ABSTRACT
There could be few clearer proofs of victory than the arms and armour taken from the dead comrades of the routed enemy by the triumphant conqueror, nor any more abject confession of defeat than the enemy’s request to be allowed to recover the corpses of those he had deserted in his flight. Proud and grateful thank-offerings made by victors to the gods who had helped them, from the best spoils to hand, are known from Homer to Hellenistic times as the studies of Rouse, Pritchett, and Lonis among others have shown. 1
