Ergoteles of Himera explained

Ergoteles (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἐργοτέλης) or Ergotelis, was a native of Knossos and Olympic runner in the Ancient Olympic Games.

Civil disorder (ancient Greek: Stasis) had compelled him to leave Crete. He came to Sicily and was naturalized as a citizen of Himera, Magna Graecia. He won the Olympic dolichos ("long race") of 472 BC and 464 BC,^[1] as well as winning twice in both Pythian and Isthmian Games.

A four-line inscribed epigram of c. 450 BC found in Olympia commemorates the six Ergotelian victories.^[2] The base of an inscribed statue at Olympia, which was seen and exploited by the geographer Pausanias, was rediscovered in 1953.^[3] Pindar honoured Ergoteles with the following Epinikion hymn:^{[4] [5]}

Namesake

The Gymnastics Club Ergotelis established in 1929 in Heraklion, Crete, was named after Ergoteles, in commemoration of the first Olympic champion native to the modern Heraklion prefecture.^[6]

Notes and References

1. David C. Young, A brief history of the Olympic games, p. 105
2. http://epigraphy.packhum.org/inscriptions/oi?ikey=214903&bookid=172&region=2&subregion=5 SEG 11:1223b,Add
3. Simon Hornblower, Thucydides and Pindar: Historical narrative and the world of Epinikian poetry, p. 192
4. D.W. Turner, The odes of Pindar, literally tr. into Engl. prose, 1852
5. Cécile Bourgaux, POIHSIS: Poésie, p. 90 Greek text
6. http://www.ergotelis.gr/gr/istoria Ergotelis FC Official Website, Club History Section