Part of the difficulty in writing about the ancient Olympic Games is that they covered a span of over a thousand years, from 776 BC to 393 AD.
The first installment in a five-part series
Ancient Greek and Roman writers like Pliny, Lucilius, Aristophanes, Menander, Pindar and others wrote of the games, though as most players would agree today, it does not necessarily follow that these early reporters were any more accurate than some who cover today’s games.
Many literary clues can be checked archaeologically, as the victors had the privilege of erecting statues to themselves within the precincts of Olympia. Though the marble and bronze statues were destroyed during the dark ages, many pedestal blocks have been uncovered and their inscriptions form the basis of most of our records.
In the lead-up to the opening ceremony in Beijing on August 8th, this is the first installment in a five-part series looking at the origins of the Olympics.
The origin of the Olympic Games is uncertain. It would seem, however, that they were to honour the Gods that the Greeks worshipped, particularly Zeus.
One legend has it that a tyrant called Oenomaus, who had a beautiful daughter, Hippodamia, once ruled the main land south of the Gulf of Corinth called Peloponnesus. Oenomaus was an evil sportsman. Every youth that came in suit for his daughter was told that she was his. All he had to do was to take Hippodamia to Corinth by chariot. Suitors were given a head start and then Oenomaus would come after them on his chariot with his spear in his hand.
Allegedly, 13 young men met their death on the road to Corinth and so swift was Oenomaus he was able to give them a start while he sacrificed a ram to Zeus.
Then came a young warrior called Pelops. He accepted the challenge. He was not only young and virile, but also shrewd. The night before he asked for Hippodamia’s hand he tampered with the fastenings on the King’s chariot. Next day Oenomaus got his come-uppance when his wheels broke loose and he was dragged to his death at what is now Olympia- a valley in the district of Elis.
Pelops ascended the throne and ruled for many years. Peloponnesus is named after him. Unfortunately Pelops was worried with thoughts of Oenomaus and to appease his ghost he established the Olympic Games at the site of his death.
Thus, the Olympic Games, which are supposed to be an example of fair play and sportsmanship, were founded on a fixed race.
The small state of Elis sponsored the games and every four years they sent out messengers, known as “truce bearers of Zeus, the thunder God,” issuing invitations throughout the Greek world. A one-month “truce of Greece “ was proclaimed In spite of war, famine and pestilence an estimated 10 to 40,000 athletes, peddlers and spectators came every four years. People coming to Olympia during the truce were given safe passage through hostile lands. The athletes were required to arrive a full month before the Games began and only excuses such as sickness, piracy or shipwreck were accepted.
The Olympics were part sport, part religion and part world’s fair. It is thought that they took place over a five-day period during the first full moon of either August or September. Menander captures the atmosphere of the Games in five words, “Crowd, market, entertainers, acrobats, thieves.”
40,000 people sleeping under the stars. No elaborate athletes living quarters. No grandstands. The nobles lined the front row, while the rest stood on the grassy slopes. The competitors and spectators were all men and the competitors competed naked. The races were run on soft sand. There were few officials and there were no team events.
The drawings on pieces of pottery of those early games conveys a gentlemanly contest in the true spirit of sportsmanship conducted amid the trees in a sacred spot, however the contestants were far from being amateurs. They were warriors representing their village or town. The rewards to the winners were, apart from a wreath of olives- civic honours, banqueting, money, tracts of land, generations of hero worship, statues erected and victory odes by poets. In other words very little has changed for the Olympic winner in the year 2,000.
The contestants pledged themselves “to the wreath or death.” Naturally the majority of the contestants lost. For them there was ridicule for the disgrace that they had brought on their village. Sometimes they were stoned, sometimes they were whipped, and in certain events they were killed because they had lost.
Like international sports of today, winning wasn’t everything – it was the only thing. Hence contestants approached the games with a warlike urgency and were under as much pressure and tension as there will be at Sydney in two months time.
The highlight of the first day was the taking of the oath. All the contestants, officials and judges stood before a statue of Zeus, with his thunderbolts, and solemnly swore good faith. “If you have trained in the manner worthy of Olympia, go on with good courage. Whoever has behaved slothfully or ignobly may leave.”
The oath was not always kept. Olympia held 16 large bronze statues of Zeus when it was at its height and all of them were purchased with fines levied against cheating athletes.
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