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The ancient Olympics had fewer events than the modern games, and only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate,<ref>David Sansone, ''Ancient Greek civilization'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2003, p.32</ref> although a woman ] is also mentioned as a winning chariot owner. As long as they met the entrance criteria, athletes from any ] and ] were allowed to participate, although the ], the officials in charge, allowed king ] to participate in the games only after he had proven his Greek ancestry.<ref>Robert Malcolm Errington, ''A history of Macedonia'', University of California Press, 1990, p.3</ref><ref>Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington, ''A Companion to Ancient Macedonia'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, p.16</ref> The games were always held at Olympia rather than alternating to different locations as is the tradition with the modern ].<ref name=perseus>{{cite web|title=The Ancient Olympics|publisher=Tufts University|work=The Perseus Project|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics|accessdate=2010-02-12| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100210170341/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics| archivedate= 10 February 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> Victors at the Olympics were honored, and their feats chronicled for future generations. The ancient Olympics had fewer events than the modern games, and only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate,<ref>David Sansone, ''Ancient Greek civilization'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2003, p.32</ref> although a woman ] is also mentioned as a winning chariot owner. As long as they met the entrance criteria, athletes from any ] and ] were allowed to participate, although the ], the officials in charge, allowed king ] to participate in the games only after he had proven his Greek ancestry.<ref>Robert Malcolm Errington, ''A history of Macedonia'', University of California Press, 1990, p.3</ref><ref>Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington, ''A Companion to Ancient Macedonia'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, p.16</ref> The games were always held at Olympia rather than alternating to different locations as is the tradition with the modern ].<ref name=perseus>{{cite web|title=The Ancient Olympics|publisher=Tufts University|work=The Perseus Project|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics|accessdate=2010-02-12| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100210170341/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics| archivedate= 10 February 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> Victors at the Olympics were honored, and their feats chronicled for future generations.

== History ==
The games were held to be one of the two central rituals in ], the other being the much older religious festival, the ].<ref name="HickokSports">{{cite web |url=http://www.hickoksports.com/history/olancien.shtml |title=The Ancient Olympic Games |publisher=HickokSports |date=2005-02-04 |accessdate=2007-05-13| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20070510082340/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/olancien.shtml| archivedate= 10 May 2007 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref><!-- I see the citation.....but still, something is missing here -->

The games started in Olympia, Greece, in a sanctuary site for the ] near the towns of Elis and ] (both in ] on the peninsula of ]). The first games began as an annual foot race of young women in competition for the position of the priestess for the goddess, ]<ref>Pausanias: v. 16. 2</ref> and a second race was instituted for a consort for the priestess who would participate in the religious traditions at the temple.<ref>Pindar: Pythian Odes ix</ref>

The ], the first recorded competition for women in the Olympic Stadium, were held as early as the sixth century BC. It originally consisted of foot races only, as did the competition for males. Some texts, including Pausanias's '']'', c. AD&nbsp;175, state that ] gathered a group known as the "Sixteen Women" and made them administrators of the Heraea Games, out of gratitude for her marriage to ]. Other texts related to the Elis and Pisa conflict indicate that the "]" were peacemakers from Pisa and Elis and, because of their political competence, became administrators of the Heraea. Being the consort of Hera in ] ], Zeus was the father of the deities in the ] of that era. The Sanctuary of ] in Olympia housed a {{convert|13|m|ft|adj=mid|-high}} ] that had been sculpted by ] circa 445&nbsp;BC. This statue was one of the ancient ]. By the time of the Classical Greek culture, in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, the games were restricted to male participants.

The historian ], who lived in the fourth century BC, is one potential candidate for establishing the use of Olympiads to count years, although credit for codifying this particular epoch usually falls to Hippias of Elis, to Eratosthenes, or even to Timaeus, whom Eratosthenes may have imitated.<ref>Plutarch, ''Numa Pompilius 1.4''</ref><ref>Dionysius, ''1.74-1-3''. Little remains of Eratosthenes' ''Chronographiae'', but its academic influence is clearly demonstrated here in the ''Roman Antiquities'' by Dionysius of Halicarnassus.</ref><ref>Denis Feeney in ''Caesar's Calendar: Ancient Time and the Beginnings of History''. (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2007), 84.</ref> The Olympic Games were held at four-year intervals, and later, the ancient historians' method of counting the years even referred to these games, using the term '']'' for the period between two games. Previously, the local dating systems of the Greek states were used (they continued to be used by everyone except the historians), which led to confusion when trying to determine dates. For example, Diodorus states that there was a solar eclipse in the third year of the 113th Olympiad, which must be the eclipse of 316&nbsp;BC. This gives a date of (mid-summer) 765&nbsp;BC for the first year of the first Olympiad.<ref>"The Athletics of the Ancient Olympics: A Summary and Research Tool" by Kotynski, p.3 (Quote used with permission). For the calculation of the date, see Kotynski footnote 6.</ref> Nevertheless, there is disagreement among scholars as to when the games began.<ref>See, for example, Alfred Mallwitz's article "Cult and Competition Locations at Olympia" p.101 in which he argues that the games may not have started until about 704 BC. Hugh Lee, on the other hand, in his article "The 'First' Olympic Games of 776 B.C.E" p.112, follows an ancient source that claims that there were twenty-seven Olympiads before the first one was recorded in 776. There are no records of Olympic victors extant from earlier than the fifth century BC.</ref>

]
The only competition held then was, according to the later Greek traveller ] who wrote in 175&nbsp;AD., the '']'' race, a race over about {{convert|190|m}}, measured after the feet of Hercules. The word ''stadium'' is derived from this foot race.

