Olympic Games in the Ancient World
The Olympic Games in the Ancient World were a series of prestigious athletic festivals held in Olympia, Greece, primarily dedicated to the worship of Zeus. While the exact inception date is uncertain, records of winners date back to 776 BCE and continued until 217 CE. The Games were significant cultural events that allowed various Greek city-states to unite in celebration of their shared language and religious traditions, with political disputes temporarily set aside during these occasions. Occurring every four years, the period between the Games was known as an Olympiad, which served as a means of marking time.
Competition at the Olympics was both an athletic and a religious act, with victors often celebrated in poetry and awarded olive wreaths, alongside substantial monetary rewards from their city-states. Participation was initially restricted to free Greek men, though this changed during the Roman period. The events included various forms of racing, wrestling, and combat sports, with athletes rigorously training for at least ten months before competing. However, women and slaves were generally excluded from participation, with severe penalties for violations. The tradition of the Olympic Games came to an end in 393 CE, when the Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great abolished pagan athletic competitions in Greece.
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Olympic Games in the Ancient World
Related civilizations: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman Greece.
Date: 776 b.c.e.-393 c.e.
Locale: Olympia, in the region of Ellis, Greece
Olympic Games in the Ancient World
Although it is unknown whether the Olympic Games actually began in 776 b.c.e., winners of each Olympic Festival were recorded from that year until 217 c.e. by the chronographer Eusebius of Caesarea. The festival provided an occasion for the disparate Greek city-states to celebrate their shared language, religion, and culture. Political disputes were suspended during all four Panhellenic athletic competitions, including the Olympic Games and Nemean Games honoring Zeus, the Pythian Games honoring Apollo, and the Isthmian Games dedicated to Poseidon at Corinth. The Olympic Games were the most prestigious and were held once every four years at the first full Moon after the summer solstice. The four-year period between Olympic Festivals was known as an Olympiad and could be used as a means of calculating dates.
Competition at these games was considered an act of worship as well as an athletic event. The poet Pindar often celebrated the physical achievement of these athletes in a religious or mythological context. City-states often supplemented the official prize (a wreath of olive leaves) with monetary awards so large that victors were rich for the rest of their lives.
Only free men (and, after 632 b.c.e., boys) whose native language was Greek were allowed to compete. In the Roman period, this restriction was waived for the Romans. Slaves and all women, except for the local priestess of Demeter, were forbidden from entering the sacred area while the Games were in progress. Those violating this prohibition were hurled to their deaths from the Typaeon Rock. The earliest events at Olympia appear to have been footraces, wrestling, and throwing events. As early as the seventh century b.c.e., races for chariots and individual horses occurred. It was always the owner of the horse, not its rider, who was awarded the victory.
From 472 b.c.e. onward, events at the Olympic Games were expanded to include horse races, the discus throw, the javelin throw, boxing, the pentathlon (“five contests”: jumping, wrestling, the javelin, the discus, and running), and the pankration (a type of “no-holds-barred” wrestling). Contestants had to train for a minimum of ten months before their competition. For the last thirty days before the festival, athletes resided in a special gymnasium at Olympia itself, where they ran and threw the javelin or discus under the supervision of the Hellenodicae, a board of ten men who also served as referees during the Games themselves.
In 393 c.e., the Roman emperor Theodosius the Great, a Christian, ended all pagan athletic games in Greece.
Bibliography
Drees, Ludwig. Olympia: Gods, Artists, and Athletes. New York: Praeger, 1968.
Golden, Mark. Sport and Society in Ancient Greece. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Schipper, Henry, producer. Blood and Honor at the First Olympics. Video. New York: Greystone Communications for A&E Network, 1996.