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Inscription dates from a much
later period: the epigram probably dates to 5th century BC, when Orrhippos was heiled as a hero.
Orrhippos is said to have been the athlete having introduced athletic nudity intentionally (Schol. Thuc. I.6; Paus. 1.44.1). Others attribute this innovation to Akanthos, the victor in dolichos at the same Olympiad (see ID 17) (D.H. VII. 72; Eusebius and Iulius Africanus). Others think that the athletic nudity was ordained by the Athenian archon Hippomenes (Isid. Orig. XVIII.17.2; Schol. Ven. Il. XXIII. 638).
Moretti 1957, no. 16 suggests that Orrhippos introduced the nudity and having observed the advantages, Akanthos copied this habit in his own discipline (dolichos) in order to run faster.
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