The Statue of Theagenes

Theagenes of Thasos was an athlete. Part of his demonstration of strength was to carry a very heavy bronze statue from the marketplace to his house and back again. After Theagenes died a bronze statue of him was put up. An enemy of his took to flogging this statue at night, as a substitute for hitting Theagenes himself. The statue ended this practice by falling on the man and killing him. The statue was then tried for murder in a special court, the Prytaneum, reserved for the trial of what we would see as inanimate objects, although clearly the Greeks did not place the boundaries between living and lifeless where we do. The statue was found guilty and ordered into exile, which, in its case, meant it was thrown into the sea. When a famine hit Thasos, the Oracle of Delphi said all exiles should be allowed to return, which eventually led not just to the return of human exiles but to the statue being fished from the sea. The famine then abated.