 with Payne 1433. The Boeotian tripod-kothon is in The Norbert Schimmel collection (Mainz 1974) ed. O. W. Muscarella, nr. 53, see Shapiro, H. A., Art, myth and culture: Greek vases from southern collections (New Orleans 1981Google Scholar) nr. 55. The palaistra scene is on the early Attic vase, Brit. Mus. B596, with the comments of Smith, C., JHS xxii (1902) 43–4Google Scholar. Also see the nude wrestlers on an Attic ‘Tyrrhenian’ vase, ABV 100, 70 (Brit. Mus. 1847.8–6.26 [B48b]) with Holwerda, A. E. J., JdI v (1890) 253–4Google Scholar, and the comment of Beazley, J. D., The development of Attic black-figure, revised ed. (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 1986) 21Google Scholar, ‘An increasing interest in athletic contests is among the characteristics of Attic vase painting in the second quarter of the sixth century.’

¹¹ Legakis, B. A., Athletic contests in archaic Greek art (University of Chicago diss. 1977Google Scholar), catalogued over 800 representations of nude athletes in sixth century Greek art, the great majority appearing on some 600 Attic vases. If representations of hoplitodromoi, nude except for helmet and shield, are added, the total comes to over 830 nude athletes represented. See Boardman, J., Athenian black figure vases (New York 1974) 211Google Scholar. For illustrations of nude wrestlers see a band cup painted by Lydos and potted by Nikosthenes (c.540 BC), Boardman, fig. 70 (ABV 113, 80); of nude wrestlers, boxers, runners, and jumpers a vase of Nikosthenes, Boardman, fig. 151 (ABV 223, 65). Nude runners appear on an early panathenaic amphora, ABV 120, and on a panathenaic amphora by the Euphiletos painter, ABV 322, 4. Legakis, B. A., ‘Nicosthenic athletics’, Greek vases in the J. Paul Getty museum i (1983) 41–53Google Scholar, has a good discussion and fine illustrations of nude athletes, particularly boxers, by Painter N.

¹² So Gomme, A. W., A historical commentary on Thucydides i (Oxford 1945) 106Google Scholar, who drastically down-dated Orsippos, and now Sansone, D., Greek athletics and the genesis of sport (Berkeley, Los Angeles, New York 1988) 109Google Scholar. Harris, H. A., Greek athletes and athletics (Bloomington, London 1964) 64Google Scholar, misreading Th. i 6.5, ignored the difficulty, as did Arieti, J. A., ‘Nudity in Greek athletics’, CW lxviii (1975) 431–2Google Scholar.

¹³ This despite Thuillier, J.-P., Les jeux athlétiques dans la civilisation étrusque (Rome 1985) 393CrossRefGoogle Scholar, who championed idealization, but added that this was ‘tout à fait exceptionnelle … dans l'art de la Grèce’; see also Thuillers', ‘La nudité athlétique (Grèce, Étrurie, Rome)’, Nikephoros i (1988) 35Google Scholar and his review, ‘Sport de combat’, JRA i (1988) 98. Bérard, C., AION viii (1986) 196Google Scholar, gave a sensitive appraisal of the relationship between ‘actual’ and ‘artistic’ idealization of nude athletes, ‘I'usage régulier des huiles parfumées donne à la peau “bronzée” une apparence satinée qui n'est pas sans évoquer l'élaboration et l'entretien de la patine des statues; ainsi s'établissent et se renforcent de curieux rapports sensuels entre les statues des athlètes vainqueurs et les formes vivantes qu'elles reproduisent dans une perfection idéale.’ A bloody-nosed boxer is shown on a Boeotian tripod-kothon, ABV 29, 1 (CVA Berlin 4, pl. 197, 6); see also Berkeley 8.2319 (a column-krater c.540 BC). For this and other aspects of graphic realism see Legakis (n.n, Athletic contests) 124–80, esp. 153 and 160. For the nude child-beater see ABV 70, 7. For the nude butcher, see ABV 430, 25; perhaps not so odd, cf. a clothed cobbler, ABV 396, 21. On nude and near nude warriors see the comment of Boardman (n. 11) 208.

¹⁴ Boeckh, CIG i 1050, p.555; followed by Jüthner, J., Die athletischen Leibesübungen der Griechen, ed. Brein, F., i (Vienna 1968) 49–50Google Scholar and by Palaeologos, Kl., in The eternal Olympics, ed. Yalouris, N. (New Rochelle 1979) 124Google Scholar. The reference at the end of Th. i 6.5 to barbarian, particularly Asiatic, boxers and wrestlers wearing loincloths is a fortuitous consequence of the general analogy made between contemporary barbarian and ancient Greek practices and cannot be taken to refer to Olympic practices. Neither should it be interpreted to mean that among the Greeks of Thucydides' day only wrestlers and boxers competed nude, as suggested by Howland, R. L., OCD² 142 and JHS ciii (1983) 198CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see Mann (n.3) 178 and below.

¹⁵ Howland, OCD² sv. ‘athletics’ 142; JHS ciii (1983) 198.

¹⁶ Legakis (n.11, Athletic contests), 33–47, 127–39, 189–94, 226, catalogued over 250 representations of nude runners, over 135 representations of nude boxers, and over 75 representations of nude wrestlers in sixth century Greek art. For conditioned nude males and the contraction of the genitals caused by the cremaster muscle see Sweet ‘Protection’ (n.2) 46–49 = Sport, 130–1, whose research included questioning nudists as well as members of the University of Michigan Classical Studies department.

