(2) The Isthmia
The Isthmian festival, though inferior in athletic standard to the Olympia and in sanctity to the Pythia, was perhaps the most frequented of all the Panhellenic festivals.[[339]] It was held in the second and fourth year of each Olympiad, under the presidency of Corinth; and though there is some doubt as to the exact date, it seems certain that it was held in the spring, probably in April or early May.[[340]] No festival was so central and so accessible to all parts of the Greek world, whether by land or sea, and no place offered such innumerable attractions to visitors of every sort as Corinth, the city of commerce and of pleasure. The description which Dion Chrysostom has left of the crowds which flocked to the Isthmia in the first century A.D. has already been quoted. It reminds one of the crowd at a modern race-meeting, where princes, statesmen, millionaires, jostle with beggars, mountebanks, and sharpers. “The Isthmian festival,” says Livy,[[341]] “owed its popularity not only to the national love of witnessing contests of every sort in arts or strength or agility, but especially to the advantageous situation of the Isthmus, which, commanding the resources of two seas, was the natural meeting-place of the human race, the mart of Greece and Asia.” In these words we have, summed up, the essential characteristics of the Isthmia, the attractiveness and variety of their programme, their cosmopolitanism, and last but not least their commercial importance. Livy is speaking of the time in the opening years of the second century, when Flamininus proclaimed the liberty of Greece at the Isthmian festival. We cannot doubt that he had also in his mind the revived splendour of the festival in his own time, since Corinth which had been destroyed by Mummius had been refounded by Julius Caesar and become the capital of Achaia. Of the earlier history of the festival we unfortunately know little; but the few notices which have survived indicate that from the very first the character of the festival differed little from that ascribed to it by Livy and Dion Chrysostom.
The reorganization of the ancient local festival in honour of Poseidon as a Panhellenic trieteris seems to have taken place either during the closing years of the Cypselidae, or shortly after their fall. These princes had laid the foundation of the maritime and commercial greatness of Corinth, which, under their patronage, took the lead in trade and literature and art. From this time her wealth and luxury were proverbial; but wealth and luxury are not the soil on which athletics flourish best. Corinth was not an athletic state; few great athletes hailed from her, and, whatever athletic vigour existed in early times in families such as the Oligaethidae soon died away. The character of the Isthmia cannot fail to have been determined by the character and relations of Corinth.
Corinth, though traditionally Dorian, had little in common with the other Dorian states of the Peloponnese. All her sympathies were Ionian. With the Ionians of the East she was closely connected by that trade which was the basis of her wealth, and by the common worship of Poseidon. The influence of the East is clearly marked in the early art of Corinth, especially in her pottery. Equally close were her relations with Athens. We have seen that Theseus was one of the reputed founders of the Isthmia; and that the Athenian theoroi had a special place of privilege at the festival. Indeed, the Isthmia seem almost to have been regarded as an Attic festival, and were an occasion of merry-making, a sort of public holiday for all classes of Athens, even for slaves. Many an Athenian was debarred from visiting Olympia by the length of the journey, the heat, and other discomforts of the festival itself. The Isthmia suffered from no such drawbacks; it was but a few hours’ journey, either by land or sea; the festival took place in the spring; Corinth offered ample accommodation for such as could afford it; those who could not afford it might take their tents with them and encamp in the neighbourhood. Under these circumstances it is reasonable to suppose that the Isthmia bore more resemblance to the Panathenaea, or even to the Delia, both of which festivals were also said to have been founded by Theseus, than they did to the more strenuous Olympia; and such few facts as we know about the programme confirm this idea.
It is perhaps to this essential difference in character that we may ascribe the sort of feud existing between the Olympia and the Isthmia. The Olympia were accounted “the most athletic” of all festivals.[[342]] The inferiority of the Isthmia in athletic prestige is proved by the fact that Solon assigned only 100 drachmae to a winner at the Isthmia, while he assigned 500 to an Olympic winner.
