The Olympics of Ancient Greece Background Ancient Greeks

The Olympics of Ancient Greece

Background ✦ Ancient Greeks had long been captivated by risk & sport ✦ 2, 000 BCE: Bull-jumping was popular in Crete ✦ Athletes would grab the horns of a charging bull & somersault over its back

Background ✦ 776 BCE: First recorded Olympics took place in Olympia in honor of Zeus ✦ Attributed the founding of the games to Heracles ✦ Was originally a religious event. A race to the statue of Zeus. ✦ A sacrifice of energy

Background ✦ Greeks were fascinated by the duality of the games ✦ 1. They appreciated the beauty & artistry of sport ✦ 2. Also captivated by its savagery & violence ✦ Saw it as a metaphor for life

Background ✦ Would continue every 4 years, uninterrupted for 1, 200 years ✦ Rome continued the Olympics until Emperor Theodosius I outlawed them to enforce Christianity in 393 CE.

Background ✦ Why every 4 Years? ✦ Because the “Olympic Games” were only one of four Panhellenic Games held across Greece.

Games Cite Olympic Games Olympia Nemean Corinth Games (Nemea) Pythian Games Delphi Isthmian Games Corinth (Isthmus of) Honored God Zeus Prize Olive Branch Crown Apollo Wild Celery Crown Laurel Crown Poseidon Pine Crown

Background ✦ Schedule: ✦ Year 1: Olympic Games ✦ Year 2: Nemean & Isthmian Games (different months) ✦ Year 3: Pythian Games ✦ Year 4: Nemean & Isthmian Games (different months)

Background ✦ Why do we call them “Olympics” then? ✦ 1. The Olympic Games were the oldest, most important, & most attended ✦ 2. They called this 4 -year cycle an Olympiad & it became the way to measure the passing of time.

the Games ✦ Any Greek citizen could compete ✦ No slaves ✦ No women ✦ A chance for anyone to display the heroic qualities of Homer’s work

THE GAMES ✦ Athletes competed naked to celebrate achievements of the human body

THE GAMES ✦ Legend 1: Nudity Originally was an accident ✦One runner’s loin cloth fell off, but he won ✦Others attributed the win to the nudity & imitated him

THE GAMES ✦Legend 2: Spartans always exercised nude. ✦Since Olympia was near Sparta, they introduced the custom

THE GAMES ✦ Married women were not allowed to watch ✦ Punishable by death ✦ Single women/girls came to take a look at the buffet

THE GAMES ✦ Held in August during full moon ✦ Athletes would arrive 30 days early for training & observation by the hellanodikai (officials)

THE GAMES ✦ First a priest would bless the games by sacrificing the testicles of bulls to Zeus ✦ 100 bulls were sacrificed ✦ The rest of the bull was cooked to serve at the opening ceremony feast

THE GAMES ✦ Spectators would come from as far as Egypt, Algeria, France, & Russia ✦ Greek city-states were notoriously quarrelsome, but a 3 -week “Truce of Zeus” would be in effect during the games

THE GAMES ✦ Truce was enforced by the Spartans ✦ Needless to say, it was not violated

THE GAMES ✦ Big party atmosphere ✦ Guests would camp & cook in the grassy areas of the grounds ✦ Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle all known to enjoy watching the games

THE GAMES ✦ Statues of Nike would look down on the competitors ✦ Winners were treated like conquering heroes & sometimes like gods ✦ Sweat of athletes was scraped off & sold as magic potion ✦ No other prize than their wreath crowns

THE GAMES ✦ No silver or bronze - just losers ✦ Losers went home in shame

THE GAMES ✦ Greeks did not believe in an afterlife, so it was the chance for immortality ✦ Remembered in memory, story, & song ✦ (Athens offered free meals for life to their winners)

RUNNING ✦ Running was First set of events in the Olympics ✦ The competition wasn’t about times or records it was about winning ✦ Took place in the stadion ✦Latin version would become “stadium”

RUNNING ✦ Single stade - 200 meter sprint of up to 20 runners ✦ Double stade - down & back around a post ✦ Dalikos - 20 times around (2. 25 miles)

RUNNING ✦ If there was a tie, they had to rerun it ✦ False starters were beaten by the officials ✦ (The Marathon was not an event)

RUNNING ✦ Hoplitodromos - Hoplites in full armor ran out & back twice ✦ last event of the games ✦ symbol of the return of reality

