Encyclopedia
The
Ancient Olympic Games were an athletic and religious celebration held in the
Greek town of
Olympia from as early as 776 BC to 393 AD. There were 292 Ancient Olympic Games.
Origin
The historical origins of the Ancient Olympic Games are unknown, but several legends and myths survive. One of these involved Pelops, king of
Olympia and eponymous hero of the
Peloponnesus, to whom offerings were made during the games. The
Christian Clement of Alexandria asserted that "[The] Olympian games are nothing else than the funeral sacrifices of Pelops." That myth tells of how Pelops' overcame King Oenomaus and won the hand of his daughter
Hippodamia with the help of
Poseidon, his old
lover, a myth linked to the later fall of the house of
Atreus and the sufferings of
Oedipus.
Another myth tells of the hero
Heracles, who won a race at Olympia and then decreed that the race should be re-enacted every four years, while another claims that
Zeus had instated the festival after his defeat of the Titan
Cronus. Yet another tells of King Iphitos of Elis, who consulted the
Pythia – the Oracle of
Delphi – to try and save his people from war in the 9th century BC. The prophetess advised him to organise games in honour of the gods. The
Spartan adversary of Iphitos then decided to stop the war during these games, which were called Olympic, after the city of Olympia were they were held. Had they been named after
Mount Olympus, the mountain on which the Greek gods were said to live, they would have been called Olympian games rather than Olympic. The favorite story is that Herakles celebrated cleaning the Augean Stables by building Olympia with help from Athena. Whatever the origin, the games were held to be one of the two central rituals in
Ancient Greece, the other being the
Eleusinian Mysteries.
History
The Games were held in Olympia, Greece, a sanctuary site for the Greek gods near the towns of Elis and
Pisa .
The Sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia housed a 12 meter high
statue in ivory and gold of Zeus, the father of the Greek gods, sculpted by
Phidias. This statue was one of the ancient
Seven Wonders of the World.
The Olympic Games were held in four year intervals, and later the Greek method of counting the years even referred to these Games, using the term
Olympiad for the period between two Games. The historian Ephorus who lived in the 4th century BC is believed to have invented the use of Olympiads to count years, much as we today use AD and BC. Previously every Greek state used its own dating system, something that continued for local events, which led to confusion when trying to determined dates. "Diodorus states that there was a solar eclipse in the third year of the 117th Olympiad, which must be the eclipse of 310 BC. This gives us a date of 776 BC for the first year of the first Olympiad". Nevertheless, there is disagreement among scholars whether the games truly began at this time or not.
The only competition held then was, according to the Greek traveller Pausanias, the
stadion was an ancient foot race, part of the Olympic Games [i] and the other Panhellenic Games [i] ...
race, a race over about 190 meters, measured after the feet of Hercules. The word
stadium is derived from this foot race.
The early Olympics were also held to be the place where the Greek tradition of athletic nudity was first introduced, some claiming the honor for the Spartans, others for the Megarian Orsippus in 720 BC.
Several groups fought over control of the sanctuary, and hence the Games, for prestige and political advantage. Pausanias writes that in 668 BC, Pheidon of
Argos was commissioned by the town of Pisa to capture the sanctuary from the town of Elis, which he did and then personally controlled the Games for that year. The next year Elis regained control.
The Athenian writer
Xenophon in 364 BC gives a contemporary record of an Elean attack during the Pentathlon final of the Games themselves, as the Pisans were again in control. The Eleans pushed the defenders almost to the altar before retreating due to missiles being thrown at them from the porticos. During that night the defending Arcadians constructed defensive palisades, and the next morning on seeing the strength of the defence the Elians retreated.
Related to the Elis/Pisa conflict, is the Heraea Games, the first sanctioned competition for women, . It originally consisted of foot races only, as did the men's competition. Some texts, including Pausanias's Description of Greece, c. AD 175, state that
Hippodameia gathered a group known as the "Sixteen Women" and made them administrators of the Heraea Games, out of gratitude for her marriage to Pelops. Other texts indicate that the "Sixteen Women" were peace-makers from Pisa and Elis and, because of their political competence, became administrators of the Heraea Games.