¹⁷ Müller, W. A., Nacktheit und Enlblössung in der altorientalischen und älteren griechischen Kunst (Borna, Leipzig 1906) 91–95Google Scholar.

¹⁸ The connection between nudity and Olympia is supported by Philostr. Gym. 17. A bronze shield strap from Olympia dated to the sixth century shows two nude boxers; see Kunze, E., Archaische Schildbänder, Olympische Forschungen ii (Berlin 1950) 192–3Google Scholar, pls 14 and 66.

¹⁹ Müller (n.17) 93, 144. All but one of Müller's bronze mirrors depict women. For the zoma as standard female attire, see Bonfante, L., Etruscan dress (Baltimore 1975) 19Google Scholar n.8 and Kassatz-Deissmann, A., ‘Zur Herkunft des Perizoma im Satyrspiel’, JdI xcvii (1982) 64–90Google Scholar. On female athletes see Jüthner (n. 14) 100–102, and Bérard (n.13) 195–202. For the geometric date of Müller's Cretan bronze plate see Boyd, H. A., AJA v (1901) 146–48Google Scholar. The Corinthian gold plate of Theseus was dated c.650 BC by Furtwängler, A., Arch. Zeit, xlii (1884) 106Google Scholar; see Schefold, K., Frühgriechische Sagenbilder (Munich 1964) 27Google Scholar, fig. 7. Müller's bronze statuettes from Olympia (Furtwängler, A., Die Bronzes von Olympia [Berlin 1890] 26Google Scholar) and Athens (De Ridder, A., Bronzes de l'acropole d'Athènes, [1896] nos 696Google Scholar and 706), as well as the bronze kriophores from Crete (K. A. Neugebauer, Die minoischen und archaisch griechischen Bronzen, Staatliche Mus. Berlin, inv. 7477, no. 158, pl. 19), are all seventh century; see Kaulen, G., Daidalika (Munich 1967) 6–10, 60–3Google Scholar.

²⁰ The ‘fikellura’ vases are dated to the latter half of the sixth century. Cook, R. M., BSA xxxiv (1933–1934) 1–98Google Scholar, esp. 14–16, Groups H and J, pls 5–11, argued that they were produced in Rhodes or Samos, but recently Dupont, P., Dacia xxvii (1983) 19–49Google Scholar, esp. 27–28 and 34, made a good case that they are Milesian. For the Clazomenian sarcophagi see Johansen, K. F., ActaArch xiii (1942) 1–64Google Scholar and for loincloths or breeches on the barbarians see Pottier, E., BCH xvi (1892) 249Google Scholar. Dontas, G., BCH xciii (1969) 49–50Google Scholar n.4, listed sixth century figures in loincloths. For the perizoma vases see below.

²¹ Schröder, B., Der Sport in Altertum (Berlin 1927) 22–23Google Scholar. Gardiner, E. A., Athletes of the ancient world (Oxford 1930) 191Google Scholar, pl.63, followed in his invocation of the perizoma vases by Mann (n.3) 177–78; Mouratidis, J., ‘The origin of nudity in Greek athletics’, Journal of sport history xii (1985) 213–14Google Scholar; Glass (n.4) 158–9; Sansone (n.12) 108, and F. A. Beck in his review of M. B. Poliakoff, EMC xxxii (1988) 421.

²² Crowther, N. B., ‘Athletic dress and nudity in Greek athletics’, Eranos lxxx (1982) 163–68Google Scholar.

²³ The loincloths are unlike the tight briefs worn by female athletes or those seen on male figures on sixth century ‘fikellura’ vases; Kossatz-Deissmann (n. 19) 75. For different types of loincloths see Bonfante (n.19) 24–6, fig. 23.

²⁴ The vases are dated to c.510–500 BC; see ABV 343–6, with Beazley, J. D., Paralipomena² (Oxford 1971) 156–8Google Scholar and Carpenter, T. H., Beazley addenda² (Oxford 1989) 93–94Google Scholar. Missing from these publications are a stamnos discovered at Orvieto and published by Bizzarri, M., ‘La necropoli di Crocefisso del Tufo in Orvieto’, StEtr xxx (1962) 77Google Scholar, nr. 170, pl. viiib; a small stamnos at the Villa Giulia discussed by Philippaki, B., The Attic stamnos (Oxford 1967) 14Google Scholar, pl. 11, 3–4; a small stamnos in a private collection discussed by Isler-Kerényi, C., Stamnoi (Lugano 1977) 18Google Scholar; and a one-handled kantharos, Basel Market, MMAC Auktion 56, 19 Feb. 1980, no. 72, p. 27. On the classification see Beazley, J. D., Magi, F., La raccolta Benedetto Guglielmi nel museo gregoriano etrusco (Rome 1939) 54Google Scholar, ‘Si può parlare di un. “gruppo del perizoma”, purche non si creda che tutti i vasi con questo particolare appartengano al gruppo’. I have found no example of this type of perizoma on any Greek vase which does not belong to the ‘perizoma group’ or the ‘class of one-handled kantharoi’, although figures wearing white perizomata do appear on a ‘Pontic’ vase of Etruscan manufacture—an oinochoe dated c.530–510 BC; Hannestad, L., The followers of the Paris painter (Copenhagen 1976Google Scholar) n.44.

