MILON OF CROTON

flourished 6th century BC Milon also spelled Milo Greek athlete who was the most renowned wrestler in antiquity. His name is still proverbial for extraordinary strength. A greatly honoured native of Croton (modern Crotone, Calabria), an Achaean Greek colony in southern Italy, Milon led the Crotoniate army to victory over the Sybarites (Greeks from Sybaris, also in southern Italy) in about 510 BC. In six Olympic Games and in six Pythian Games (both events held quadrennially), Milon won the wrestling championship; in these and other Greek national games, he won 32 wrestling competitions. He is said to have carried an ox on his shoulders through the stadium at Olympia. According to the traditional account of his death, the aging Milon tried to tear apart with his hands a tree that had been split with a wedge; the wedge fell out and the tree closed on one hand, holding him captive until he was attacked and devoured by wolves.