Event: Ergoteles son of Philanor from Knossos (Crete)

Event ID 1875
Person Ergoteles son of Philanor from Knossos in Crete
Festival Nemea in Argos (Argeia)
Discipline running: dolichos
Age Category
Date -469 - -458
Achievement V
Comment: I generally follow Farrington (2012), no. 1.47 and p. 115-6 notes 260-2; Pausanias 6.4.11 notes that whilst Himera was the attested home city of Ergoteles on the inscription he had read, the athlete was actually from Knossos after expulsion. Perhaps this inscription was the same as SEG 29.414, which offers however only one restoration of the stone. It remains controversial due to the ambiguous phrasing of Pausanias how many victories Ergoteles actually won. Ergoteles' first Olympic victory is also the subject of Pindar's 12th Olympian Ode and generally dated to 472 B.C., with his second victory in 464 B.C. As for whether he actually won once or twice in the Pythian, Isthmian and Nemean games, Farrington seems inconsistent, or at least undecided; he frequently quotes Ebert (1979), 80-1, who suggest two victories for each contest, which I have followed here, with the dating as cited by Farrington (2012), p. 115 note 260. Ergoteles was a runner in the dolichos. - PK