²⁵ The suggestion was made by Langlotz, E., Griechische Vasen im Würzburg (Munich 1932) 63Google Scholar, who later argued for a branch workshop, ‘Filialen griechische Töpfer in Italien?’, Gymnasium lxxxiv (1977) 428. W. Technau (n.24) concluded that the vases were made either in Attica for export or in Etruria by an emigrant Attic potter; cf. now Gill, D. W. J., Antiquity lxi (1987) 82–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Export to an Etruscan clientele was deemed very likely by Webster, T. B. L., Potter and patron in classical Athens (London 1972) 197Google Scholar; Boardman (n.11) 112; Simon, E., Führer durch die Antikenabteilung des Martin von Wagner-museums der Universität Würzburg (1977) 107Google Scholar (L328); Kossatz-Deissmann (n.19) 74; Rasmussen, T., ‘Etruscan shapes in Attic pottery’, AK xxviii (1985) 33–39Google Scholar, and Sweet (n.2). Johnston, A. W., PP xxvii (1972) 416–23Google Scholar, argued from the ‘SO’ graffiti on some of these vases that Sostratos was the middleman who imported them. The case for an Etruscan market is argued by Isler-Kerényi (n.24) 20–3 and Bonfante (n.1) 564–65.

²⁶ The borrowing of Etruscan shapes is treated by Rasmussen (n.25) who described the tall kyathos as common in Etruscan bucchero and also present in Etruscan black figure from Vulci, and who called the protuberances on the rime on either side of the handles of the Attic kyathoi an Etruscan feature. Etruscan bucchero kantharoi are found in Greek contexts beginning in the early sixth century; see Johnston, A. W., BICS xxix (1982) 35–42Google Scholar, esp. 38; Brijder, H. A. J., BABesch lxiii (1988) 103ff.Google Scholar; Venit, M. S., Hesperia lviii (1989) 99–113CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and MacIntosh, J., Hesperia xliii (1974) 34–45Google Scholar. For the Etruscan origin of the stamnos see Isler-Kerényi (n.24) 15 and 20. On the export of Attic neck-amphorae to Etruria see A. W.Johnston (n.25) 423, and ‘The development of amphora shapes, symposium and shipping’, in Ancient Greek and related pottery, ed. Brijder, H. A. G. (Amsterdam 1984) 208–11Google Scholar, esp. 210. Only one of the twelve small neck-amphorae, ABV 345 in the Villa Giulia (M.493), display figures wearing perizomata. The eleven vases of anomalous shapes are four oinochoai, ABV 344, 12, Par² 157, 13, 14, 15; four lekythoi, ABV 345, 1, 2, described as connected with the Michigan Painter, and bottom (at The Hague), described as not closely related to the Michigan Painter, and Par² 157, bottom (in Prague), described as connected to the Michigan Painter; and three panathenaic amphorae, described as recalling the Michigan Painter, ABV 344 (Syracuse 20067), ABV 344 (Vatican 374), and Par² 156.7^ter.

²⁷ Boardman (n.11) 112, called them ‘flabby athletes’. On ABV 343,6 (Oxford 1965.97) (PLATE VI(b)) Vickers (n.9) fig. 30, saw ‘tubby boxers’ and ‘equally tubby runners’, and referred to the former as ‘elderly boxers’. Mingazzini, P., Catalogo dei vasi della collezione A. Castellani (Rome 1930) 259Google Scholar, called the athletes ‘uomini anziani’, and Cultrera, G., NSc. vi (1930) 61Google Scholar, described long-bearded komasts in perizomata on ABV 345, 5 (Tarquinia And. 41016,3) as ‘tre vecchi’. Contrast these to the mature or youthful males usually seen at gymnasia and symposia on Greek vases. Of the vases which show figures in perizomata ABV 343, 2 (= Para 156, Beazley Add² 93) is exceptional for its mostly slim athletes; on Group of Vatican G.58, ABV 34s, 2 (= Beazley Add² 94) one of seven athletes—a runner—is unbearded and slim, and on the Beaune Painter, ABV 344, 1 (= Para 158, Beazley Add² 94) two of the five long-bearded athletes in perizomata—also runners—are not overweight. All others fit Boardman's characterization. The Athenian lekythos is ABV 345, bottom, now in The Hague, the Rhodian oinochoe is ABV 344, 12, and the Sicilian panathenaic amphora is ABV 344. The provenances of ABV 343, 1, 2, 6, 344, 3, 4, 346, 7, 8 are unknown; though 343, 2 is probably from Vulci; see Philippaki (n.24) 13.

²⁸ The sixteen stamnoi are: by the Michigan Painter, ABV 343, 1 (= Para 156, Beazley Add² 93), on body and shoulder; ABV 343, 2 (= Para 156, Beazley Add² 93), with slave in perizoma; ABV 343, 3 (= Para 156, Beazley Add² 93); ABV 343, 4 (= Beazley Add² 93), on body and shoulder; ABV 343, 5 (= Beazley Add² 93); ABV 343, 6 (= Para 156, Beazley Add² 93), commented on by Vickers (n.9) fig. 30; ABV 343, 7 (= Para 156); by the Beaune Painter, ABV 344, 1 (= Para 158, Beazley Add² 94); ABV 344, 2 (= Para 158); ABV 344, 3 (= Para 158); ABV 344, 4; ABV 345, 5 from Tarquinia (= Beazley Add² 94), on body and shoulder; ABV 345, 6 (= Beazley Add² 94), with Brandt, P., Sittengeschichte Griechenlands (Leipzig 1925) i, 285Google Scholar, on body and shoulder; and not in the Beazley indices, an unnumbered vase in the Villa Giulia, Philippaki (n.24) 14. Pl. 11, 3–4; a vase in a private collection, Isler-Kerényi (n.24) 18–23, on body and shoulder; and a vase from Orvieto, Bizzarri, M., StEtr xxx (1962) 77Google Scholar, nr. 170, pl. viiib. Compare all these to, from the class of one-handled kantharoi, ABV 346, 9, men and women seated in conversation. For men and women in Etruscan funerary art see Brendel, O. J., Etruscan art (Harmondsworth 1978) 189–90Google Scholar, 231–32. The difference between Greek and Etruscan banquets and usual depictions of women at symposia is discussed by Fehr, B., Orientalische und griechische Gelage (Bonn 1971) 234Google Scholar n. 806a; also see Peschel, I., Die Hetäre bei Symposion und Kontos (Frankfurt am Main 1987Google Scholar).