In 12 BC
Herod the Great gave financial support to the Games to enable their future survival.
The Olympic Games were part of the Panhellenic Games, four separate games held at two- or four-year intervals but arranged so that there was at least one set of games every year. The Olympic Games were the most important and most prestigious of these.
Finally, the Olympic Games were suppressed by either
Theodosius I in AD 393 or his grandson
Theodosius II in AD 435, as part of the campaign to impose Christianity as a
state religion. The site of Olympia remained until an earthquake destroyed it in the 6th century AD.
Events
Unlike the
Modern Olympic Games, only men who spoke Greek were allowed to participate in the Ancient Games. They were to some extent "international", though, in the sense that they included athletes from the various Greek city-states. Additionally, participants eventually came from Greek colonies as well, extending the range of the games to far shores of the
Mediterranean and of the
Black Sea.
In order to be in the games one had to qualify and have one's name written down in the
lists. It seems that only young people were allowed to participate, as the Greek writer
Plutarch relates that one young man was rejected for seeming too mature, and only after his lover interceded with the king of Sparta, who presumably vouched for his youth, was he permitted to participate. Before being able to participate, every participant had to take an oath in front of the statue of
Zeus saying that he had been in training for 10 months.
Over the years, more events were added:
boxing ,
wrestling ,
pankration ,
chariot racing, several other running events , as well as a pentathlon, consisting of wrestling,
stadion,
long jump,
javelin throw and
discus throw .
There were many different types of running events. One was a 1 stade race another a 2 stade and another of 7-24 stades. Competitors had to spring this track to determine the winner. Another harsh race was that of 2-4 stade race this one had the runners wear armor while running. The armor weighed about 50-60 pounds so it was heavy. This was to build strenghh, speed and stamina.
Boxing became increasingly brutal over the centuries. Initially soft leather covered their fingers but eventually hard leather weighted with metal was sometimes used.
In the chariot racing event, it was not the rider but the owner of the chariot and team who was considered to be the competitor, so one man could win more than one of the top spots. The addition of events meant the festival grew from 1 day to 5 days, 3 of which were used for competition. The other 2 days were dedicated to religious rituals. On the final day, there was a banquet for all of the participants, consisting of 100 oxen that had been sacrificed to
Zeus on the first day.
The winner of an Olympic event was awarded an olive branch, and was often received with much honour throughout Greece and especially in his home town, where he was often granted large sums of money .
Sculptors would create statues of Olympic victors and poets would sing odes in their praise for money.
It is often said that wars were halted during the Games but this is not true; however, athletes, who were often soldiers, were permitted to leave the army to participate in the Games, and were guaranteed safe passage through enemy territory.
Participation in the games was limited to male athletes; the only way women were allowed to take part was to enter horses in the
equestrian events. In 396 BC and again in 392 BC, the horses of a Spartan princess named Cynisca won her the four-horse race.
The athletes usually competed
naked, not only as the weather was appropriate but also as the festival was meant to celebrate, in part, the achievements of the human body. Olive oil was occasionally used by the competitors, not only to keep skin smooth but also to provide an appealing look for the participants. Competitors may have worn a kynodesme to restrain the
penis.
Famous athletes
- from Athens:
- from Sparta:
- Chionis of Sparta
- Kyniska of Sparta first woman to be listed as an Olympic victor
- from Rhodes:
- Diagoras of Rhodes and his sons Akusilaos and Damagetos
- Leonidas of Rhodes
- from Croton:
- Astylos of Croton
- Milo of Croton
- Timasitheos of Croton
- from other cities:
- Koroibos of Elis
- Theagenes of Thasos
- non-Greek:
See also
Notes
References
External links
