Taraxippus

Was the name of a particular spot in the race-course at Olympia, where horses often became shy and frightened. Superstition was not at a loss to account for this phenomenon, for some said that on that spot Olenius or Dameon had been slain by Cteatus, or because it was the burial-place of Myrtilus (who had frightened the horses of Oenomaus), Alcathous, or Pelops.

Pausanias, however, considers Taraxippus to be a surname of Poseidon Hippius.

On the isthmus of Corinth, Glaucus, the son of Sisyphus, was believed to be a Taraxippus. See also Ischenus.

❧

References

Sources

  • Pausanias. Description of Greece vi, 20.8 ff.; comp. x, 37.4.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.