²⁹ The adaptation was noted and discussed by Poulsen, F., Etruscan tomb painting (Oxford 1922) 32–7Google Scholar, and Bonfante, L., ‘Etruscan couples and their aristocratic society’, Women's studies viii (1981) 157–89CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 162 and 167; reprinted in Reflections of women in antiquity ed. Foley, H. (London, New York 1981) 323Google Scholar and now Bonfante (n.1) 564–5. On the exclusion of women from Greek symposia, see Isaeus iii 4. For Greek shock at Etruscan mixed banquets, see Athenaeus xii 517d, quoting Theopompos, and i 23d quoting Aristotle; see Heurgon, J., Daily life of the Etruscans (New York 1964) 34–5Google Scholar.

³⁰ Significantly, the panathenaic amphorae in Beazley's ‘perizoma group’, ABV 344 from Gela, ABV 344 (= Para 156, 7^bis, Beazley Add² 94) from Vulci, and Para 156, 7^tet’ (= Beazley Add² 94), depict only nude athletes without perizomata. All vases whose provenance is known and which show perizomata were discovered in Etruria. I am indebted to the kindness and expert opinion of Francesca R. Serra Ridgway who examined ABV 344, 11 (Tarquinia RC 5994) and found no perizomata represented. I have examined either the vases or photographs of all other members of the classes ‘perizoma’ and ‘one-handled kantharoi’ except the following: ABV 346, 12, Para 157, 9^tet, 9⁶, 9⁷, 13, 15, and 158, Dover (Timothy Cobb collection). Judging from their published descriptions (none depict athletes) it seems unlikely that any of these have figures wearing the perizoma. Of the vases examined only the following represent athletes in perizomata: the perizoma group—the Michigan painter, ABV 343, 2 (= Para 156, Beazley Add² 93); ABV 343, 3 (= Beazley Add² 93); ABV 343, 6 (= Para 156, Beazley Add² 93); ABV 343, 7 (= Para 156); the small stamnos of Philippaki, 14, pl. 11, 3–4 (not in ABV); Bizzarri's stamnos from Orvieto, StEtr xxx (1962) 77, nr. 170, pl. viiib (also not in ABV);—the Beaune painter, ABV 344, 1 (= Para 158, Beazley Add² 94); ABV 344, 4; the small neck-amphora ABV 345 (Villa Giulia, M.493);—the group of Vatican G.58, ABV 345, 2 (= Beazley Add² 94, Cab. Méd.354); ABV 345, 3 (= Para 158). Vases which represent non-athletes in perizomata are: the perizoma group—the Beaune painter, ABV 344, 2 (= Para 158); ABV 344, 3 (= Para 158); ABV 345, 5 (= Beazley Add² 94);—the group of Vatican G.58, ABV 345, 1 (= Beazley Add² 94);—the class of one-handled kantharoi, ABV 346, 7 (= Beazley Add² 94); and ABV 346, 8 (= Beazley Add² 94).

³¹ Note the comments of Langlotz (n.25) i, 63, ‘Die Genitalien sorgfältig graviert, dann—auf Wunsch des Käufers?—weiss übermalt.’ and Technau (n.24) 127, ‘und ein Hinweis auf die um die Hüften geschlungenen Mäntel der Figuren zeigt nur um so deutlicher, dass der weiss aufgemalte Schurz eine nur auf diesen schwarzfigurigen Gefässen vorkommende und eine nur zu absichtlicher Verhüllung angebrachte Tracht ist’.

³² Examples were collected by Bonfante (n. 19) 19–29, pls 28, 29, 31, 33, 35, 42, 45, and Thuillier (n.13) 59–65, 113, fig. 61, and 370–4. Also see the ‘swordsmen’ series, Richardson, E., Etruscan votive bronzes (Mainz 1983Google Scholar) figs 98–146, and the early kouroi, figs 159–60, 161–2, 191–93, 197.

³³ So Bonfante (n.1) 564–6. For Athenian potters catering to Etruscan tastes see Scheffer, C., ‘Workshop and trade patterns in Athenian black figure’, in Proceedings of the third international symposium on ancient Greek and related pottery, ed. Christiansen, J., Melander, T. (Copenhagen 1988) 536–46Google Scholar.

