Boat-races at Athens

In my paper on ‘Boat-races among the Greeks’ (above, pp. 90—8) I brought together a considerable number of testimonies to prove that boat-racing was a Hellenic sport. As I was to a great extent breaking new ground, it can scarcely arouse surprise if I failed to make my collection of authorities complete. Since the paper appeared friends have been good enough to point out to me two or three fresh passages of writers bearing on the subject of boat-races. Of these the most important is quoted by Mr. Ridgeway from Pausanias. That writer speaking of the town of Hermione, says, ‘Near by is the temple of Dionysus Melanaegis. In his honour is yearly held a musical festival, with swimming races, and boat-races (καὶ πλοίων τιθέασιν ἆθλα).’ Hermione is situate on a very sheltered bay at the extremity of Argolis, and so admirably adapted as a site for swimming races and for races of small boats.A far more interesting reference than that I have mentioned I owe to the courtesy of Dr. Hirschfeld. He points out to me that in the valuable series of Ephebic inscriptions recently discovered, mention is more than once made of boat-races engaged in by the Attic Ephebi, as a regular part of their training. I could scarcely have missed these mentions had not Dumont misled me by calling the races joutes nautiques. To us they are specially interesting because the system of training of Ephebi at Athens, which we can trace upwards to the third century B.C., corresponds more closely to a modern English University education than anything else in antiquity.