The ancient Olympic Games: A history

PART II

      Participants

Athletes who participated in the games had to be Greeks from all the various regions including the lower part of Italy (Sicily, Great Greece) and the colonies of North Africa and the Greek cities of Asia Minor.

        Events

Even though in the beginning of the Olympic Games, running was the only athlopedia to capture the attention of the spectators and organizers, other games were soon added. Between 724 and 200 BC, they added in chronological order, diavlos, dolichos, the pentathlon, wrestling, boxing, the chariot race (tethrippo), the pangration (a combination of wrestling and boxing), running and wrestling of children, pentathlon of children, boxing of children, running in full uniform and armor, the chariot race on four wheel carriage (apini), the pangration of children and many others.

              Run of the Stadium

Originally, this meant a run of 600 feet and it was done in a limited space and in later years from this particular athlopedia “stadium” they named Stadium the area where all the games were executed. The prototype stadium was 214 meters long and 32 meters wide. The athletes stood in a flat area and approached the starting point, which was marked by standing stones. The judges sat right across from the white marbled altar and the spectators sat on the ground. This game was the most significant run for speed. Ideally the participating athletes had to be light, not very tall so they would have a good balance, muscular, symmetrical lines, straight legs, chest not too wide (like other athletes) and arms a little longer than normal, but muscular and lean. This proto-type is according to Philostratos.

              Diavlos- This athlopedia was a run for speed equivalent to the run of 400 meters today. This game was officially established during the 14^th Olympiad. Originally they were allowing only young men to compete, but eventually, on the 37^th Olympiad, they allowed also children. Considering that the stadium was only 192.27 meters long and diavlos were about 385.5 meters, athletes had to run the entire stadium, first forward and upon reaching the end, turning and running back to the starting point.

              Dolichos - This was a run of endurance and it is approximately equivalent to the five kilometers today. Its beginning, dates back to the days where messengers in Greece were running to announce important news from city to city. The athletes of this game were subjected to special diet and various stringent exercises in preparation.

              Armored Running – In this game, the athletes were running in full uniform and armor. The run was originally done in four stadiums but eventually they did it in two. This was a spectacular athlopedia and that explains the reason we have so many depictions of it on ancient urns. It required a tall runner, with a perfectly muscular body and balance coupled with agility.

              The Pentathlon – The most probable theory is that the pentathlon was invented in 708 BC during the 18^th Olympiad. Pentathlon, as the word reveals, is a Greek word meaning five (penta) athlopedias (Athlon). The combination of the five games included jump, discus, run, javelin and wrestling, in that order. The experts felt that it was very difficult for the athletes to perform in two games of the lower extremes (run and jump) one after the other, so they were separated by the discus and the javelin. Wrestling, which is another very demanding sport, was set apart and left for last.

In Part III, we will continue the focus on the balance of events held and The Judges.

             

      

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           Please, follow us for the PART TWO of the ORIGINAL OLYMPICS - HISTORY-

                                                 

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                  THE OLYMPIC GAMES - A HISTORY

        Prefacing the article below

        In the year 2004, when I was a contributing author for the

HELLENIC VOICE  Newspaper, in Boston, Mass, I published

        the article you will read below regarding the Ancient

Olympic Games, in Olympia Greece.

        Using my pen name, Penelope Stiva AKA: Evi Martyn, the 

        article drew national attention and acclaim for its

        historical accuracy and details that were brought forth.

        

        My article was published, Wednesday, February 5, 2004 under

        ARTS, CULTURE AND EDUCATION, special to the Hellenic Voice.

                  Here is how it begins:

                    " When a new Olympiad began in all the furthest 

                      corners of the planet, when the divine flame began 

                      its long trip from its cradle, we Greeks felt proud 

                      for something of ours that became a worldly event." 

                                         By: Evi Martyn

                                               Founder/Hellenic Culture Advocacy

                       

                                                  

The ancient Olympic Games: A history

                            PART I

Location:

According to contemporary researches, the location of the Olympic Games was originally the place where the ancient Greeks worshipped Mother Earth, just like the location of Delphi and many other ancient matriarchal societies. In the same location, it is believed they also worshipped Rhea, the wife of Kronos and mother of Zeus, in whose honor they conducted the Olympic Games.

      Olympia during the ancient times was the biggest and the most famous altar of Peloponnesos equal to that of Delphi. There were several building temples and art works and many installations for the worshippers and everything that would accommodate the Games. The Olympic Games was a famous event. Although the general area was uninhabited, Olympia belonged to the closest big city. That was the city of Ilis and earlier the city of Pissa.

The ancient history is embellished with many different versions as to the beginning of the Olympia. Some believe that they were established when the people arrived in the area of Crete with their leader Hercules (no relation to the famous hero). Others believe it was when Pelopas came in the area after he won a race against the king of Pissa and he was awarded not only the entire region and kingdom, but also the daughter of the king as his wife. The “event” is immortalized on the eastern pediment of the temple of Zeus in Olympia on a sculpture of the 5^th Century BC.

However to put an end to all versions and find a historical sequence, we must focus on the 9^th century around 884 BC.  It appears that an arrangement between the rulers of three cities. Ilis, Sparta and Pissa, was reached and it was decided to acknowledge the area of Ilis as the official place for the games. From then on, the Olympic Games were held every five years, after the completion of four years from the previous games. They were named Olympiads and were always held in the summer.

The first registered Olympiad dates back to 776 BC.  Along with the date of registration, they also inscribed the names of the winners on the columns of the temple of Zeus.

Preparing for the Games

The Olympic Games have been the most glorious and renowned of the classic years. The publicity of the event was a major undertaking. Various noblemen (Sponthofori) from the city of Ilis traveled all over Greece in order to publicize the event and at the same time to invite the best of youth to come to Olympia and compete. They also invited the “theorous” official representatives of each city and the public.

That marked the beginning of a preparatory period in Greece, which had the dual significance of showing off the athletic prowess of the youth and of demonstrating the wealth of each city and its people. It also served as a means of public relations for the Greek citizens -  people meeting people, famous generals, renown politicians, philosophers, artists, craftsmen, artisans, etc.  Everyone would be there, it was a grand event. 

The Games

The games were always held in the summer after the first full moon of the summer solstice.  The spectators suffered greatly due to being in the hot sun all day. According to the expert historians, the games were always in the middle of July – possibly because the long day 

provided more time for the games, taking into consideration that the games lasted only one day until the year 472 BC.  Later, they extended the time to three days and by the year 468 BC, it was five.  In the beginning, the Olympia included only running, but eventually, they added more games. It is worthy of mentioning here that running had its roots in real events. In the old days, they used runners as messengers to announce the war news as far as victory or defeat. The messengers were obliged to cover the distances on foot and not on horses so they would not be noticed.

         Consequently, they had to train in running so they could provide their service during war time.

In Part II, we will focus on the Participants and the Events of the ancient Olympic Games.