³⁴ Crowther (n.22) 167. For athletes on frescoes see Thuillier (n.13) 122–38. Nude athletes are seen in the Tomba degli Auguri (c.520 BC), Moretti, M., Pittura Etruria in Tarquinia (Rome 1974) pls 14Google Scholar and 17; the Tomba Cardarelli (510–500 BC), Steingräber, S., Etruscan painting (New York 1985Google Scholar), nr. 53, pl. 56; the Tomba del Maestro delle Olimpiadi (c.500 BC), Steingräber, nr. 83, pls 113–15; the Tomba delle Bighe (c.490 BC), Steingräber, 289, nr. 47, pl. 38; the Tomba di Poggio al Moro (475–450 BC), Steingräber, nr. 22, pls. 191–2; the Tomba di Montello (c.480 BC), Steingräber, nr. 17; and perhaps in the Tomba di Orfeo ed Euridice (c.480–470 BC), Steingräber, nr. 18; belted nude athletes appear in the Tomba delle Olimpiadi (c.510 BC), Steingräber, nr. 92, pls 121–6; infibulated nude athletes in the Tomba della Scimmia (480–70 BC), Pallottino, M., Etruscan painting (New York 1952) 62–3Google Scholar. But all these paintings show strong Greek influences and may have been done by Greek artists; see Steingräber, 283, 289, and 329. The Chiusi reliefs display numbers of nude athletes, see Thuillier, 138–43; add Jannot, J.-R., Les reliefs archaïques de Chiusi (Rome 1984Google Scholar) C I, 26b (Rome Vatican 14234), but these reliefs show direct Attic influence; see Jannot, 421. Nude athletes also appear on Etruscan vases, see Thuillier, 148–52 and Beazley, J. D., Etruscan vase painting (Oxford 1947) pls iiGoogle Scholar, 1 and 2, v, 1, ix, 1; as well as on bronze mirrors, statuettes, situlae, and on gems, see Thuillier, 122–61.

³⁵ Hus, A., Recherches sur la statuaire en pierre étrusque archaïque (Paris 1961) 298Google Scholar, ‘Inconnue avant 600 … la nudité est essentiellement étrangère à l'Etrurie qui ne l'accepte—avec réticence que sous l'action de l'Orient’, and Richardson (n.32) 96, ‘The complete nudity, in the history of Etruscan sculpture, is the most un-Etruscan detail about the figures. There are no naked male figures in the Orientalizing repertory, and in the course of the Archaic period the only other nude figures in Etruria are athletes and naked warriors of the Middle [c. 550–515 BC] and the Late Archaic [c.520–450 BC]; both these types are as “Greek” as the kouri’. The exception is the small bronze group with a nude wrestler from Poggio Civitate (Murlo), now dated to the late seventh century; Phillips, K. M. Jr, PP xxxv (1980) 202–06Google Scholar. Although of Etruscan workmanship, Greek influence is likely; contra Thuillier (n.13) 75–7. The group was found in an archaeological context containing Greek imports; Kyle, K. M. Jr, OpusRom ix (1973) 179–82Google Scholar. Similar conclusions about Greek influence on Etruscan nudes were reached by Bonfante (n.19) 21, 25 and by R. D. DePuma, ‘Nude dancers: a group of bucchero pesante oinochoai from Tarquinia’, in Proceedings of the third international symposium of ancient Greek and related pottery (n.33) 130–43.

³⁶ For Etruscan statuettes of Herakles in loincloth, see Galli, E., StEtr xv (1941) 27–76Google Scholar, pl. 6, 1; centaurs, Giglioli, G. Q., StEtr iv (1930) 360Google Scholar, pl. 27, and see Bonfante (n.19) 28, 115 n.53, and figs 45, 86. Thuillier (n.13) 59–65 and 373–74, figs 6, 61, 14 and 15, contrasted nude boxers fighting over a tripod as seen on a late protocorinthian bronze and on a shield strap from Olympia, with similar figures in loincloths seen on an Etruscan bucchero of the last third of the seventh century and Etruscan buckles from Casola d'Elsa from the early sixth century.

³⁷ For the Tomba delle Iscrizioni see Poulsen (n.29) 16, figs 7, 8, and 9, and Steingräber (n.34) 314 with O. M. Stackelberg's drawings. Pallottino, M., MonAl xxxvi (1937) 318Google Scholar, identified the two naked figures as worshiper and cult statue.

³⁸ It may well be that male nudity in Etruscan art was entirely an artistic convention, as argued by Bonfante (n.19) 24–6, 28 and (n.1) 563–6, contra Thuillier (n.13) 369–403. Recently d'Agostino, B., ‘Image and society in archaic Etruria’, JRS lxxix (1989) 1–10Google Scholar, discussed the complex attitudes of the new elite which emerged in Etruria during the second half of the sixth century and the effects of strong Attic influences in the early fifth century. There is evidence that native Etruscan aversion to representations of nude males continued after the waning of Attic influences. The early Hellenistic Tomba dei Velii shows a banquet scene with one nude servant (all the others wear loincloths) discreetly covering his genitals with a jar; Feruglio, A. E., et al., Pittura Etruria a Orvieto (Rome 1982) 15–17Google Scholar. I will address the question of the Etruscan reception of athletic nudity in a future article.

