1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Milo

MILO, or Milon, of Crotona, Greek athlete, lived about the end of the 6th century B.C. He was six times crowned at the Olympic games and six times at the Pythian for wrestling, and was famous throughout the civilized world for his feats of strength—such as carrying an ox on his shoulders through the stadium at Olympia. In his native city he was much honoured, and he commanded the army which defeated the people of Sybaris in 511. The traditional account of his death is often used to point a moral: he found a tree which some woodcutters had partially split with a wedge, and attempted to rend it asunder; but the wedge fell out, and the tree closed on his hand, imprisoning him till wolves came and devoured him. His name became proverbial for personal strength (Diod. Sic. xii. 9; Pausanias vi. 14; Strabo vi. 263; Herodotus iii. 137).