Theagenes of Thasos

For other persons with the same name ,see Theagenes

Theagenes of Thasos son of Timosthenes, renowned for his extraordinary strength and swiftness. At the age of nine years he was said to have carried home a brazen statue of a god from the agora. As he grew up he became distinguished in every species of athletic contest, and gained numerous victories at the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games. Altogether he was said to have won 1300 crowns. He gained a victory at Olympia in the 75th Olympiad, 480 BC. (Paus. vi. 6. § 5.) The popular story among the Thasians was that Heracles was his father. A curious story is told by Pausanias (vi. 11. § 6, &c.) about a statue of Theagenes made by Glaucias of Aegina, a man who had a spite against him, scourged by way of revenge. One night, the statue fell upon Theagenes, killing him. The statue was later thrown into the sea, but was very fortunately fished up again by some fishermen, because the Delphic oracle had declared that the country would remain in a period of barrennes until they restored the statue of Theagenes. Pausanias mentions having seen many statues of Theagenes among both the Greeks and the Barbarians, (vi. 11. § 9.). The statue in Thasos became the focus of a hero cult and was said to have healing properties.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)