³⁹ Extrapolating from Legakis's catalogues (n.11, Athletic contests), one finds for the entire sixth century some 600 Greek vases displaying nude athletes; over half of these vases are dated c.510–500 BC, the period of the perizoma vases. Among recent studies only Poliakoff, M. B., Combat sports in the ancient world (New Haven 1987) 165–66Google Scholar n.12, has rejected the evidence of Thucydides and Plato together with the perizoma vases. Bonfante (n.1) 564–5, rightly rejected the perizoma group vases, but, 557–58, tried to rescue Th. i 6.5 and Pl. R. v 452c by arguing that they refer to ‘the normalization of nudity in real life, to its civic significance, not to its earlier appearance in religious ritual and art’ and went on to write that Thucydides saw nudity as a function of democracy. It was the authority of Thucydides and Plato which led J.-P. Thuillier to dismiss the hundreds of mid-sixth century Attic vases depicting nude athletes as ‘idéalisation’, but to conclude that the far fewer instances of athletic nudity in late sixth century Etruscan art represent ‘les realia sportifs de le civilisation étrusque’; see his review of Poliakoff, , JRA i (1988) 98Google Scholar, repeated in Nikephoros i (1988) 30, 34–6. Instone, S., JHS cix (1989) 256CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Omnibus xx (1990) 1–2, invoked the perizoma group vases to argue that Th. i 6.5 means that loincloths were recently abandoned at the Olympic games, but continued to be worn for training into Thucydides' own time! But the visual evidence provides no basis for a distinction between nude competition and non-nude training. The scenes and athletic postures on the eleven vases which depict athletes wearing perizomata are standard and have hundreds of parallels on vases displaying nude athletes.

⁴⁰ οὐ πολὺς χρόνος ἐπειδὴ (i 6.3) and οὐ πολλὰ ἔτη ἐπειδὴ (i 6.5) can only refer to the recent past and to judge from similar expressions (i 8.1–2 and 8.3), and archaeological evidence adduced by Gomme (n.12) 103, these can mean anywhere from twenty to seventy years. On the other hand τὸ δὲ πάλαι (i 6.5) must refer to things considerably further back in time. Following Herbst and Steup, Gomme argued, 91 and 135, that in the Archaeology Thucydides used тὸ δὲ πάλαι and similar phrases to refer to the period before 510 BC.

⁴¹ On the development of material culture see Täubler, E., Die Archaeologie des Thucydides (Leipzig 1927) 7–8Google Scholar and de Romilly, J., Historie et raison chez Thucydide (Paris 1956) 241Google Scholar. Ta'ubler, 58–61, saw a break in the tracing of progress at i 12; de Romilly, 289–91, insisted on an unbroken progression; Hunter, V., Past and process in Herodotus and Thucydides (Princeton 1982) 23ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar, argued for elements of regression in the generally progressive development outlined in the Archaeology. For Thucydides' use of the theme of human progress in the Archaeology and elsewhere see Finley, J. H., Thucydides (Ann Arbor 1963) 82–93Google Scholar, Connor, W. R., Thucydides (Princeton 1984) 26Google Scholar n.19; Hornblower, S., Thucydides (Baltimore 1987) 129–30Google Scholar, and Hunter, 46–8, who described Thucydides' idea of progress as strictly quantitative and therefore different from the modern notion of progress which is directed towards an open-ended future.

⁴² For the character of the Archaeology see the remarks of Finley, M. I., The use and abuse of history (New York 1975) 19Google Scholar. Its method was analyzed by Täubler (n.41), de Romilly (n.41) 241ff, and Hunter (n.41) 32–4; see also Connor (n.41) 20–32, Hornblower (n.41) 87, and J. H. Finley (n.41) 49.

⁴³ Thucydides' section on apparel was criticized as ‘eine missglückte Anmerkung’ by Schwartz, E., Das Geschichtswerk des Thukydides (Bonn 1919) 170Google Scholar, note. For the digression's relationship to Minos, piracy, and the general argument of the Archaeology see Täubler (n.41) 21–3, 27–8 and de Romilly (n.41) 253, who noted the chiastic order of the argument; also see with caution Heubeck, A., Hermes xciv (1966) 308–14Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ For the frequency of the technical vocabulary of evidence (σημεῖον, τεκμήριον, μαρτύριον, παράδειγμα) in the Archaeology see Täubler (n.41) 103–7, de Romilly (n.41) 242, Connor (n.41) 28, Hornblower (n.41) 100–06, and J. H. Finley (n.41) 79–80 and 296. Also see de Romilly's comments, 258–9, on Thucydides' distinctive use of the particles τε and δέ in his elaboration of statement and proof.

⁴⁵ Gomme (n.12) 104, compared Th. i 6.3 to Ath. xii 553e where lines of Telekleides and Kratinos are quoted. Gomme, 103, dated the fashion by reference to vase-paintings and wrote that ‘Thucydides in his youth will have known older men who remembered it.’ The regular generation of thirty years varied. Long generations of forty years, and short generations of twenty-five years are attested; see Davies, J. K., Athenian propertied families 600–300 BC (Oxford 1971) 336–37Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ Thucydides criticizes the Athenians at i 20.2 and vi 54.1–2. On the citizenship laws see Rhodes, P. J., A commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia (Oxford 1981) 33–134Google Scholar. On Thucydides' ancestry see Davies (n.45) 233–36. Thucydides' wildly inaccurate statement at i 10.5, called inconsequential and not fully thought out by Gomme (n. 12) 114, ‘patently absurd’ by Hunter (n.41) 35, is essential to his thesis that the Trojan War was not as great as the Peloponnesian. Connor (n.41) 21 n.6, noted that the Greek victories of Salamis, Ártemision, Thermopylae, and Plataea are treated just as cavalierly at i 23.1. At i 4.1 Thucydides' uses a questionable tradition (Minos as the founder of the first thalassocracy) as the basis for an historical argument; cf. Herodotus' more cautious treatment of Minos and Polycrates at iii 122.2. The other error in chapter six is at i 6.3 where Thucydides states that luxurious fashion, linen chitons et al., spread from Athens to Ionia. Most scholars think the reverse to be true; see W. Amelung RE iii.2 (1899) s.v. ‘chiton’ 2309–10, citing Hdt. v 87–88 and the Semitic etymology of the word, and see Gomme 103. Hunter, 49, argued that Thucydides was interested not in chronology per se, i.e., precise dates, but in relative time within an otherwise meaningful process or scheme of historical development; cf. de Romilly (n.41) 294. Hunter also has interesting remarks, 237–40 with n. 13, on the distinction between chronological and logical time.

