Eurybus ofAthens (Greek:Εὔρυβος Ἀθηναῖος) was anancient Greek athlete listed byEusebius of Caesarea as a victor in thestadion race of the 27thOlympiad (672 BC).[1][2] His name is also referred asEurybates[3] orEurybotos[4] and possiblyEurybotas elsewhere in Pausanias, both of the latter two have been anglicised to "Eurybotus" by editors, although elsewhere the distinction is preserved.[5] He was the second winner from Athens preceded only byPantacles.
Eurybus was quite possibly the noteddiscoboleEurybotas depicted on theChest of Cypselus, which was left as avotive offering atOlympia and was still visible there centuries later and was subject to a detailed description byPausanias. He does not explicitly say that this discus-throwerEurybotas is the same as the runnerEurybotos; however, the transcriptions of named personages on the chest as given by Pausanias showDoricisms and traces of having been rendered in theepichoric Corinthian alphabet.[6] Pausanias reports a legend that the infant Cypselus was hidden in the chest during an assassination attempt and later took his name from it (as theCorinthians called these chestskypselai); however, Cypselus's childhood (he died in 627 BC after a thirty-year reign begun when fully adult) coincides with the known date of Eurybatos' stadion victory. But Pausanias does not explicitly connect them, saying merely that whoever Eurybotas is, he is throwing the discus.[7] Frazer compares Pausanias description of the chest to extant examples of Corinthian art and dates the chest to the 7th-early 6th century BCE. The depiction is one of the earliest known of a genre that would later be adapted tostatuary, the most famous of which is theDiscobolus ofMyron and its copies.[8]
Dionysius of Halicarnassus calls the race-winnerEurybates, says that the contemporaneouseponymous archon at Athens was Leostratus, and uses his Olympic victory to date the accession ofTullus Hostilius asKing of Rome after the death ofNuma Pompilius.[3]
