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Patience, brothers. Soon we will reveal the secrets of this painting.
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Take a day-by-day look at the prestigious Olympic Games!
Barnabas:Hail, friend, and welcome to Olympia, home of the Olympic Games!
("Who are you?")
Barnabas:My name is Barnabas, and I'm a shipcaptain. Don't be fooled by my eye! Though I've seen my share of combat, I mostly stick to trading these days. Well, trading and introducing visitors like you to wonderful sites like this.
("What do you think of this place?")
Barnabas:I've often dreamed of competing in the Games—if my sight was better, my legs and arms were stronger, and my coin purse was fatter. But that is not what the Gods want, so I continue making the best of the path they've laid out for me.
("Let's begin the tour.")
Barnabas:We're standing in the main section of Olympia, where the Olympic Games themselves took place. Over the course of the festival, athletes competed against each other for prestige and glory—to honor themselves and their cities. Enjoy your visit, friend. I'll check in when you're done to make sure you've been paying attention.
Red-figure kylix (drinking up) with scene of warrior blowing in trumpet / 500 BCE (Archaic Greece)
The first day of the Olympic festival began with a swearing-in ceremony for the participating athletes, trainers, and judges.
The ceremony took place in front of the altar of Zeus Horkios, or "Zeus of the Oath".
Athletes would swear that they would follow the Olympic rules, while judges promised to be fair and unbiased.
Then the competitions began, starting with a contest between heralds and trumpeters over who would have the privilege of announcing the Games.
The first day's athletic competitions consisted of wrestling, running, and boxing events for the youngest athletes, aged twelve to eighteen.
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The competition of heralds and trumpeters was introduced to the Olympic Games in 396 BCE. The winners of the contest were chosen based on their loudness and clarity.
During the games, the trumpeter's main purpose was to demand the audience's attention, while the herald announced the start of competitions.
The herald also proclaimed the names, fathers, and hometowns of the victorious athletes during the final crowning ceremony.
Quadriga racer crowned by Nike on reverse of a decadrachm of Syracuse / 405-400 BCE (Classical Greece)
The second day began with a grand procession into the hippodrome to celebrate the start of the popular equestrian events.
The most anticipated and spectacular of these was the quadriga, a four-horsechariot race.
Horse-racing events unique in that the winner was not the most skilled jockey, but the owner of the fastest horse or chariot.
The Spartan princess Kyniska once took advantage of this loophole to skirt the rule that women weren't allowed to compete, and earned two Olympic victories in the process.
The rule also allowed for occasionally strange results, like in 416 BCE, when the statesman Alkibiades entered seven chariots into a race and won first, second, and fourth place.
After the equestrian, the 40,000 spectators migrated to the stadium to watch the pentathlon events.
When the day's events were over, funeral rites were performed for the hero Pelops, the mythical founder of the Olympic Games.
The night ended with a celebratory feast and a great parade in honor of the day's victors.
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The Athenian statesman once bought and enrolled seven chariots in a race. This turned out to be a good investment, as his purchases ended up winning first, second, and fourth place.
Alkibiades's victory earned him an enormous feast and an equally enormous boost in popularity. He leveraged his popularity to wield considerable power over Athens' other politicians, and would often reference his Olympic feat to get people to take his side on a variety of issues.
This backfired spectacularly when Alkibiades convinced Athens to send a military expedition to Sicily. The expedition ended in disaster, and signaled the beginning of the end of Athens' power.
Victory at the Olympic Games was one of the highest honors a mortal could achieve, and there were several ways to immortalize that honor.
Some athletes had statues erected of themselves, while others commissioned poets to write them victory odes.
Oral tradition was very important to the Greeks. These odes, called epinikia, were often composed by the finest poets of the land, such as Pindar, Simonides, and Bacchylides.
They were usually played at banquets and celebrations attended by the triumphant athlete, or upon his departure from Olympia.
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Pindar (518 BCE – 443 BCE) was a Greek poet who orginally hailed from Thebes. He was very sought after in his time, and composed several odes for victorious athletes.
Pindar's popularity earned him commissions all over Greece, from Sicily in the west, all the way to Cyrene in North Africa. Many of the commissions were from members of the ruling aristocracy, such as Hieron of Syracuse, for whom Pindar composed four odes.
BLack-figure skyphos with scene of wrestling / 500 BCE (Archaic Greece)
As its name implies, it was made up of five events, discus throwing, javelin throwing, jumping, racing, and wrestling.
There are several differences between the ancient version of events and their contemporary counterparts.
For example, ancient long jumpers held weights in their hands to give them momentum to launch, since there was no run-up before the jump.
Similarly, if an athlete won the first three events, they were immediately declared the winner, instead of being judged by their overall performance in all five events.
Running events worked the same as they do today – with the notable exception of all athletes being nude.
As for wrestling, competitors were not divided by weight class as they are today, but instead my age. The winner was the first to throw his opponent to the ground three times.
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Earlier Olympic Games were only open to adult men. At the 37th Olympiad in 632 BCE, paides (young boys) were welcomed to compete in stadion races and wrestling, albeit in a seperate category from the older competitors.
The youngest competitor to ever win an Olympic event was Damiskos of Messene, who won the stadion race in 368 BCE at the age of twelve. He continued to win well into adulthood, contradicting Aristotle's belief that a child athlete's success never carried over into adulthood.
Panathenaic amphora with dolichos runners / 332-331 BCE (Classical Greece)
Day three started with the most important event of the festival.
A procession of hellanodikai, ambassadors, competitors, animals made their way to the Great Altar in front of the Temple of Zeus.
The animals were then offered as the offical sacrifice of the festival.
The afternoon of day three was dedicated to foot-racing events. Running was the oldest even of the Games, and in fact was the only event at the first Olympics.
The main race was called the stadion, which was a sprint of around 180 meters.
The winner was granted the honor of lending his name to the four-year period between the Games. This period was known as the Olympiad.
For example, the four years that followed the first games in 776 BCE were known as the Olympiad of Koroibos of Elis, the first Olympic champion.
Once all the competitions were over, a public banquet was held in the prytaneion to celebrate the day's victors.
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Running events were categorized by length. The stadion race was named after its unit of measurement. In Greece, a stadion was equal to about 180 meters.
The diaulos race was twice the distance of the stadion, as runners had to run the length of the track, then run back. Its name was derived from the aulos, a flute whose V-shaped matched the round trip of the race.
The dolichos was a long distance race where competitors ran approximately twenty or twenty-four times the length of the stadion. Since it was less exciting to watch than a shorter, fast-paced race, the dolichos served as an opening events.
Hoplitodromos runner on starting position / 500-450 BCE (Classical Greece)
Day four was mainly for combat events.
Wrestling matches were held in the morning, followed by boxing and pankration.
Pankration was a no-holds-barred mix between wrestling and boxing.
Almost all moves were permitted, except for biting, poking the eyes or mouth, and striking the genitals.
The event was very popular, and it was seen as the ultimate expression of strength and technique.
Later on in the afternoon, there was a unique racing event called the hoplitodromos, "race in armor".
In this event, competitors wore a helmet and held a shield to simulate running in the battlefield.
Learn More:
The hoplitodromos originated in 520 BCE, at the 65th Olympiad. It consisted of twenty-five competitors running the same length as the diaulos race while carrying bronze shields provided for them from the Temple of Zeus.
The hoplitodromos was emblematic of the close relationship in Greece between sports and war. Both shared qualities admired by the Greeks, such as effort, endurance, and courage.
("I'm ready for the quiz.")
("Take on the next suggested tour.")
("Take me on a random tour.")
([LEAVE] "That's all for now.")
