Person: Melesias from Athens (Attica)

Person ID: 7560
Name: Melesias
Place of Origin: Athens (Attica)
List of Festivals:
Nemea in Argos (Argeia)
List of Events:
Nemea in Argos (Argeia) on ( -479 to -471 )
List of Disciplines:
combat sports: pankration
List of References:
Pind. Nem. 4
Pind. Nem. 6
Pind. Ol. 8
List of Prosopographies:
Klee (1918), N 52
Kostouros (2008), no. 136
Comment: Melesias, apart from an athlete, he was also the trainer of Alcimidas, of Timasarchus and of Alcimedon. The phrase (Pind. Ol. 8, l. 54) ?? ???????? seems at first sight ambiguous. Perhaps Melesias has won victories as an ageneios himself, or he takes part of the glory of his trainees, or both. It has been proposed by Wade-Gery that our Melesias was the father of the Athenian politician and rival of Pericles, Thucydides, son of Melesias (Wade-Gery 1958, 244-246). This identification was challenged by Kirchner whonoted that Melesias was a not uncommon name and, more importantly, that an aristocrat was unlikely to have been a trainer, at least at that time (Kirchner 1995-1996, 175 notes).