THE ANCIENT OLYMPIC

GAMES
 ORIGINS
 Festival held in Zeus’
honor
 Part of it included
athletics
– Sanctuary of Zeus
– Father of the Greek
gods and goddesses
 Held at Olympia
– Rural site in the
Western Peloponnese
 THE YEAR WAS…
 776 BC
 Koroibos
– Won the first Stadion
race
– According to some,
stadion race was the only
event in the first 13
Olympics, or until 724 BC
– Olympics were held
every 4 yrs. for the next
12 centuries
 THOSE WHO CAME…
 The Games attracted
participants from all over
Classical Greece and
Magna Grecia
 Those who participated
shared common
characteristics:
– Same religious beliefs
– Language
– All male citizens of city-
states
 DID YOU KNOW?
 The marathon was NOT an
event in the ancient Olympic
Games
 Was first introduced in 1896 in
Athens

 Race commemorates the run of

Pheidippides

– Ancient “day-runner”
– He was sent to Sparta to seek
help during the Persian War
– Said to have run 240 km in 2
days
 NUDITY AT THE GAMES?
 There are 2 stories relating to the
question of nudity at the games
 By 8th century nudity was common

Orisppos/Orrhippos

In 720 BC was said to first have introduced

nudity when he lost his shorts in the stadion

The Spartans

Said to have introduced

nudity in the 8th century BC
because it was a Spartan
tradition
 PROS…OR AMATEURS?
 Training was very important to the Greeks
 Usually wealthier citizens
– Time to indulge and money to pay for trainers
 Training manuals, even do-it-yourself booklets
were produced
 By Roman times, a sort of athletes trade union
was set up
– Secured privileges for members, such as freedom from
taxes and military service
– Looked after dependents
RELIGION AND ATHLETICS
 Combination of religion
and athletics may
seem odd to us
 Was not to the Greeks
for 3 reasons:
– Funeral games at the
burial of hero was
tradition
 Homer, in the Iliad,
describes those for
Patroklos
RELIGION AND ATHLETICS
 Skill and achievement
of any kind were
offerings to the gods
– Gods were thought of
as graceful and
powerful beings
– Appreciate these
qualities in man
RELIGION AND ATHLETICS
 The whole Greek society was marked by
compositeness
– Part of the reason for its excellence
– Religion was associated with most areas of
Greek life
– Competitiveness should be linked with religion
then
 PRIZES
 Athletic prizes included
– Bronze tripods
– Shields
– Woolen cloaks
– Olive oil
– Valuable metals
– Oxen
– Cauldrons
 PRIZES
 At the Pan-Hellenic
Festivals only prizes
were wreaths of leaves
– Olive at Olympia
– Laurel at Delphi
– Pine at Isthmia
– Parsley at Nemea
 OLYMPIC ATHLETES
 794 Olympic athletes known
 We have partial records from 776 BC-393
BC
 The victor list has over 1029 Olympic
victories
 Koroibos of Elis was the first in 776 BC
 Zopyrus of Athens was the last in 385 AC
 Between the 2 dates there was a total of
291 Olympic Games
 MAJOR OLYMPIANS
 Leonidas of Rhodes
– 12 victories
– Stadion, Diaulos, Hoplitodromos
 Herodoros of Magara
– 10 victories
– Heralds
 Hermogenes of Xanthos
– 8 victories
– Stadion, Diaulos, Hoplitodromos
 Nero Of Rome
– 6 victories
– Heralds, Tragedy, Lyre, Tethrippon, Foals Tethrippon, 10 Horse
Chariot
 WOMEN AT THE
OLYMPICS?
 Women were there, but were
not allowed in the central areas
 Women were not even
permitted to watch the main
games
– Woman in disguise
– Judges “let her off out of
respect for her father and her
brothers and her son, all who
were Olympic victors”
 They had their own minor
games
– Held in honor of Hera, Zeus’
wife
 EVENTS AND YEARS
INTRODUCED
 Stadion 776 BC
 Diaulos 724 BC
 Dolichos 720 BC
 Wrestling/Pentathlon 708 BC
 Boxing 688 BC
 Pankration/Horse Race 648 BC
 Hoplitodromos 520 BC
 Chariot Racing 384 BC and 268 BC
 OLYMPIC SCHEDULE
 The program at Olympia was:
– Day 1: sacrifices, oaths, checking of athletes
– Day 2: Morning: equestrian events. Afternoon:
the pentathlon
– Day 3: Morning: religious observances.
Afternoon: boys’ events
– Day 4: Morning: track events. Afternoon:
wrestling, boxing, pankration race in armor
– Day 5: Banquet and sacrifices
 EVENT CATAGORIES
 The events were divided into catagories
– Men’s track and Field
– Boy’s track and field
– Equstrian for full grown horses
– Equestrian for mules and mares
– Equestrian for young male horses
– Specialty events
 Heralds
 Trumpeters
 BOYS’ EVENTS
 Boys’ Events
– 200 meter
– Wrestling
– Boxing
 Events restricted to
ages 12 and 18
– How judges knew boys
ages is not clear
 BOXING
 According to myth, Apollo
invented boxing
 All boxers wore himantes
 No time limit, no weight
limit
– A match ended when one
held up 1 or 2 fingers
– Rest periods

