Ancient Sporting Festivals
By the end of the 6th Century BCE, there were a number of sporting festivals famous across Greece. These ‘classical games’ included the Isthmian Games near Corinth, the Pythian Games of Delphi, and the Nemean Games (at Nemea). There was a fourth festival which was even more famous than these three: the Olympic Games, held at Olympia. Dozens of smaller games were also held across the Greek influenced ancient world.The Olympic Games
Olympia’s Olympic Games were held in August and September every four years – sunstroke was a hazard - and were so important in Greek culture that the gap between them was used by ancient historians: the timeframe was called an Olympiad. We don’t know when the Olympics truly started, but the first known winner was Coroebus of Elis, who ran to victory in 776 BCE. The ancients had their own legends, such as Hercules / Herakles starting them. The likelihood is that informal games had been going on well before 776 BCE. Zeus was important to the games, as the event was part of a religious festival to honour the god, whose sacred grove was at Altis, the precise location of the events. The Games were thus a mixture of competition and religious pilgrimage of a type without parallel today. At first people took part to honour the Gods for giving them athletic prowess; later personal and geographical concerns dominated.When Coroebus won, he triumphed in the only event that was held: a sprint along open ground. This soon developed into running up and down a track built specially for the games, before a great stadium was built c350 BCE. This stadium marked a break with the overt religious message of the previous games by being built outside Altis. The track was clay covered with sand and was six hundred feet long, with athletes having to run round a post at either end before turning back. Other games were soon added to the festival, including longer runs, wrestling, boxing, chariot racing and pentathlon, which at that time included running, wrestling, javelin, discus and long jump. 548 BCE was notable for the introduction of a mixed martial arts event. 520 saw a special race for runners dressed in armour. The winner of the original sprint had the even named after them.
Historians acknowledge that all the competitors were naked, but there is no consensus on why. Early Olympics might have seen loincloths used, but these fell out of favour. And while the prizes for Olympic victory were small, the fame created opportunities, and many competitors were professionals who trained just for sport. Indeed, as the Olympic millennium progressed, amateurs were edged out by people with the money to support themselves during a games mandated ten month training period, and some cities tried to buy better athletes by sponsorship. Competitors came from across the ancient world, including Spain and Africa, and Olympia in ancient times was accessible by sea, river or land route. However, for many centuries only citizens of Greece or Greek colonies could compete. An ‘Olympic Truce’ was established as part of the Games, protecting travelling athletes and competing states. Oaths were taken not to cheat, and offenders cold be whipped or fined.
While boys were allowed to compete in special races, women were barred from the Olympics. There is a discussion about whether women were even allowed to watch; however, some women had success by entering their horse teams. Most other games developed to allow women to compete, but the Olympics did not. However, there was a different festival, held in a different four year cycle, called the Herean, which did include running for young women.
