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 pe ...

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 referr ...

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 Chris ...

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' ''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 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 Agiads 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 Astylos of Croton (Ἄστυλος/Ἀστύαλος ὁ Κροτωνιάτης) was an athlete from ancient Croton who starred in the Olympic Games of the 5th century BC. He was mentioned in records from General Pausanias that claim he excelled i ...

(representing

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

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'', a race run in

hoplite Hoplites ( ) ( grc, ὁπλίτης : hoplítēs) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The ...

armour. Pausanias says that in response to Astylos' memorial

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

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. 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'', Agelada ...

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'' (feet).

Frank Zarnowski C. Frank Zarnowski (born April 14, 1943) is an American author, historian, coach, TV commentator, statistician and public address announcer for track and field events, specializing in the decathlon. Since 1970, Zarnowski has coached and announced ...

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 ...

— with a Pythian foot of 29.65 cm. In the ancient Olympics, the jump was one of the five components of 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 ...

, 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 those ...

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