 Klimax
 Melankomas of Karia
 CHARIOT RACING
 Chariot Racing
– Most spectacular
– Four-horse, two-wheeled
chariots covereda distance
of 200 m
– Cutting in front of a rival was
forbidden
– Collisions and crashes
frequent
 King of Kyrene of
North Africa
– Chariot was sole survivor of
41 starters and therefore
won
 PENTATHLON
 Jason of the Argonauts
 5 events combined
– Jumping, running, discus,
javelin, and wrestling
 Rules
– Order of events unknown
– Unknown if had to win all 5
or just 3 events to be the
victor
 RUNNING
 Most significant and
ancient sport
 Running held an important
place in Greek society
– Many myths deal with
running (ie Herakles)
 Runners did not have
special equipment
 To assure a fair start a
hysplex was used
 OLYMPIC TRUCE
 A truce was established in
the 9th century BC by

– Iphitos of Elis

– Cleosthenes of Pisa

– Lycurgus of Sparta
 OLYMPIC TRUCE
 Elis’ reign became a reality
 As the Games approached
– Truce was announced by
Spondophori
 During the period of the
Truce
– Athletes, artists, and their
families could travel in safety
to and from the Games
 HUH?
 Athlete: one who competes for a prize (althos = “contest”
athlon = “prize
 Stadion: linear distance; 600ft. “the standing place”
 Hoplitodromos: a race in armor (hoplite)
 Diaulos: foot race equal to 2 lengths of the stadion
 Dolichos: a distance race varying from place to place
 Pankration: event combining wrestling and boxing; no
himantes were used
 Altis: grove
 Hysplex: starting gate
 HUH?
 Klimax: A voluntary point in a long boxing match when 2
boxers took turns standing still while they hit each other;
could not try and block blows
 Himantes: boxing gloves
 Palaestra: a place of wrestling
 Peloponnese: large peninsula which forms the
southernmost part of mainland Greece
 Pentathlon: 5 events
 DID YOU KNOW?
 Statues were set up in the altis of Olympians
who had been caught cheating/bribing at the
games
– All athletes walked by these to enter the events
 Greek Olympians were honored and
“marketed”
– Odes were composed by poets, statues were
made, and coins with their images
 ODES
 Pinder
– Famous 5th century poet
– Wrote an ode for Hiero to
celebrate his victory in the
horse race in 476 BC

 Such odes were

commissioned by
– Athletes
– Athletes families
– Rich political leaders
 THANKS TO…
 Google Images for the pictures
 These Were The Greeks by Amos and Lang
 Websites
– The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games
– The Ancient Olympics
– Ancient Greece