The Zanes were bronze statues of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

at ancient Olympia. The name Zanes was the plural of Zeus in the local dialect. These statues were dedicated to Zeus and they were erected with the money of fines imposed by the judges on those athletes who did not respect or violated the rules of the Olympic Games. Besides the fines, the judges also imposed body punishments or exclusion of an athlete from the Games depending on how severe their violation was. 20090725 olympia21

Today, only 16 pedestals (stone bases) of the statues survive. They are located one next to the other in front of the monumental entrance to the stadium, the Crypt. The reason they were placed in such a highly visible location was to dissuade other athletes from cheating. In ancient times, there were 16 bronze statues of Zeus on those pedestals but they do not survive today. The Zanes statues were crafted by great artists of their time. According to

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 ...

, the pedestals were inscribed with short texts mentioning the name of the offender; these were to make it clear that Olympic victories were to be won by feats of strength, rather than bought with money. The inscription of an athlete's name on such a pedestal was shameful both for him and for his city. According to Pausanias, the first of the Zanes were erected when Eupolos from

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

was fined for bribing three of his opponents in the boxing event. The remaining six statues were erected later on by the Athenian Kallipos, an athlete of the

Pankration Pankration (; el, παγκράτιον) was a sporting event introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC, which was an empty-hand submission sport with few rules. The athletes used boxing and wrestling techniques but also others, such as ...

("all force" wrestling), who also bribed his opponents. Also, the Alexandrian pankratiast Sarapion was the first athlete to be fined by the judges for cowardice, because he got nervous and fled the sacred grounds of Olympia on the eve of the Games.

References

External links

Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zanes Ancient Olympia Ancient Olympic Games Sculptures of Zeus