Acanthus
Ἄκανθος
(Ἄκανθος), the Lacedaemonian, was victor in the δίαυλος and the δόλιχος in the Olympic games in Ol. 15, (B. C. 720,) and according to some accounts was the first who ran naked in these games. (Paus. 5.8.3; Dionys. A. R. 7.72; African. apud Euseb. p. 143.) Other accounts ascribe this to Orsippus the Megarian. [ORSIPPUS.] Thucydides says that the Lacedaemonians were the first who contended naked in gymnastic games. (1.6.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.