Acanthus of Sparta

Acanthus the Lacedaemonian (Ancient Greek: Ἄκανθος^[1]), was the victor in two footrace events, the diaulos (δίαυλος) and dolichos (δόλιχος), in the Olympic Games of 720 BC.^[2] He was also, according to some accounts, the first who ran naked in these games.^[3][4][5] Other accounts ascribe this to Orsippus the Megarian. Thucydides says that the Lacedaemonians were indeed the first who contended naked in gymnastic games, although he does not mention Acanthus by name.^[6]

References

1. Christesen, Paul (2007). Olympic Victor Lists and Ancient Greek History. Cambridge University Press. p. 528.
2. Smith, William (1867), "Acanthus", in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1, Boston, p. 5
3. Pausanias, v. 8. § 3.
4. Dionys. vii. 72.
5. Sextus Julius Africanus. apud Eusebius, p. 143.
6. Thucydides, i. 6.

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.