Ancient Olympics

Differences

• One difference between the ancient and modern Olympic Games is that the ancient games were played within the context of a religious festival.

– The Games were held in honor of Zeus, the king of the Greek gods,

– Athletes prayed to the gods for victory, and made gifts of animals, produce, or small cakes, in thanks for their successes.

• Ancient athletes competed as individuals, not on national teams, as in the modern Games.

– The emphasis on individual athletic achievement through public competition was related to the Greek ideal of excellence, called arete.

– Aristocratic men who attained this ideal, through their outstanding words or deeds, won permanent glory and fame.

– Those who failed to measure up to this code feared public shame and disgrace.

The Olympic games were held at the same place each Olympiad.

• Because it receives more rain, Elis has better forests and pastures than the rest of Greece.

• The region was respected in ancient times as a holy and neutral place because of the sacred grove to Zeus, called the Altis, at Olympia.

Elis is in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese, which is the southern peninsula of mainland Greece.

Olympia

• Olympia is a city at the western coast of the Peloponnesus.

• Olympia had two parts

The city and the

Olympic field

above on a

mountain.

It was for women forbidden to see the Olympics.

• Once there was a women who tried to see them. See clothed herself like a trainer and looked at the matches of her son. – When son won a match, she shouted like a

woman • and the men of Olympia killed her. • From that time not only the participants but also

the trainers and visitors weren't allowed to wear clothes.

Over time, the Games flourished, and Olympia became a central site for the worship of Zeus.

Individuals and communities donated buildings, statues, altars and other dedications to the god.

The most spectacular sight at Olympia was the gold and ivory cult statue of Zeus enthroned. The statue was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and stood over 42 feet high.

A spiral staircase took visitors to an upper floor of the temple, for a better view of the statue.

People who were not Greek could not compete in the Games,

• but Greek athletes traveled hundreds of miles, – from colonies of the Greek city-states. – These colonies were as far away as modern-day Spain, Italy,

Libya, Egypt, the Ukraine, and Turkey.

Excellence and the competitive spirit• When the Persian military

officer Tigranes "heard that the prize was not money but a crown [of olive], he could not hold his peace, but cried,– 'Good heavens,

Mardonius, what kind of men are these that you have pitted us against?

– It is not for money they contend but for glory of achievement!'"  

• Herodotus, Histories , 8.26.3

The Olympic truce

• A truce (in Greek, ekecheiria, which literally means "holding of hands") was announced before and during each of the Olympic festivals, to allow visitors to travel safely to Olympia.

• An inscription describing the truce was written on a bronze discus which was displayed at Olympia.

• During the truce, wars were suspended, armies were prohibited from entering Elis or threatening the Games, and legal disputes and the carrying out of death penalties were forbidden.

The ancient athlete: amateur or professional?

• Athletic training was a basic part of every Greek boy's education, and any boy who excelled in sport might set his sights on competing in the Olympics.

• The Olympic competition included preliminary matches or heats to select the best athletes for the final competition.

• Ancient writers tell the stories of athletes who worked at other jobs and did not spend all their time in training.

• However, just as in the modern Olympics, an ancient athlete needed mental dedication, top conditioning, and outstanding athletic ability in order to make the cut.

Self-confidence was also an asset.

• A Libyan athlete, Eubotas, was so sure of his victory in a running event that he had his victory statue made before the Games were held. When he won, he was able to dedicate his statue on the same day.

Victorious athletes were professionals in the sense that they lived off the glory of their achievement ever afterwards.• Their hometowns might

reward them with free meals for the rest of their lives, cash, tax breaks, honorary appointments, or leadership positions in the community.

• The victors were memorialized in statues and also in victory odes, commissioned from famous poets.

Events - Boxing

• Ancient boxing had fewer rules than the modern sport. Boxers fought without rounds until one man was knocked out, or admitted he had been beaten. Unlike the modern sport, there was no rule against hitting an opponent when he was down.

• There were no weight classes within the mens' and boys' divisions; opponents for a match were chosen randomly.

• Instead of gloves, ancient boxers wrapped leather thongs (himantes) around their hands and wrists which left their fingers free.

Events – Chariot Racing

• There were both 2-horse chariot and 4-horse chariot races, with separate races for chariots drawn by foals. Another race was between carts drawn by a team of 2 mules. The course was 12 laps around the stadium track (9 miles).

Events – Riding

• The course was 6 laps around the track (4.5 miles), and there were separate races for full-grown horses and foals. Jockeys rode without stirrups.

• Only wealthy people could afford to pay for the training, equipment, and feed of both the driver (or jockey) and the horses. As a result, the owner received the olive wreath of victory instead of the driver or jockey.

