Milo Of Kroton And His Lion Skin Robe

Milo Of Kroton And His Lion Skin Robe - Milo of Kroton (sometimes written as Croton) is regarded as one of the finest wrestlers to have ever lived. Throughout his life, he won five different Olympic championships and was so feared in the ring that one of the few people to ever best him in wrestling did so by running in a circle until he collapsed of exhaustion.

Milo was famed throughout the ancient world for his size and strength, and there are various stories from his time suggesting that he could carry a fully grown bull. However, we’re not here to talk about Milo’s wrestling days: We’re here to talk about the time his hometown, Kroton, was ransacked by a neighboring town.

While the rest of his town dashed to grab weapons and armor to defend themselves from the intruders, Milo donned all of his Olympic crowns at once, draped a lion skin across his naked body and picked up a wooden club, which he then used to beat the invading soldiers to death.

It’s commonly accepted that Milo did this to fool the enemies into thinking he was Hercules (pictured), who also ran naked into battle wearing a lion-skin robe. The only difference was that Hercules was a demigod, whereas Milo was just a really buff guy who liked wrestling.