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afterwards with a four-horse chariot; and this was the king of the Pisans, and he held the horse race on the twenty-fourth day of the month of March, when the Sun was exalted. And he himself wore a cloak, that is, green, for the earth; but his opponent wore blue for the sea, and the inlanders rejoiced in the green, but the coast-dwellers in the blue; and as a prize for this contest, Oenomaus offered to the one who would defeat him his own daughter Hippodamia, but that the one defeated would be killed immediately. So when Pelops was about to compete with Oenomaus on the stated terms, Hippodamia, having seen him, both fell in love with him and betrayed to him the devices of her father, by which he had prevailed over his competitors, and thus she prepared for Pelops to win. And he, having won, immediately slew Oenomaus, married Hippodamia, and ruled over Greece for thirty-eight years, and he named it Peloponnese after himself. But let the account return again to the previous matters. For the aforementioned Circe was the first to begin to hold horse races in Italy and built a hippodrome there, four stades in length, and one in width; and she made its middle part of wood, naming this foundation Euripus, perhaps from the sea's Euripus and its sevenfold double course, since that one also reverses its motion seven times a day. And there is a pyramid in the middle of the stadium, and the pyramid is of the Sun, since such an altar is nearly shadowless; for while all the celestial light-bearing bodies produce a shadow, he alone is outside of this. And at either end of this Euripus, above the pyramid on the Euripus, three altars are set: of Cronus, Zeus, Ares; and below again three altars, of Aphrodite, Hermes and Selene; two tripods, of the Sun and Moon, and a statue of a woman carrying a phiale on her head; and she is the Earth, carrying the Sea. And at the end of the games trumpets call the victors to their prizes, and there are twelve starting gates in imitation of the twelve zodiac signs; and the one standing in the middle and having the signal for the race is called the *mapparius*, from what happens concerning the matter at that time; for the consuls were accustomed to feast first in the theater and after the feast to throw the napkins from their hands, which in the Roman language are called *mappa*, whence also *mandylia*; and taking these up, the so-called *mapparius* immediately began the contest. And for not more than seven circuits, which are *spatia* as if *stadia* and *misus* instead of *athlus*, the contestants contended around the pyramid, which they now call an obelisk, because a mile is seven stades and because the poles of the planets are so many, which the Chaldeans call firmaments, without the lunar one, because the refuse of all matter extends up to it, according to the saying. And they completed the whole contest with twenty-four prizes because of the principle in the pyramid; for the pyramid admits twelve angles, that is four solid ones, each of which is from three; and by taking the number twelve twice, they divide the time of the day, and they still complete it so now. And in another way somehow the pyramid is fitting for the contestants, for it is considered to be of Nemesis. At any rate, in imitation of Circe, Romulus also, having later founded Rome on the twentieth of the month of April, constructs in it a hippodrome of such a kind and in all respects similar. And he made at first three chariots: red for Ares, that is, fire; white for Zeus, that is, air; green for Aphrodite, that is, the earth. But later the Gauls contended for equal honor, and the blue was added because their garments were of such a color, in honor of Cronus or rather of Poseidon. And considerable time later, Severus, the emperor of the Romans, having campaigned against Niger and having arrived at Byzantium, now the city of Constantine and queen of all cities, builds there on account of the