The Greek tradition of athletic nudity (gymnos)<ref>N.Yalouris.1976.The Olympic Games-through the ages.Print</ref> was introduced in 720&nbsp;BC, either by the Spartans or by the Megarian ], and this was adopted early in the Olympics as well.

Several groups fought over control of the sanctuary at Olympia, and hence the games, for prestige and political advantage. Pausanias later writes that in 668&nbsp;BC, Pheidon of ] was commissioned by the town of Pisa to capture the sanctuary from the town of Elis, which he did and then personally controlled the games for that year. The next year, Elis regained control.

The Olympic Games were part of the ], four separate games held at two- or four-year intervals, but arranged so that there was at least one set of games every year. The Olympic Games were more important and more prestigious than the ], ], and ].

The games were in decline for many years but continued past 385 AD, by which time flooding and earth quakes had damaged the buildings and invasions by barbarians had reached Olympia.<ref name="Young2008">{{cite book|author=David C. Young|title=A Brief History of the Olympic Games|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gMuuQZubxDIC&pg=PA135|accessdate=1 April 2013|date=15 April 2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-77775-6|pages=135–}}</ref> In 394 Theodosius I banned all pagan festivals, but archeological evidence indicates that some games were still held.<ref name="Perrottet2004">{{cite book|author=Tony Perrottet|title=The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=B2VPMUBAxUUC&pg=PA190|accessdate=1 April 2013|date=8 June 2004|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|isbn=978-1-58836-382-4|pages=190–}}</ref>


== Culture == == Culture ==

Revision as of 21:11, 10 January 2014

For the modern event, see Olympic Games.
Olympic Games
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The Olympic Games (Template:Lang-grc) were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states of Ancient Greece. They were held in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. Historical records indicate that they began in 776 BC in Olympia. They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule, until the emperor Theodosius I suppressed them in 394 AD as part of the campaign to impose Christianity as the state religion of Rome. The games were held every four years, or olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies.

During the celebration of the games, an Olympic Truce was enacted so that athletes could travel from their countries to the games in safety. The prizes for the victors were olive leaf wreaths or crowns. The games became a political tool used by city-states to assert dominance over their rivals. Politicians would announce political alliances at the games, and in times of war, priests would offer sacrifices to the gods for victory. The games were also used to help spread Hellenistic culture throughout the Mediterranean. The Olympics also featured religious celebrations and artistic competitions. The statue of Zeus at Olympia was counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Sculptors and poets would congregate each olympiad to display their works of art to would-be patrons.

The ancient Olympics had fewer events than the modern games, and only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate, although a woman Bilistiche is also mentioned as a winning chariot owner. As long as they met the entrance criteria, athletes from any city-state and Macedon were allowed to participate, although the Hellanodikai, the officials in charge, allowed king Alexander I to participate in the games only after he had proven his Greek ancestry. The games were always held at Olympia rather than alternating to different locations as is the tradition with the modern Olympic Games. Victors at the Olympics were honored, and their feats chronicled for future generations.

Culture

The "Discobolus" is a copy of a Greek statue c. 5th century BC. It represents an ancient Olympic discus thrower

The ancient Olympics were as much a religious festival as an athletic event. The games were held in honor of the Greek god Zeus, and on the middle day of the games, 100 oxen would be sacrificed to him. Over time Olympia, site of the games, became a central spot for the worship of the head of the Greek pantheon and a temple, built by the Greek architect Libon was erected on the mountaintop. The temple was one of the largest Doric temples in Greece. The sculptor Pheidias created a statue of the god made of gold and ivory. It stood 42 feet (13 m) tall. It was placed on a throne in the temple. The statue became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. As the historian Strabo put it,

"... the glory of the temple persisted ... on account both of the festal assembly and of the Olympian Games, in which the prize was a crown and which were regarded as sacred, the greatest games in the world. The temple was adorned by its numerous offerings, which were dedicated there from all parts of Greece."

Artistic expression was a major part of the games. Sculptors, poets and other artisans would come to the games to display their works in what became an artistic competition. Sculptors created works like Myron's Diskobolos or Discus Thrower. Their aim was to highlight natural human movement and the shape of muscles and the body. Poets would be commissioned to write prose in honor of the Olympic victors. These poems, known as Epinicians, were passed on from generation to generation and many of them have lasted far longer than any other honor made for the same purpose. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, one of the founders of the modern Olympic Games, wanted to fully imitate the ancient Olympics in every way. Included in his vision was to feature an artistic competition modeled on the ancient Olympics and held every four years, during the celebration of the Olympic Games. His desire came to fruition at the Olympics held in Athens in 1896.

