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 The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was ...

Life

Phayllos won three victories in 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 ...

, two of them in the

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...

. In 480 BC, Phyallos outfitted a ship and commanded it in the

, the only one from the Italian coast and received praise for his exploits by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

Culture and honors

Phayllos is used by

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...

as an example of long ago swiftness in his plays.

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

sent part of the spoils of the

Battle of Gaugamela The Battle of Gaugamela (; grc, Γαυγάμηλα, translit=Gaugámela), also called the Battle of Arbela ( grc, Ἄρβηλα, translit=Árbela), took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great a ...

to Croton in Phayllos's honor.Reading Herodotus: A Study of the Logoi in Book 5 of Herodotus' Histories
Elizabeth Irwin & Emily Greenwood, page 175 An inscription at the base of a statue of Phayllos at the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

reads: "Phayllos was admired by all. For he was thrice victor in the games at

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...

, and captured ships which Asia sent forth."Ancient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the ...
Matthew Dillon and Lynda Garland, page 236

References

{{Reflist Ancient Pythian athletes 5th-century BC Greek people Greek people of the Greco-Persian Wars Battle of Salamis People from Crotone