BOXING ✦ Boxing was added in 688 BCE ✦ No weight division, no corner men, no rounds, no water, no gloves, no breaks ✦ Fights could last hours until a fighter admitted defeat by raising one finger

BOXING ✦ The shame of losing was much more powerful than today. ✦ Many fighters took a vow to die in the ring rather than admit defeat. ✦ Spartans did not box ✦They might end up fighting each other and the shame of loss was too great

✦ Started wrapping BOXING rawhide leather around their hands to increase the damage to the opponent ✦ When Romans took over in 146 BCE, they started inserting 1” metal spikes into their leather wrappings ✦ Became more of a knife fight

BOXING ✦ In the rare event of a stalemate, the hellanodikai would call for an exchange of unblocked blows

PANKRATION ✦ Most brutal, but most popular ✦ Combination of boxing & wrestling ✦ Held in a pit & fought upright ✦ 3 throws by any means was a win

PANKRATION ✦ Believed to be Zeus’s favorite because of the occasional unintended sacrifice of life or limb ✦ Punching, kicking, strangling, breaking bones, & tripping were all permitted

PANKRATION ✦ Only 2 rules: ✦ No biting. ✦ No gouging of eyes. ✦ Groin strikes were “frowned upon, ” but no rules were ever enforced

CHARIOT RACE ✦ Took place in the hippodrome ✦ hippo = horse ✦ dromos = course ✦ Track was 150 yards long

CHARIOT RACE ✦ 24 laps (5. 33 miles) - down & back around a turning post ✦ 44 chariots at once, each pulled by 4 horses ✦ The Most dangerous sport at the Olympics

CHARIOT RACE ✦ No barrier dividing the out & back - deadly collisions ✦ During one race, 43 chariots crashed. ✦ The winner was the one survivor

CHARIOT RACE ✦ 67 CE: Roman Emperor Nero competed in a chariot pulled by 10 horses ✦ Thrown from the cart & couldn’t finish ✦ Still declared the winner ✦ When he died the next year, they overruled his victory

PENTATHLON ✦ Balance, grace, all-around skill ✦ all practiced & performed to the music of the flute ✦ Sculptors used pentathletes as models when sculpting the gods ✦ 5 Diverse events: Running, Long jump, discuss, javelin, wrestling

PENTATHLON ✦ Stadion (Running) ✦ 200 yd. sprint ✦ Straight down the stade

PENTATHLON ✦ Long Jump ✦ Held hand weights to add momentum ✦ Pit was 50’ long ✦ Modern World Record: Mike Powell (USA, 1991) 29’ 4. 25” ✦ Could they jump that much farther?

PENTATHLON ✦ Discus ✦ Heavier - about 15 lbs ✦ Signature Twisting technique still used today

PENTATHLON ✦ Javelin ✦ With a rope loop for extra thrust

PENTATHLON ✦ Wrestling ✦ Held in a mud pit to make them slippery ✦ Continued until someone signaled defeat ✦ A rule had to be added against finger breaking

PENTATHLON ✦ Leoniskos of Messene won the wrestling match at 2 consecutive Olympic games because he broke everyone’s fingers

HERAEA ✦ The Heraea were Separate games for women ✦ Virgin & Unmarried only ✦ Dedicated to Hera

HERAEA ✦ Only running - 3 sprints. 1 each for girls, teens, young women ✦ Spartan girls dominated

HERAEA ✦ Did not compete nude ✦ wore a short tunic that exposed the right breast ✦ Possibly to prove womanhood ✦ Held on a day of rest for the men

MODERN GAMES ✦ 1896: After over 1, 500 years, the First modern Olympic Games were reinstated. ✦ First was held in Athens as tribute

MODERN GAMES ✦ Significant Modern Olympics ✦ 1916: Berlin Olympics cancelled because of WWI ✦ 1936: Berlin Olympics Held beneath Nazi flags

MODERN GAMES ✦ 1940: Tokyo Summer & Winter Olympics Cancelled because of WWII ✦ 1944: London Summer Olympics & Italian Winter Olympics cancelled because of WWII

MODERN GAMES ✦ 1972: Munich Olympics. Israeli athletes kidnapped & killed by Palestinian terrorists ✦ 1994: Lillehammer, Switzerland is first Winter Olympics to be offset by 2 years with the summer Olympics ✦There had been a 1992 Winter Olympics also