ELIS (HISTORY)

[5.4.5] After Oxylus the kingdom devolved on Laias, son of Oxylus. His descendants,
however, I find did not reign, and so I pass them by, though I know who they were;
my narrative must not descend to men of common rank. Later on Iphitus, of the line
of Oxylus and contemporary with Lycurgus, who drew up the code of laws for the
Lacedaemonians, arranged the games at Olympia and reestablished afresh the Olympic
festival and truce, after an interruption of uncertain length. The reason for this
interruption I will set forth when my narrative deals with Olympia.6

[5.4.6] At this time Greece was grievously worn by internal strife and plague, and
it occurred to Iphitus to ask the god at Delphi for deliverance from these evils.
The story goes that the Pythian priestess ordained that Iphitus himself and the
Eleans must renew the Olympic games. Iphitus also induced the Eleans to sacrifice
to Heracles as to a god, whom hitherto they had looked upon as their enemy. The
inscription at Olympia calls Iphitus the son of Haemon, but most of the Greeks say
that his father was Praxonides and not Haemon, while the ancient records of Elis
traced him to a father of the same name.

[5.4.7] The Eleans played their part in the Trojan war, and also in the battles of
the Persian invasion of Greece. I pass over their struggles with the Pisans and
Arcadians for the management of the Olympian games. Against their will they joined
the Lacedaemonians in their invasion of Athenian territory, and shortly afterwards
they rose up with the Mantineans and Argives against the Lacedaemonians, inducing
Athens too to join the alliance.7

[5.4.8] When Agis invaded the land, and Xenias turned traitor, the Eleans won a
battle near Olympia, routed the Lacedaemonians and drove them out of the sacred
enclosure; but shortly afterwards the war was concluded by the treaty I have
already spoken of in my account of the Lacedaemonians.8 9

[5.4.9] When Philip the son of Amyntas would not let Greece alone, the Eleans,
weakened by civil strife, joined the Macedonian alliance, but they could not bring
themselves to fight against the Greeks at Chaeroneia. They joined Philip's attack
on the Lacedaemonians because of their old hatred of that people, but on the death
of Alexander they fought on the side of the Greeks against Antipater and the
Macedonians.

[5.5.1] V. Later on Aristotimus, the son of Damaretus, the son of Etymon, became
despot of Elis, being aided in his attempt by Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, who
was king in Macedonia. After a despotism of six months Aristotimus was deposed, a
rising against him having been organized by Chilon, Hellanicus, Lampis and Cylon;
Cylon it was who with his own hand killed the despot when he had sought sanctuary
at the altar of Zeus the Saviour. Such were the wars of the Eleans, of which my
present enumeration must serve as a summary.

[5.5.2] The land of Elis contains two marvels. Here, and here only in Greece, does
fine flax grow; and secondly, only over the border, and not within it, can the
mares be impregnated by asses. The cause of this is said to have been a curse. The
fine flax of Elis is as fine as that of the Hebrews, but it is not so yellow.