Chionis of Sparta or Chionis of Laconia (; ; ) was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

athlete who won multiple events at the

ancient Olympic Games The ancient Olympic Games (Ὀλυμπιακοὶ ἀγῶνες; la, Olympia, neuter plural: "the Olympics") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. ...

representing the city of

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...

.Christesen 2010 p. 67

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christia ...

lists Chionis as victor in both the ''stadion'' and ''diaulos'' races at the 29th, 30th and 31st Olympiads (conventionally dated 664–656 BC).Christesen 2010 p. 28

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

' ''Description of Greece'' credits Chionis with a fourth ''stadion'' victory in the 28th games of 668 BC, which Eusebius assigns to Charmis of Sparta. Pausanias says that Chionis was an

oikist The ''oikistes'' ( gr, οἰκιστής), often anglicized as oekist or oecist, was the individual chosen by an ancient Greek polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancien ...

at Battus of Thera's foundation (631 BC) of

Cyrene, Libya Cyrene ( ) or Kyrene ( ; grc, Κυρήνη, Kyrḗnē, arb, شحات, Shaḥāt), was an ancient Greek and later Roman city near present-day Shahhat, Libya. It was the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities, known as the pentapol ...

. Paul Christesen suggests that claim may, on the one hand, date from much later heroization of Chionis by Sparta's

Agiad The Agiad dynasty was one of the two royal families of Sparta, a powerful city-state of Ancient Greece. The Agiads were seniors to the other royal house, the Eurypontids, with whom they had an enduring rivalry. Their hypothetical founder was Agis I ...

s seeking an alliance with Cyrene, but, on the other hand, may have some basis in fact. Chionis' record number of Olympic victories was not matched until 480 BC, when Astylos of Croton (representing Syracuse in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

) won his third ''stadion''–''diaulos'' double and added a seventh victory by winning the ''

hoplitodromos The hoplitodromos or hoplitodromia (Greek: , English translation: "race of the Hoplites") was an ancient foot race, part of the Olympic Games and the other Panhellenic Games. It was the last foot race to be added to the Olympics, first appearing a ...

'', a race run in hoplite armour. Pausanias says that in response to Astylos' memorial

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

in Olympia, the Spartans amended the inscription on Chionis' stele to point out that there was no ''hoplitodromos'' event in his time. Christesen suggests the Spartans may have conflated Charmis with Chionis to inflate Chionis' victories and match Astylos' total, and that this reflected contemporary discord between Sparta and Syracuse under

Hiero I Hieron I ( el, Ἱέρων Α΄; usually Latinized Hiero) was the son of Deinomenes, the brother of Gelon and tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily from 478 to 467 BC. In succeeding Gelon, he conspired against a third brother, Polyzelos. Life During hi ...

. Around this time the Agiads commissioned from

Myron Myron of Eleutherae ( grc, Μύρων, ''Myrōn'' ), working c. 480–440 BC, was an Athenian sculptor from the mid-5th century BC. He was born in Eleutherae on the borders of Boeotia and Attica. According to Pliny's '' Natural History'', Agela ...

statues of Chionis placed at Sparta and Olympia. Eusebius, probably quoting

Sextus Julius Africanus Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160 – c. 240; Greek: Σέξτος Ἰούλιος ὁ Ἀφρικανός or ὁ Λίβυς) was a Christian traveler and historian of the late second and early third centuries. He is important chiefly because o ...

, says Chionis could jump a distance of 52 ''

podes Podes (Ancient Greek: Ποδής ''Podēs'') was the son of Eetion in Greek mythology, and thus the brother of Andromache, wife of Hector, whom he is said to have befriended.Homer. ''The Iliad'', Book 17. Traditional treatment Podes fought on the ...

'' (feet). Frank Zarnowski gives the Olympic foot a value of 32.05 cm, so that Chionis's mark of is longer that the 55 ''podes'' achieved by

Phayllos of Croton Phayllos of Croton ( gr, Φάϋλλος) was an ancient Greek athlete and a naval commander from Croton in southern Italy, who outfitted and commanded a ship at the Battle of Salamis. Life Phayllos won three victories in the Pythian Games, two of ...

at the

Pythian Games The Pythian Games ( grc-gre, Πύθια;) were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honour of Apollo at his sanctuary at Delphi every four years, two years after the Olympic Games, and between each Nemean and I ...

— with a Pythian foot of 29.65 cm. In the ancient Olympics, the jump was one of the five components of the pentathlon, an event which Chionis presumably did not win. His alleged distance, nearly double the modern long jump world record, has been variously interpreted as a heroic exaggeration, or relating to something like a

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

rather than a single jump, or a misreading of the

Greek numerals Greek numerals, also known as Ionic, Ionian, Milesian, or Alexandrian numerals, are a system of writing numbers using the letters of the Greek alphabet. In modern Greece, they are still used for ordinal numbers and in contexts similar to tho ...

for 22 ''podes'' ().Zarnowski 2013 p. 59

Sources

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Citations

7th-century BC Greek people Ancient Spartan athletes Ancient Olympic competitors Greek male triple jumpers Ancient Greek runners {{Greece-athletics-bio-stub