From Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (London, 1880)
ACANTHUS ('Akanthos), the Lacedaemonian, was victor in the diaulos and the dolichos in the Olympic games in Ol. 15, (B. C. 720,) and according to some accounts was the first who ran naked in these games. (Paus. v. 8. § 3; Dionys. vii. 72; African. apud Euseb. p. 143.) Other accounts ascribe this to Orsippus the Megarian. Thucydides says that the Lacedaemonians were the first who contended naked in gymnastic games. (i. 6.)
An original e-text for everything2. I scanned, OCR'd, formatted, and linked this text - it is not available in any format on any other web site. All Greek words are transliterated into Latin characters.