Ancient Olympics

The stadium at Olympia held 45,000 spectators. The high priestess of Demeter Chamyne, a Greek goddess, was the only woman allowed to watch the events.

No time records of early foot races exist since there was no way to measure how long it took for the winner to reach the finish line. What does survive are statues and pottery depicting the runners.

A few important points about some events will highlight differences between the ancient and modern games:

• A key running event was called the Hoplitodromos (click here for the correct pronunciation) where athletes ran in full battle armor.



• The pentathlon included jumping (where, accompanied by flute music, athletes jumped into a pit holding halteres in their hands); running; javelin (separated into distinct events for distance and accuracy); discus throwing; and wrestling (part of the pentathlon in the Olympics but a separate event in the Panhellenic games).



• Wrestlers practiced as a trainer, rod in hand, coached their efforts.



• Boxing, as depicted in the mural from Acrotiri (found in ancient Thera) where two children are having a go at each other, was one of the oldest events.



• As boxers participated in their sport, Nike (the winged goddess of Victory) watched.



• Horse racing, an aristocratic sport then as it is now, included the quadriga (four-horse chariot) race which, according to ancient accounts, was the most spectacular (a la Ben Hur) equestrian event of all.

The athletes competed for a crown of wild olive leaves, made from a tree (called The Olive of the Beautiful Crown) which grew in the Altis. During the games, the crowns rested on a gold and ivory table in the Temple of Hera.

Like today, the real rewards were far more than a crown. So important was a win (for the athlete, for his family, for his town) that specific Olympic victories were used as historical reference points. (The battle of Marathon, for example, took place in the third year of the Olympiad in which Tisicrates of Croton [scroll down 60%] won the stadion for the second time.) Thousands of years later, we still know the names of athletes because Greek writers immortalized their exploits in stories and poems.

One is left to wonder whether victors in the modern games will still be talked about a thousand years from now!