Politics

The Parthenon in Athens, one of the leading city-states of the ancient world

Power in ancient Greece became centered around the city-state in the 8th century BC. The city-state was a population center organized into a self-contained political entity. These city-states often lived in close proximity to each other, which created competition for limited resources. Though conflict between the city-states was ubiquitous, it was also in their self-interest to engage in trade, military alliances and cultural interaction. The city-states had a dichotomous relationship with each other: On one hand, they relied on their neighbors for political and military alliances, while on the other they competed fiercely with those same neighbors for vital resources. The Olympic Games were established in this political context and served as a venue for representatives of the city-states to peacefully compete against each other.

In the first 200 years of the games' existence, they only had regional religious importance. Only Greeks in proximity to the mountain competed in these early games. This is evidenced by the dominance of Peloponnesian athletes in the victors' rolls. The spread of Greek colonies in the 5th and 6th centuries BC is repeatedly linked to successful Olympic athletes. For example, Pausanias recounts that Cyrene was founded c. 630 BC by settlers from Thera with Spartan support. The support Sparta gave was primarily the loan of three-time Olympic champion Chionis. The appeal of settling with an Olympic champion helped to populate the colonies and maintain cultural and political ties with the city-states near Olympia. Thus, Hellenistic culture and the games spread while the primacy of Olympia persisted.

The games faced a serious challenge during the Peloponnesian War, which primarily pitted Athens against Sparta, but, in reality, touched nearly every Hellenistic city-state. The Olympics were used during this time to announce alliances and offer sacrifices to the gods for victory.

During the Olympic Games, a truce, or ekecheiria was observed. Three runners, known as spondophoroi were sent from Elis to the participant cities at each set of games to announce the beginning of the truce. During this period, armies were forbidden from entering Olympia, wars were suspended, and legal disputes and the use of the death penalty were forbidden. The truce was primarily designed to allow athletes and visitors to travel safely to the games and was, for the most part, observed. Thucydides wrote of a situation when the Spartans were forbidden from attending the games, and the violators of the truce were fined 2,000 minae for assaulting the city of Lepreum during the period of the ekecheiria. The Spartans disputed the fine and claimed that the truce had not yet taken hold.

While a martial truce was observed by all participating city-states, no such reprieve from conflict existed in the political arena. The Olympic Games evolved the most influential athletic and cultural stage in ancient Greece, and arguably in the ancient world. As such the games became a vehicle for city-states to promote themselves. The result was political intrigue and controversy. For example, Pausanias, a Greek historian, explains the situation of the athlete Sotades,

"Sotades at the ninety-ninth Festival was victorious in the long race and proclaimed a Cretan, as in fact he was. But at the next Festival he made himself an Ephesian, being bribed to do so by the Ephesian people. For this act he was banished by the Cretans."

Famous athletes

Ancient list of Olympic victors of the 75 to the 78, and from the 81 to the 83 Olympiads (480–468 BC, 456–448 BC).

Olympic festivals in other places

Main article: Ancient Olympics in various places

Athletic festivals under the name of "Olympic games", named in imitation of the original festival at Olympia, were established over time in various places all over the Greek world. Some of these are only known to us by inscriptions and coins; but others, as the Olympic festival at Antioch, obtained great celebrity. After these Olympic festivals had been established in several places, the great Olympic festival itself was sometimes designated in inscriptions by the addition of Pisa.

Ancient Olympic Games in literature

  1. The Olympian: A Tale of Ancient Hellas by E.S. Kraay, ISBN 1439201676.

See also

Notes

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
  1. David Sansone, Ancient Greek civilization, Wiley-Blackwell, 2003, p.32
  2. Robert Malcolm Errington, A history of Macedonia, University of California Press, 1990, p.3
  3. Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington, A Companion to Ancient Macedonia, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, p.16
  4. ^ "The Ancient Olympics". The Perseus Project. Tufts University. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. Stanton, 2000, pp.3–4
  6. Stanton, 2000, p. 17
  7. Hansen, 2006, p. 9
  8. Hansen, 2006, pp.9–10
  9. Hansen, 2006, p.10
  10. Hansen, 2006, p.114
  11. Raschke, 1988, p. 23
  12. Spivey, 2005, p.172
  13. Spivey, 2005, pp.182–183
  14. Lendering, Jona. "Peloponnesian War". Livius, Articles on Ancient History. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Thucydides (431 BC). The History of the Peloponnesian War. Vol. 5. Translated by Richard Crawley. The Internet Classics Archive. ISBN 0-525-26035-8. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-13. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Swaddling, 1999, p.11
  17. Strassler & Hanson, 1996, pp.332–333
  18. Kyle, 2007, p. 8
  19. Tiberius, AD 1 or earlier – cf. Ehrenberg & Jones, Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius p. 73 (n.78)
  20. 369 according to Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece by Nigel Wilson, 2006, Routledge (UK) or 385 according to Classical Weekly by Classical Association of the Atlantic States
  21. William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 1875 – ancientlibrary.com

References

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