The ancient Olympics were a series of athletic tournaments held between the Grecian city-states. They lasted from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D. There are several legends about how the Olympics began, including “the funeral sacrifices of Pelops” (king of Olympia), according to Clement of Alexandria, Herakles winning a footrace and declaring that it be rerun, and Zeus celebrating his defeat of Cronus. Other stories include the celebration of a peace between Sparta and Elis. The games were held to be one of the two most important rituals of ancient Greece.
Ahe Olympic games were part of the Panhellenic Games. The four Panhellenic Games were held at two or four year intervals, but were organized so that there was at least one game each year. The Olympic Games were more prestigious, important, and famous than its counterparts, the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Games.
The first event for women was the Heraea Games. A group called the “Sixteen Women” administered the games. They were said to be either a group of wise women organized by Hippodameia or a group of peace-makers from Pisa and Elis.
During most Olympic Games a truce or ekecheiria was held. Runners known as spondophorai were sent from Elis to each participant to declare the beginning of the truce. During this period, armies could not enter Olympia, wars were suspended, and legal disputes and the death penalty were forbidden. The truce was designed to allow athletes and visitors to travel to Olympia.
The games first started in Olympia, the sanctuary the Olympics were named after and which was placed between Elis and Pisa. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, a 12 meter high statue of Zeus made of ivory and gold and sculpted by Phideas, was at the Shrine. The games were held every four years, and the Greeks based their calendar upon that, referring to the intervening years as an Olympiad. The winners got olive wreaths, palm branches, and woolen ribbons. If an athlete was caught cheating, he was disqualified, and he, his trainer, and possibly his city-state was fined.
Only free men who spoke Greek were allowed to enter the Olympics. In order to be in the games, a man had to qualify (be young and swear an oath that they had trained for the past ten months in front of the statue of Zeus) and have his name in the lists. Trainees had to have a diet, abstain from meat, exercise in all weather, and not drink any cold water or wine.
The first competition was the stadion race, which was over about 190 meters. The race was said to be measured after the feet of Herakles. The word stadium derives from this race.
Several groups fought for control of the sanctuary, and the games. Pheidon of Argos captured the sanctuary for a year in 668 B.C., but Elis recaptured the sanctuary the next year. The Pisans and Arcadians managed to capture the sanctuary around 364, and Elis counterattacked during the Pentathlon finals. The Elians were, however, repelled by missiles thrown at them from the portico.
The diaulos, or 2-stade race, was introduced in 724 B.C. The race was a single lap of the stadium (approx. 400 meters). Another race, the dolichos, was introduced in 720 B.C. The average stated length of the race was 18-24 laps, or about three miles. The race wound past various shrines, turning back at the statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, at Zeus' shrine. The last race added was the hoplitodromes, or Hoplite race, which was introduced in 520 B.C. The runners would either run a single or double diaulos in partial or full armor, carrying a shield and wearing either greeves or a helmet. The hoplitodromes simulated the speed and stamina needed for warfare.
Over the years, boxing (pygme/pygmachia), wrestling (pale), pankration (regulated full contact fighting), chariot racing, and the pentathlon (wrestling, stadion, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw) were added. Boxing became increasingly brutal over the years. The competitors' gloves grew from soft leather to hard leather weighted with metal. In the chariot racing event, the owner, not the rider, gained credit for the wins and losses. Women could compete in all equestrian events.
The additional events made the festival grow from 1 to 5 days. On the first day, a procession composed of judges, referees, heralds, athletes, and trainers came to Olympia from Elis. Purification rites and sacrifices to the gods were made. The chariot races began the events on the second day. Next was the pentathlon in the stadium. The third day began with a sacrifice to Zeus and was dedicated to the boys events. The boys had lesser versions of the mens' events. The fourth day started with the foot races. Afterwards came wrestling, boxing, and the pankration. On the final day victory ceremonies were held at the temple of Zeus. At the end of the day, a banquet of 100 oxen sacrificed to Zeus on the first day was held for the competitors.
The Olympic Games were suppressed by either Theodosius I in A.D. 393 or Theodosius II in 435 as part of an effort to impose Christianity as Greece's state religion. Olympia itself remained until it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 6th century.
Famous Ancient Athletes
Acanthus of Sparta (diaulos)
Akusitaos of Rhodes (boxing and pankration)
Astytos of Croton (stadion, diaulos, hoplitodromes)
Aurelios Zopyros of Athens (junior boxing)
Chionis of Sparta (stadion, diaulos, long jump, triple jump)
Cynisca of Sparta (first woman to be listed as Olympic victor)
Damagetos of Rhodes (boxing and pankration)
Diagoras of Rhodes (boxing)
Koroibos of Elis (stadion)
Leonidas of Rhodes (stadion, diaulos, hoplitodromes)
Milo of Croton (wrestling)
Nero (steerer of a ten-horse chariot)
Orsippus of Megara (diaulos)
Theagenes of Thasos (pankration)
Tiberius (steerer of a four-horse chariot)
Timasitheos of Croton (wrestling)
Varastades of Armenia (last known Ancient Olympic victor (boxing))
