The meaning of Pausanias is now clear, and there is no need with modern editors to assume that the passage is hopelessly corrupt. Previous to Ol. 78 all the sports followed the sacrifice, mostly on the 15th; but I see no reason why some should not have taken place on the afternoon of the 14th, or even on the 16th. The preceding days were occupied with preliminary business and various religious ceremonies. In Ol. 78 the horse-races and the pentathlon were transferred to the 13th, the day before the sacrifice. Some of the preliminary business may at the same time have been shifted to the 11th day. If at a subsequent date separate days were allotted to the horse-races and pentathlon, or if, as Weniger suggests, the boys’ events were after the introduction of the boys’ pankration shifted to the 12th, the 10th day may also have been required for the preliminaries; but there is not sufficient evidence for either of these changes.
The same uncertainty prevails as to the order of the events, and still more as to their distribution into days. The attempts which have been made to prove that the order was the same as that preserved in two fragments of the Olympic register must, in my opinion, be regarded as failures. The order for the fifth century as given in the Oxyrhynchus papyrus is as follows:—(1) Stade-race, (2) Diaulos, (3) Dolichos, (4) Pentathlon, (5) Wrestling, (6) Boxing, (7) Pankration, (8) Boys’ foot-race, (9) Boys’ wrestling, (10) Boys’ boxing, (11) Race in armour, (12) Chariot-race, (13) Horse-race. The list omits the mule chariot-race (ἀπήνη) and the race for mares, which were discontinued after 444 B.C. Phlegon’s list for Ol. 177 (72 B.C.) agrees with this except that the boys’ pankration is added after the other events for boys, and the four new equestrian events after the horse-race in their order of introduction.
The principle adopted in this list is obvious. The competition is divided into athletic and equestrian. The athletic part is divided into events for men and events for boys. Each division is arranged in the order, real or fictitious, in which the various events were introduced. The only exception is the race in armour, which is placed after the boys’ events, owing to its late introduction, its peculiar character, and the fact that it was the last event on the programme. The arrangement is perfectly simple and logical, but it does not follow that it was the order adopted in the sports. We have seen that in 468 B.C. (Ol. 78) a change was made in the order, and we know that the Hellanodicae had power to alter the order under special circumstances. In Ol. 142, at the request of Cleitomachus, who was competing both in boxing and in the pankration, they placed the pankration before the boxing.[[296]]
From the general uncertainty a few facts emerge:—
1. Plutarch definitely states that at Olympia the boys’ competitions took place before any of the men’s,[[297]] and there is no reason for disbelieving his statement. In framing a register it may be natural to place the most important events first; in arranging a programme it would be a ludicrous anti-climax to do so.
2. The foot-races all came on the same day, and probably before any other of the competitions for men. Their order is doubtful. Pausanias in his account of Polites[[298]] implies that he won the dolichos first, then the stade-race, lastly the diaulos. But practical considerations make this unlikely. Unless a considerable time elapsed between the events it is hard to imagine a three-miler proceeding at once to win a 200 yards and a quarter! Learned writers who have discussed the question all seem to have forgotten that in the stade race and perhaps in the diaulos there was a round of preliminary heats, which may well have complicated the order.[[299]]
3. Wrestling, boxing, and the pankration took place on the same day and in the same order.[[300]]
4. The race in armour was the last event of the whole programme.[[301]] It seems possible from the words of Philostratus that it came on the very last day of the festival.
5. The pentathlon followed the horse-races, and in Xenophon’s time took place on the same day, the day preceding the sacrifice. Previous to Ol. 78 these events may have followed the foot-races.
6. When the competitions for heralds and trumpeters were introduced in Ol. 96, they naturally came off on the first day, seeing that the winners had the privilege of officiating at the festival.