⁴⁷ For Minos see Lg. i 624a-b, for Lykourgos and Minos, Lg. 630d and 632d. On Plato and Crete see Morrow, G. R., Plato's Cretan city (Princeton 1960) 17–35Google Scholar; on Lykourgos and Plato's three phase reform at Sparta, Morrow, 40–73, esp. 67ff. The Minos places Lykourgos' reforms ‘less than three hundred years ago’ (318d), and has them derived from Crete (320a-b).

⁴⁸ Pl. Lg. i 636b-c: καὶ δὴ καὶ πάλαι ὄν νόμιμον δοκεῖ τοῦτο τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα καὶ τὰς κατὰ φύσιν τὰς περὶ τὰ ἀφροδΐσια ἡδονὰς οὐ μόνον ἀνθρώπων ἀλλὰ καὶ θηρίων διεφθαρκέναι. καὶ τούτον τὰς ὑμετέρας πόλεις πρώτας ἄν τις αΐτιῷτο καὶ ὅσαι τῶν ἅλλων μάλιοτσ ἅπτουται τῶν γυμνασίων. For the close connection between nude exercising and homosexual practices see Aeschin. i 138–39, Τὸν δ’ ἐλευθέρον ἀλείφεσθαι καὶ γυμνάζεσθαι … ἀλλ’ οὐ τὸν έλεύθερον ἐκώλυσεν ἐρᾶν καὶ ὁμιλεῖν καὶ ἀκολουθεῖν, οὐδὲ βλάβην τῷ παιδί, and 135, also Ar. Pax 702f, Pl. Chrm. 154a-c, Symp. 217c; and in general, Dover, K. J., Greek homosexuality (London 1978) 54–5Google Scholar. On the regular meaning of γυμνάζω as ‘nude exercising’ see above n.3.

⁴⁹ von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, U., ‘Die Thukydideslegende’, Hermes xii (1877) 328Google Scholar n.3, wrote ‘Platon und Aristoteles ignorieren ihn [Thukydides] geflissentlich’, and in Platon² i (Berlin 1920) 435–6, ‘An Benutzung des Thukydides ist nicht zu denken’; and de Romilly, J., Thucydide et l'impéralisme athénien (Paris 1947) 304Google Scholar wrote ‘Et en définitive il n'y a pas un mot chez Platon qui suppose connues les analyses de Thucydide’, = Thucydides and Athenian imperialism, trans. Thody, P. (New York 1963) 366Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ See Harris, W. V., Ancient literacy (Cambridge, London 1989) 84–6Google Scholar, for the circulation of literary works and their limited audience in fifth and fourth century Athens. A number of Thucydidean passages to which Plato might have responded were proposed by Pohlenz, M., Aus Platos Werdezeit (Berlin 1913) 240ffGoogle Scholar., disputed by Schwanz (n.43) 152–3. For possible Thucydidean influence in Laws see Weil, R., L'‘archéologie’ de Platon (Paris 1959Google Scholar), but also Macdonald, C., CR ix (1959) 108–9Google Scholar, and Sharples, R. W., LCM viii (1983) 139–40Google Scholar, comparing Laches 194e and Th. ii 40.3. Prodikos may lurk behind both passages; see La. 197d and n.52 below. Others who held that Plato had read Thucydides are Gomperz, Th., Griechische Denker ii (Leipzig 1902) 579Google Scholar; Schmid-Stählin, GCL 1.5, 126; and Shorey, P., What Plato said (Chicago 1933) 2–3Google Scholar, 6, and 8.

⁵¹ D. H. Dem. 23. Compare Pl. Mx. 238d-e with Th. ii 65.9, and Mx. 238d with Th. ii 37.1; see Clavaud, R., Le Ménexène de Platon et la rhétorique de son temps (Paris 1980) 92Google Scholar, 105, and 119–21. For Aspasia see Pl. Mx. 235e-236c. Scholarly opinion on the nature of the Menexenus and its relationship to Thucydides was critically surveyed by Clavaud, 37–77. Coventry, L., ‘Philosophy and rhetoric in the Menexenus, JHS cix (1989) 3Google Scholar n.8, recently added another good reason to think that Plato both knew and alluded to Pericles' oration in Thucydides.

⁵² This parallel was adduced to show Thucydidean influence on Plato by Gomperz (n.50) 579; Barker, E., Greek political theory (London 1919Google Scholar, repr. New York 1961) 209 n.2, and Pohlenz, (n.50) 252. In denying Thucydides' influence on Plato, Wilamowitz, Platon² (n.49) 436, posited Prodikos as a common but independent source for these passages. While it seems undeniable that Prodikos' work on synonyms influenced both Plato and Thucydides (the Platonic references are collected in Diels-Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratike⁶ ii, 308–19; probable passages in Thucydides are i 69.6, ii 62.4, and iii 39.2; see J. H. Finley [n.41] 280 n.28 and for a long enthusiastic list see Mayer, H., Prodikos von Keos [Paderborn 1913] 64–79Google Scholar), there is nothing in the testimonia or fragments of Prodikos which explains all the similarities between Th. iii 82.4 and Pl. R. 559e-560. Note Gomperz's words, ‘Den Einwand, Platon habe des Geschichtswerk des Thukydides nicht gekannt, lasse ich nicht gelten. Das ist an sich unglaublich, und überdies scheint mir zwischen Staat VIII 560D-E und Thukyd. III 82/3 eine Übereinstimmung zu bestehen, die kaum eine zufallige sein kann.’