Of the history of the Isthmia in the fifth and fourth centuries we know practically nothing. The records of victories in the games are too scanty to enable us to form any trustworthy conclusions;[[343]] as far as they go they indicate that the athletic competition was far more local than at Olympia. There are hardly any names of victors recorded from Sicily and Italy which figure so largely in the Olympic records. With the exception of a few periodonikai the competitors come chiefly from Corinth, Aegina, Thebes, and Athens, and some of the islands of the Aegean. Bacchylides in his Second Ode on Argeius of Ceos mentions that at this date the Ceans had already won seventy victories at the Isthmus, and a Cean inscription, now at Athens, records numerous victories which they had won at the Isthmia and the Nemea, including victories of Argeius.[[344]] The Oligaethidae of Corinth had, according to Pindar, themselves won sixty crowns at these two festivals, and the Timodemidae of Athens had won eight victories at the Isthmus and seven at the Nemea. We can find no such records as these at Olympia.[[345]]
During the Peloponnesian war the festival must have suffered greatly from the enforced absence of the Athenians. In the Peace of Aristophanes, written shortly after the peace of Nicias, one of the slaves expresses his delight at the prospect of once more taking part in the Isthmia.[[346]] The Corinthians had probably equal cause for rejoicing; without the Athenians and their allies the festival must have been shorn of half its splendour. A few years later, in 412 B.C., we find the Corinthians insisting vigorously on the observance of the Isthmian truce, and turning a deaf ear to the suggestions of Sparta for a joint expedition to free Chios from the Athenian yoke.[[347]] They even invited the Athenians to the festival, and thus enabled them to discover the plot of the Chians, and to destroy the fleet which sailed for Chios at the conclusion of the festival. The policy of Corinth was to preserve the balance of power. Her bitter opposition to Athens was the natural result of commercial rivalry, but the supremacy of Sparta was still less to her liking, and within a few years of the humiliation of Athens we find her leagued with Athens, Thebes, and Argos in an anti-Spartan league. The Spartans had no scruples as to the observance of festivals, except when it suited their convenience; and Agesilaus, with certain Corinthian exiles of the Spartan party, actually invaded Corinth during the progress of the Isthmia.[[348]] The games were being conducted by the Corinthians and Argives, who seem to have been for a time united into one state. On the approach of Agesilaus they took to flight, and Agesilaus himself encamped in the sacred precinct, while the Corinthian exiles offered the customary sacrifice to Poseidon and conducted the games. When Agesilaus withdrew, the Argives returned and celebrated the festival all over again.
From this point we hear no more of the Isthmia till the Romans began to interfere in Greek politics. The cosmopolitanism of the festival and the commercial importance of the Isthmus as the meeting-place of East and West naturally appealed to the Romans, and a new era of prosperity opened for the Isthmia, which for a time seemed likely to eclipse even Olympia. The Corinthians had no narrow national prejudices, and allowed the Romans to take part in the Isthmia as early as 228 B.C.[[349]] Consequently, it was at the Isthmus and not at Olympia that Flamininus proclaimed the liberty of the Greeks in 196 B.C. Even the destruction of Corinth was not allowed to interrupt the festival which continued to be held under the presidency of Sicyon till the rebuilding of Corinth by Julius Caesar.[[350]] Under the Empire Corinth became richer and more luxurious, and the Isthmian festival more popular than ever. The enthusiasm for athletic spectacles at Corinth seems to have made a deep impression on St. Paul. Preachers are wont to draw glowing pictures of the Isthmian games in this connexion. But few perhaps realize how corrupt and degraded were Greek athletics during St. Paul’s lifetime, and nowhere were they more degraded than at the Isthmia. Yet in outward appearance the festival had never been more brilliant. Most of the buildings, which excavations of the sanctuary of Poseidon have revealed, belong to the period of Augustus and his successors.[[351]] Nero was so deeply impressed with the importance of the site that he conceived the idea of cutting a canal through the Isthmus, and was only prevented from doing so by the opposition of certain ignorant scientists, who maintained that the level of the sea was different in the Gulf of Corinth and in the Aegean.[[352]] However, he took part in person at the Isthmia, and issued a letter summoning the Greek world to the festival, a copy of which has been recovered.[[353]] It appears that to suit the emperor’s convenience the festival was postponed from the spring to November, or perhaps it was celebrated a second time the same year. He was proclaimed victor in singing to the lyre and also in the heralds’ competition; and in obedience to his wishes a competition in tragedy was added to the programme, though, according to Lucian, such competitions were barred by a special Isthmian law. He was forced, moreover, to resort to force in order to secure his victory; for a certain Epirote, possessed of a fine voice and less complaisant than the officials, refused to withdraw from the competition unless the emperor paid him ten talents; and Nero, recognizing that he would be defeated, despatched a band of his creatures, who so battered and ill-treated the Epirote as to spoil his voice. Finally, in imitation of Flamininus, he went through the farce of bestowing freedom on the province, and himself proclaimed his clemency standing in the middle of the stadium.