Events - Pankration

• This event was a grueling combination of boxing and wrestling. Punches were allowed, although the fighters did not wrap their hands with the boxing himantes.

• Rules outlawed only biting and gouging an opponent's eyes, nose, or mouth with fingernails. Attacks such as kicking an opponent in the belly, which are against the rules in modern sports, were perfectly legal.

• Pankration was more than just an Olympic event, it formed the basis for all combat training for Greek soldiers. Grave, even permanent injuries were common, as an accepted means of disabling the adversary: mainly breaking limbs, fingers or even the neck.

Events - Pankration• Pankration bouts were quite brutal and sometimes life-threatening to the

competitors. There were no weight divisions and no time limits. The fighting arena or "ring" was no more than twelve to fourteen-feet square to encourage close-quarter action. Referees were armed with stout rods or switches to enforce the rules against biting and gouging.

• The contest itself continued uninterrupted until one of the combatants either surrendered, suffered unconsciousness, or, of course, was killed. Although knockouts were common, most pankration battles were decided on the ground where both striking and submission techniques would freely come into play.

– (though there are stories of fighters who chose to die rather than surrender.)• If there was no winner by sunset, the judges would declare Climax and the

fighters would start taking alternating undefended blows until one was defeated.

Running

• There were 4 types of races at Olympia. – The stadion was the oldest event of the Games. Runners

sprinted for 1 stade (192 m.), or the length of the stadium. – The other races were a 2-stade race (384 m.), – and a long-distance run which ranged from 7 to 24 stades

(1,344 m. to 4,608 m.). – And if these races weren't enough, the Greeks had one

particularly grueling event which we lack. There was also a 2 to 4-stade (384 m. to 768 m.) race by athletes in armor. This race was especially useful in building the speed and stamina that Greek men needed during their military service. If we remember that the standard hoplite armor (helmet, shield, and greaves) weighed about 50-60 lbs, it is easy to imagine what such an event must have been like.

Wrestling

• Like the modern sport, an athlete needed to throw his opponent on the ground, landing on a hip, shoulder, or back for a fair fall.

• 3 throws were necessary to win a match.

• Biting was not allowed.• Attacks such as breaking

your opponent's fingers were permitted.

Events - Pentathlon

• This was a 5-event combination• Discus - The ancient Greeks

considered the rhythm and precision of an athlete throwing the discus as important as his strength. The discus was made of stone, iron, bronze, or lead, and was shaped like a flying saucer. Sizes varied, since the boys' division was not expected to throw the same weight as the mens'.

• Javelin - a man-high length of wood, with either a sharpened end or an attached metal point. It had a thong for a hurler's fingers attached to its center of gravity, which increased the precision and distance of a javelin's flight.

Events - Pentathlon

• Jump - Athletes used lead or stone jump weights (halteres) shaped like telephone receivers to increase the length of their jump. The halteres were held in front of the athlete during his ascent, and forcibly thrust behind his back and dropped during his descent to help propel his body further.

• Running – Mentioned Above• Wrestling – Mentioned above

Legacy

• According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles The first recorded Olympic victor was Koroibos of Elis, traditionally dated to 776 B.C. Historical records and documents have preserved a long list of subsequentOlympic victors. Greek historians later used number of the Olympiad as a means of dating events. If an event was said to have occurred in the first Olympiad, for example, it would be dated to the period of 776 to 772 B.C. • The games carried on, even as Greece's power declined

Rome's rose. Although the Olympics continued to enjoy a measure of prestige, the varying political and economic changes of the Hellenistic and Roman periods affected both the site and the games. Some later Roman emperors, who admired Greek culture, revived the splendor of the games and restored the site and buildings.

Legacy

• By the 3rd century A.D., however, the lists of victors are increasingly uncertain and incomplete; by the end of the century the lists stop altogether.

• Once the Roman emperors formally adopted Christianity, they discouraged and eventually, outlawed, old "pagan" religious practices.

• Since the Olympic games were first and foremost a religious celebration in honor of Zeus, they held no place in the Christian empire.

• The emperor Theodosius I legally abolished the games in 393 or 394 A.D.

The Modern Games• The interest in reviving the Olympics as an international event

grew when the ruins of ancient Olympia were uncovered by German archaeologists in the mid-nineteenth century. At the same time, Pierre de Coubertin was searching for a reason for the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). He thought the reason was that the French had not received proper physical education, and sought to improve this. Coubertin also sought a way to bring nations closer together, to have the youth of the world compete in sports, rather than fight in war.

• In a congress at the Sorbonne University, in Paris, France, held from June 16 to June 23, 1894 he presented his ideas to an international audience. On the last day of the congress, it was decided that the first modern Olympic Games would take place in 1896 in Athens, in the country of their birth.