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ὕστερον τετραπώλῳ· οὗτος δὲ ἦν βασιλεὺς Πισαίων, ἦγε δὲ τὸν ἱππικὸν ἀγῶνα μηνὶ Μαρτίῳ εἰκοστῇ τετάρτῃ ὑψουμένου τοῦ Ἡλίου. καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν ἐφόρει χλοανὸν ἤγουν πράσινον ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς· ὁ δὲ ἀνταγωνιζόμενος βένετον ὑπὲρ τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ οἱ μὲν μεσόγειοι ἔχαιρον τῷ πρασίνῳ, οἱ δὲ παράλιοι τῷ βενέτῳ· ἔπαθλον δὲ τῆς ἀγωνίας ταύτης προετίθει Οἰνόμαος τῷ νικήσοντι αὐτὸν τὴν ἰδίαν θυγατέρα Ἱπποδάμειαν, τὸν δὲ ἡττηθέντα φονεύεσθαι αὐτίκα. μέλλοντα γοῦν τὸν Πέλοπα τῷ Οἰνομάῳ ἀνταγωνίζεσθαι ἐπὶ τοῖς δηλωθεῖσι συνθήμασιν, ἑωρακυῖα Ἱπποδάμεια ἠράσθη τε αὐτοῦ καὶ προδίδωσι τούτῳ τὰ μηχανήματα τοῦ πατρός, δι' ὧν ἐκράτει τῶν συναμιλλωμένων, καὶ οὕτω παρεσκεύασε νικῆσαι τὸν Πέλοπα. κἀκεῖνος νικήσας εὐθὺς ἀνεῖλε μὲν Οἰνόμαον, ἔγημε δὲ Ἱπποδάμειαν καὶ ἐβασίλευσε μὲν τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἔτη τριάκοντα ὀκτώ, ἐκάλεσε δὲ ταύτην ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ Πελοπόννησον. ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὰ πρότερα πάλιν ὁ λόγος ἐπανελθέτω. ἡ γὰρ δὴ προρρηθεῖσα Κίρκη πρώτη τελεῖν ἱππικοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ προκαταρξαμένη καὶ ἱπποδρόμιον ἐκεῖσε κατεσκεύασε, τὸ μὲν μῆκος τεσσάρων σταδίων, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ἑνός· τὸ δὲ μέσον αὐτοῦ ἐποίησε ξυλουργές, ὀνομάσασα ταύτην τὴν κρηπῖδα Εὔριπον, ἐκ τοῦ θαλαττίου ἴσως Εὐρίπου καὶ τῆς ἑπτάκις αὐτοῦ διαυλοδρομίας, ἐπειδὴ κἀκεῖνος ἑπτάκις τῆς ἡμέρας ἀντιστρέφει τὴν κίνησιν. καὶ πυραμὶς δέ ἐστιν ἐν μέσῳ τῷ σταδίῳ, ἡ δὲ πυραμὶς Ἡλίου, ἐπεὶ ἄσκιος ἐγγὺς ὁ τοιοῦτος βωμός· πάντων γὰρ τῶν οὐρανίων φωσφόρων σωμάτων σκιὰν ἀποτελούντων αὐτὸς μόνος ἔξω ταύτης ἐστί. ἐν δὲ τοῖς παρ' ἑκάτερα τέρμασι τοῦ Εὐρίπου τούτου ἄνωθεν μὲν τῆς πυραμίδος ἐπὶ τοῦ Εὐρίπου βωμοὶ ἵδρυνται τρεῖς· Κρόνου, ∆ιός, Ἄρεος· κάτωθεν δὲ πάλιν βωμοὶ τρεῖς, Ἀφροδίτης, Ἑρμοῦ καὶ Σελήνης· τρίποδες δύο, Ἡλίουκαὶ Σελήνης, καὶ ἄγαλμα γυναικὸς φιάλην ἐπιφερομένης ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ· ἐστὶ δὲ ἡ γῆ, φέρουσα τὴν θάλασσαν. σάλπιγγες δὲ ἐπὶ τέλει τῶν ἀγώνων τοὺς νικητὰς ἐπὶ τὰ γέρα καλοῦσι, δώδεκα δὲ ὕσπληγες κατὰ μίμησιν τῶν δώδεκα ζῳδίων· μαππάριος δὲ καλεῖται ὁ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ ἱστάμενος καὶ τοῦ δρόμου ἔχων τὸ σύνθημα ἀπὸ τοῦ περὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα συμβαίνοντος τηνικαῦτα· εἰώθησαν γὰρ οἱ ὕπατοι εὐωχεῖσθαι πρότερον ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ καὶ μετὰ τὴν εὐωχίαν τὰ τῶν χειρῶν ἐκμαγεῖα ῥιπτεῖν, ἅπερ τῇ ῥωμαικῇ φωνῇ μάππα λέγονται, ἐξ οὗ καὶ μανδύλια· καὶ ταῦτα ἀναλαμβανόμενος ὁ λεγόμενος μαππάριος εὐθὺς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐπετέλει. οὐ πλέον δὲ τῶν ἑπτὰ κύκλων, οὓς σπάτια οἱονεὶ στάδια καὶ μίσους ἀντὶ τοῦ ἄθλους, περὶ τὴν πυραμίδα, ἣν νῦν ὀβελὸν καλοῦσι, διεπληκτίζοντο οἱ ἀγωνισταὶ διὰ τὸ ἑπτὰ στάδια εἶναι τὸ μίλιον καὶ διὰ τὸ τοσούτους εἶναι τοὺς τῶν πλανήτων πόλους, οὓς Χαλδαῖοι στερεώματα καλοῦσιν, ἄνευ τοῦ σεληνιακοῦ, διὰ τὸ μέχρις αὐτοῦ διήκειν τὸ τοῦ παντὸς ὑλικοῦ σκύβαλον κατὰ τὸ λόγιον. τέσσαρσι δὲ καὶ εἴκοσι βραβείοις τὸν πάντα συνετέλουν ἀγῶνα διὰ τὸν ἐν πυραμίδι λόγον· δυοκαίδεκα γὰρ γωνίας ἡ πυραμὶς ἐπιδέχεται, τουτέστι στερεὰς τέσσαρας, ὧν ἑκάστη ἐκ τριῶν· δὶς δὲ τὸν δώδεκα ἀριθμὸν εἰς δύο τέμνοντες τὸν τῆς ἡμέρας καιρὸν ἔτι καὶ νῦν τελοῦσι. καὶ ἄλλως δέ πως ἡ πυραμὶς ἁρμοδία ἐστὶ τοῖς ἀγωνιζομένοις, Νεμέσεως γὰρ εἶναι νομίζεται. κατὰ γοῦν μίμησιν, τῆς Κίρκης καὶ Ῥωμύλος ὕστερον κτίσας τὴν Ῥώμην μηνὶ Ἀπριλλίῳ εἰκοστῇ κατασκευάζει καὶ ἱπποδρόμιον ἐν αὐτῇ τοιοῦτον καὶ κατὰ πάντα ὅμοιον. ἐποίησε δὲ τὸ πρῶτον ἅρματα τρία· ῥούσιον Ἄρεος ἤτοι πυρός, λευκὸν ∆ιὸς ἤτοι ἀέρος, πράσινον Ἀφροδίτης ἤτοι τῆς γῆς. ὕστερον δὲ ἤρισαν οἱ Γάλλοι περὶ ὁμοτιμίας, καὶ προσετέθη τὸ βένετον διὰ τὸ τοιούτου χρώματος εἶναι τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν, εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ Κρόνου ἢ μᾶλλον τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος. χρόνοις δὲ ὕστερον ἱκανοῖς Σεβῆρος ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμαίων κατὰ Νίγερος ἐκστρατεύσας καὶ εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον παραγενόμενος, τὴν νῦν Κωνσταντίνου πόλιν καὶ βασιλίδα τῶν πόλεων ἁπασῶν, κτίζει μὲν ἐκεῖσε διὰ τὸ τῆς