HONORARY STATUES.
At Olympia, as elsewhere in Greece, statues were set up to men
_honoris causa_. Such statues would be dedicated by admirers, either
individuals or states. They were in no sense intended to honor the god,
though at Olympia they might be classed as ἀναθήματα, just as victor
statues, merely because they were erected in the sacred precinct. They
were granted to individuals not as a privilege, as victor statues
were, but as free gifts. Dio Chrysostom gives the difference between
victor statues—which he classes as ἀναθήματα—and such honor statues
in these words: ταῦτα (_i. e._, victor statues) γάρ ἐστιν ἀναθήματα·
αἱ δ’ εἰκόνες τιμαί· κἀκεῖνα (victor statues) δέδοται τοῖς θεοῖς,
ταῦτα δὲ (honor statues) τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσιν οἵπερ εἰσὶν ἔγγιστα
αὐτῶν.[394] Pliny records that the Athenians inaugurated the custom
of a state setting up statues in honor of men at the public expense
with the statues of the tyrannicides Harmodios and Aristogeiton by the
sculptor Antenor, which were erected in 509 B. C., the year in which
the tyrants were expelled.[395] He adds that a “refined ambition” led
to a universal adoption of the custom and that statues began to adorn
public places everywhere and later on even private houses. The custom
grew apace in the later history of Greece. Demetrios of Phaleron is
said to have had over three hundred statues erected in his honor during
his short régime of about a year in Athens. The Diadochoi and the Roman
emperors enthusiastically took over the custom. Pliny gives several
Roman examples of it.[396]
At Olympia Pausanias mentions honorary statues erected to thirty-five
men for various reasons.[397] To several of these men more than one
statue was erected.[398] The greater number of these statues were
erected to kings and princes, to those of Sparta,[399] Athens,[400]
Epeiros,[401] Sicily,[402] Macedonia, and Alexander’s Empire.[403]
One was erected in honor of the philosopher Aristotle,[404] one in
honor of the rhetorician Gorgias of Leontini,[405] one in honor of a
hunter,[406] another in honor of a flute-player,[407] and many others
in honor of public and private men. These statues were set up for
various reasons. Archidamas III of Sparta had his statues erected
to his memory because he was the only Spartan king who died abroad
and did not receive a formal burial. Kylon had a statue erected
by the Aitolians because he freed the Eleans from the tyranny of
Aristotimos.[408] Pythes of Abdera was thus honored by his soldiers
because of his military prowess.[409] Philonides of Crete was, as
we learn from the recovered inscription on his statue base, the
courier of Alexander the Great.[410] Pythokritos was honored for his
flute-playing, though he does not appear to have been a victor.[411]
The Palaians of Kephallenia honored Timoptolis of Elis,[412] and the
Aitolians honored the Elean Olaidas[413] for unknown reasons. At least
seven, if not eight, of those thus honored with statues were Eleans.
Some of the men who had honor statues were also victors at Olympia, a
fact which would appear on the inscribed base. Thus Aratos, the son
of Kleinias of Sikyon, the statesman, had a statue erected to him by
the Corinthians. This was doubtless an honor statue, though Pausanias
also says he was a chariot-victor.[414] On the other hand, the statue
erected in honor of the pentathlete Stomios was probably a victor
monument, though Pausanias says that its inscription records that he
was an Elean cavalry general who challenged the enemy to a duel, in
which he was slain.[415] In some cases it is hard to decide whether the
statue is honorary or victor in character. In the course of time honor
statues multiplied, while those of athletes decreased. The recovered
inscriptions on the latter decrease steadily in the fourth and third
centuries B. C., revive again in the second and first, and decrease
in the first Christian century. They cease almost entirely after the
middle of the second century A. D.