The venality of athletics at the Isthmia under the Empire is evident from the story already quoted of a disappointed athlete, who actually took proceedings to recover the amount of a bribe, and published his own shame before all the assembled crowds.[[354]] Such an incident implies a degraded public opinion and the absence of all true love of sport. Indeed, it is evident from Dion Chrysostom that the Corinthians and Athenians had already acquired from the Romans a taste for the more exciting and more brutal exhibitions of the amphitheatre.[[355]] The festival seems to have survived down to the time of the Emperor Julian; but there was no longer any interest in athletic or musical competitions. The vast sums spent by the Corinthians on their games were spent, the emperor tells us, in the purchase of bears and leopards to be hunted in the arena.[[356]]
The sanctuary of Poseidon where the Isthmian games were held has been excavated, but the excavations throw little light on the history of the games themselves. It consisted of a small acropolis surrounded by a wall, the north side of which was formed by the great military wall that guarded the Isthmus. The sacred way, according to Pausanias, was lined on one side by a row of pine trees, on the other by statues of athletes who had won victories at the festival. Traces have been found of the temples of Poseidon and Palaemon, of the sacred way, of the theatre, and of the stadium, but all are of late date. The stadium lay in a ravine, formed by a stream which must have been diverted from its course, but has now returned to it. It was about 650 feet long. It was seated with marble; and some traces of the seats survive. An inscription in honour of Publius Licinius Priscus, a Roman citizen of Corinth who lived in the second century A.D., records that he built a stoa adjoining the stadium with vaulted rooms opening into it.[[357]] The same benefactor provided, at his own expense, buildings for the accommodation of the athletes, who came to the Isthmia from “all the inhabited world,” and repaired various buildings which had suffered from the ravages of time and earthquakes including the “judging-rooms” (ἐγκριτηρίονς οἴκους), by which phrase, apparently, are meant the rooms where competitors were examined and classified. No traces of these buildings have been found, nor has the site of the hippodrome been discovered.
Fig. 29. Silver Vase. Bibliothèque Nationale. Imperial period.
The festival must have lasted several days. It began with a sacrifice to Poseidon,[[358]] and included athletic, equestrian, and musical competitions, and perhaps also a regatta. The athletic and equestrian events differed little from those at other festivals. There were separate competitions for men, youths, and boys, and the youths’ competitions included the pankration.[[359]] There was also, as at Nemea, a four stades’ or hippios foot-race.[[360]] The multiplication of boys’ events here, as at Nemea and at the Panathenaea, indicates the comparatively local character of the competition at these festivals.
From the connexion of the festival with Poseidon we should expect to find that the equestrian events were an important part of the programme. Herodotus of Thebes and Xenocrates of Agrigentum won the chariot-race in Pindar’s time,[[361]] and somewhat later one Theochrestus of Cyrene and two Spartans, Xenarches and Polycles.[[362]] A horse named Lycus had in the sixth century won two victories for Pheidolas of Corinth or his sons.[[363]] These are all the records that we possess; but the occurrence of the two-horse chariot on coins of Commodus may perhaps be an indication that chariot-racing still took place at the Isthmia under the Empire.
There is no mention of musical contests previous to the third century B.C., when a certain Nicocles of Tarentum won six victories as kitharodos.[[364]] He claims apparently to have been the first victor in this competition, but the existence of musical competitions from the earliest days of the festival is rendered probable by the tradition that in mythical times Olympus was victorious in flute-playing, Orpheus on the lyre, Linus in song, and Eumolpus in singing to the lyre and the flute.[[365]] In Roman times there were numerous musical competitions. There must also have been poetical competitions. The poetess Aristomacha of Erythrae is stated to have won a prize at the Isthmia, and a pupil of Herodes won a prize for an enkomion.[[366]] During the Hellenistic age it seems probable that there were dramatic competitions held in connexion with the guilds of Dionysiac players, but these competitions must have disappeared under the Empire. Finally, Pliny asserts that at the Isthmus as at Delphi, a competition in painting existed in the time of Panaenus.[[367]]
The only evidence for the regatta is the statement that in mythical times the Argo won the boat-race at the Isthmus. The Isthmus was certainly a fitting place for such a race: there were boat-races at the Panathenaea, and the Athenian theoria came to the Isthmia in a ship. But we have no definite information on the point.
In Pindar’s time the Isthmian crown[[368]] was made of wild celery, dry celery, as the scholiast explains, to distinguish it from the fresh celery of which the Nemean crown was made. According to later writers the Isthmian crown was of pine leaves; the pine tree was sacred to Poseidon, and an avenue of pines lined the sacred road at the Isthmus. It seems not unlikely that the original crown was of pine leaves, and this practice was revived under the Empire. On the coins of Augustus and Nero the celery crown is still represented, while on those of Antoninus Pius and Verus, we see the inscription Ἴσθμια encircled by a crown of pine leaves[[369]] (Fig. [28]).
Fig. 30. Scene from Silver Vase (Fig. 29).
A scene connected with the Isthmian games occurs on a silver cup, which was part of an offering dedicated to Mercurius of Canetum by Q. Domitius Tutus (Figs. [29], [30]). To the left is a victorious athlete crowned, and holding in his hands a palm branch. Before him is a table on which stands a herm, to which he has dedicated a fillet and a crown, which curiously appears to be of oak leaves, not of pine or celery. Beyond the table is seated an Agonothetes; and a woman holding a torch stands next to him. In spite of the crown of oak, the identification of the scene with the Isthmia is rendered certain by the representation of the Acrocorinthus and Pegasus, to whom a nymph gives water from the fountain of Peirene.[[370]]
Fig. 31. Imperial coin of Argos, in British Museum (enlarged).