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This year, 65 AD, is an Olympics year! In honor of the upcoming Olympics, our Bibliotheke of Berea display explores the best known of the Greek games. But the Olympic events have become more than a national Greek celebration. Now, people from Rome and Alexandria come to compete. Who knows what future centuries will bring?
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History of the Olympics | |
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Selected winners from the past ten years (53 A.D. - "present") |
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Unofficial mascot of the Olympics | |
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The Olympics began in 776 B.C., in Olympia, to honor Zeus. Hippias of Elis, who wrote around 400 B.C., says that the first Games lasted only one day and had one event: the stade race. (Now, of course, the Olympics last five days and cover many events). The year 776 might not have been the first time the event was held, it could have been merely the first game held every fourth year after the peace treaty between Elis and Pisa. After all, the Eleans claim the Olympics were founded by their King Iphitos, after the Delphic Oracle told him to plant an olive tree from which we get victor's wreaths. Others say Pelops started the Olympics.
While the stade race continues to be the premier event, Hippias of Elis says that the next race to be added was the double stade race, in the 14th Olympiad in 724 B.C. Greeks added the long distance race, the dolichos, in the next Olympiad of 720 B.C. Three Olympiads later, we added the pentathlon and wrestling (708 B.C.), and in the 23rd Olympiad (688 B.C.) we added boxing. Two Olympiads after that, we added the four-horse chariot race. In 648 B.C. we added the horse race and the pankration. The race in armor was added in 520 B.C. in the 65th Olympiad, and in 408 B.C., in the 93rd Olympiad, we added the two-horse chariot race.
The Olympics have been held continuously from 776 B.C. to the present. They were even held during the Persian Wars in 480 B.C. However, the Games in 364 B.C. are not considered official because the Arkadians captured the Olympian sanctuary and changed some of the games. In 80 B.C., Sulla moved the 175th Olympiad to Rome.
The month of the Olympics is called the Hieromenia. To allow athletes to come and compete in the Games, we hold a sacred truce, the ekcheiria. At first it was only a month long, but later it lengthened to three months. Messengers called spondorophoroi go everywhere, delivering news about the truce and announcing when the Olympics will be held. The messengers have already come by here this year!
The athletes train for 10 months at home, and then 1 month of Elis. A ten-member panel of judges, the Hellanodikai, ask them questions about their parentage, character, and physical ability. Near the time of the Olympics, the judges pick the best athletes, who will compete at Olympia. Olympic winners receive a wild olive tree wreath, cut from a sacred tree with a gold-handled knife. Once they return to their homes, they will be inundated with gifts and honors, for they will have brought glory to their cities.
The five days of the Olympics will be exciting. The first day will be devoted to sacrifices, festivities, and the taking of oaths. Those who love the chariot and horse races, and the pentathlon will enjoy the second day. The third day is set aside for boy's events. The forth day showcases the men's running events: the stade, double-stade, and the long distance race. There will also be wrestling, boxing, and the pankration. The last event is the race in armor. On the fifth day, there will be sacrifices and a banquet for the winners.
The Olympic stadium has a capacity for 45,000 to 50,000 people, and a full house is expected. People have planned for months to come, and many will set up booths and tents, and sell items or perform acrobatics. Let's go through each of the Olympic events we will see:
The length of the stade race is based on the distance Herakles ran in one breath. (He is known as Hercules to our Roman patrons). The stade is about 200 yards. In 776 B.C., Coroebus of Elis, a young cook, won the stade race. Each of the Olympics are named in honor of the winner of this premier race. The stade race, and other races, are held in the stadion (stadium to our Roman patrons). The track is 200 yards long, so in longer races, athletes must turn around a pillar at each end of the stadion.
Later, the diaulos (400 yards), and the dolichos (24 stadia or 3.3 miles) were added.
In this event, athletes compete in the broad jump, the javelin, the diskos, the stade race, and wrestling. In the broad jump, they use weights called halteres to increase their distance. In the javelin and diskos events, they compete while flutists play to help the athletes' rhythm. The two who do the best in the javelin, diskos, running, and jumping events face each other in a wrestling match to determine the winner.
The winner is the one who knocks his opponent down to the ground three times, or until one surrenders.
Boxers bind their fists with leather straps, and fight until one surrenders.
Chariot races became an Olympic event in 680 B.C. and is a prestigious event. The professional charioteers race four horses side-by-side for 12 laps, over 9 miles, in the hippodromos. Since the owners of the horses and chariots are considered the winners (not the drivers) women can win events even though they cannot compete in the Games.
Horse racing is often considered to be less important than chariot racing. In this event, naked athletes race bareback for one lap of 600 yards.
This is a violent event that combines boxing and wrestling, and it continues until one man gives up. Biting and gouging are not allowed, but almost everything else is.
In this event, athletes compete against each other wearing a helmet and greaves, and carrying a shield.
Unmarried girls can watch the Olympics, but married women cannot on pain of death. Most of the men compete naked. Women can still win prizes in the chariot and horse races because the owners of the chariots and races are considered the winners.
Still, women can go to the Hera Festival. A committee of 16 women in Elis meet together to organize the events every four or five years. They also present a new woven peplos to Hera in her temple at that time. At the festival, unmarried girls run a foot race down the length of a racecourse in the same stadion used for men's races. The race is about 5/6 of the men's dromos race and is about 100 feet long. There are three divisions based on the age of the girls. The winners can dedicate images to commemorate their victories and participate in sacrifices to honor Hera. There are no races for married women.
| Year | Event | Victor | City |
| 53 A.D. | Stade race | Athenodoros | Aigion |
| Wrestling | Tiberius Claudius Patrobius | Antiocheia | |
| 57 A.D. | Stade race | Kallikles | Sidon |
| Wrestling | Tiberius Claudius Patrobius | Antiocheia | |
| 61 A.D. | Stade race | Athenodoros | Aigion |
The stade race promises to be hotly contested. Athenodoros of Aigion has been an Olympian for a long time now, and won the stade race in 49, 53, and 61. Many feel that a promising contender, Tryphon of Philadelphia, will take the race away from Athenodoros, as Kallikles of Sidon did in 57.
Emperor Nero says he will attend the Olympics with 5,000 bodyguards, and will enter several events, including the chariot race and chariot race for foals.
Meet Pallas the Owl: 
Adkins, Lesley, and Roy A. Adkins. 1997. Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece. New York: Oxford University Press
Australian Sports Commission. Olympic Facts: History of Ancient Olympics, available at
http://www.ausport.gov.au/anc.html
A Chronology of the Addition of Events to the Olympic Games, available at
http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/olympic/history/Chronology.html
The History of the Olympics, available at
http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/olympic/history/GamesHistory.html
Olympic Victors, available at
http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/olympic/cgi-bin/victors.cgi
A Program of the Olympic Festival, available at
http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/olympic/history/Program.html
The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games: Were the Ancient Olympics Just for Men?, available at
http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Olympics/olympicsexism.html
Schaap, Richard. 1967. An Illustrated History of The Olympics. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Note. Source for unofficial mascot: None at all except for a modern drachma coin.
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