Oebotas
Οἰβώτας
(Οἰβώτας) the son of Oenias, of Dyme in Achaea, was victorious in the foot-race at a Olympia, in the sixth Olympiad, B. C. 756. His countrymen, however, having conferred upon him no distinguished mark of honour, although he was the first Achaean who had gained an Olympic vietory, he imprecated upon them the curse that no Achaean should ever again conquer in the games and, in fact, for three hundred years, not a single Achaean was among the victors. At length the Achaeans consulted the Delphic oracle, and, in obedience to its response, they erected a statue of Oebotas In the Altis at Olympia, Ol. 80. B. C. 460; soon after which a victory was gained in the boys' foot-race, by Sostratus of Pellene. Hence the custom was established for the Achaean athletes to sacrifice to Oebotas before engaging in an Olympic contest, and, when victorious, to crown his statue. (Paus. 7.17. §§ 6, 7, 13, 14, Bekker; comp. 6.3.8).
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.