⁵³ For argument from probability in Hekataios see FCrH I F 26. Also see Hdt. ii 22, and 120, with further examples and comments by Lloyd, A. B., Herodotus, Book II introduction (Leiden 1975) 162–63Google Scholar. For analogy see Hdt. ii 10 with Lloyd, 164, and Erbse, H., ‘Zur Geschichtsbetrachtung des Thukydides’, Antike und Abendland x (1961) 19–34Google Scholar, who argued that Herodotus not only anticipated Thucydides in applying arguments from probability to history, but that he made better use of them. Hdt. v 58.3 was noted by Sikes, E. E., The anthropology of the Greeks (London 1914) 10Google Scholar, and the argument on Pelasgians at Hdt. i 57 by de Romilly (n.41) 250. The location of Herodotus' contemporary Pelasgians (Creston or Cortona) is a notorious problem; see How, W. W., Wells, J., A commentary on Herodotus i (Oxford 1912) 79–80Google Scholar, 442–66, and 455–6.

⁵⁴ As a way to verify an otherwise unreliable tradition, Thucydides refers to his comparative method with δηλοῦσιν δὲ τῶν τε ἠπειρωτῶν τινες ἔτι καἰ νῦν (i 5.2); καὶ μέχρι τοῦδε πολλὰ τῆς Ὲλλάδος τῷ παλαιῷ τρόπῳ νέμεται (i 5.3); πολλὰ δ’ ἄν καὶ ἄλλα τις ἀποδείξειε τὸ παλαιὸν Ὲλληνικὸν ὁμοιότροπα τῷ νῦν βαρβαρικῷ διαιτώμενον (i 6.6). See Connor (n.41) 27–29 and the remarks of de Romilly (n.41) 250–51, ‘et Thucydide a, là aussi, insisté sur cette nouveauté [la méthode comparatiste]. Sans doute ne faisait-il pas—ici pas plus qu'alleurs—oeuvre entièrement originale.’ Hérodote savait, à occasion, conclure du présent au passé … mais il s'agissait, en l'occurrence, d'un fait isolé, et d'un cas où la continuité semblait évidente. Au contraire, Thucydide recourt fréquemment au même procède, n'hésitant pas à rapprocher les Grecs d'autrefois et les barbares de son temps … Cela est si vrai qu'il n'hésite pas à ajouter, en une sorte de parenthèse bien révélatrice, un commentaire de portée générale, dégageant comme une loi’. On the overall originality of method in the Archaeology, see de Romilly, 243 and 248.

⁵⁵ Jüthner, J., ‘Hellenen und Barbaren’, Das Erbe der Alten viii (Leipzig 1923) 24Google Scholar. Platonic borrowing from Thucydides at R. 452c had been noted earlier by Sikes (n.53) 20 and Pohlenz (n.50) 252. The differences between Herodotus' and Thucydides' uses of arguments from probability and analogy are analyzed by Hunter (n.41) 102–7.

⁵⁶ For Thucydides' influence on Isocrates see de Romilly (n.49) 220–21, 298–300 = Eng. ed., 261–62, and 358–61. The composition dates of Plato's and Xenophon's works are problematic. The Republic, certainly a mature work, is generally considered to be a middle dialogue; see Zeller, E., Die Philosophie der Griechen⁶ ii, i (Hildesheim 1963) 487–558Google Scholar; Ross, W. D., Plato's theory of ideas (Oxford 1951) 2–10Google Scholar; and for a recent computer-based analysis of the dating of the dialogues by stylometry, Ledger, G. R., Re-counting Plato (Oxford 1989Google Scholar) chapter 9, esp. 212–16. Xenophon probably began his literary production in the 380's, but the beginning of the Hellenika could have been written as early as the 390's; see Breitenbach, H. R., RE ix.A2 (1968)Google Scholar s.v. ‘Xenophon (6)’ 1656–1701, esp. 1670–78, and Henry, W. P., Greek historical writing (Chicago 1967Google Scholar).

⁵⁷ The dubious tradition that Plato had been a champion wrestler can be traced back to the late fourth century; see Apul. De Dog. Plat. 1.2, Diog. Laer. Vita Plat. 3.4, and for further references and comment, Riginos, A. S., Platonica (Leiden 1976) 41–2Google Scholar, 49–51. But Plato's work certainly betrays a knowledge of and interest in athletics; e.g., Lg., vii. 896a, and see Kyle (n.5) 137 and 255.

⁵⁸ A tradition which is followed cautiously by Aristotle (Pol. (271b 20f., 1272a 1f.) and also found in Strabo x 4.17–19, citing Ephorus, and Lucian, Anach. 29.

⁵⁹ Prt. 342cff., Cri. 52e, R. 544c; noted by Crowther (n.22) 168. See also Morrow (n.47) 33–4.

⁶⁰ See Th. i 18.1 with Gomme's commentary (n.12) 128–31.

⁶¹ Dover (n.48) 186.