Greek athletes were the few athletes in the ancient world who practiced and competed in the nude. Homer's wrestlers in "Iliad" wore loincloths, but shortly after the Age of Homer, Greek athletes started to strip. It is not known why. Pausanias says athletes wanted to imitate Orsippos of Megara, a runner who won a footrace at Olympia in 720 BC after losing his loincloth. Dionysios of Halikarnassos and Thucydides credited a Spartan with the custom. 