The first day of the festival, perhaps the day preceding the festival, was devoted to preliminary business and sacrifice. There were no competitions, except perhaps those for trumpeters and heralds, which were not introduced till 396 B.C.; they took place near the entrance to the stadium, the competitors taking their stand upon an altar. It was probably on this day that the ceremony in the Council Chamber described by Pausanias took place.[[317]] There the competitors, their trainers, and their friends underwent a solemn scrutiny. They took their stand before the statue of Zeus Horkios, who was represented with the thunderbolt in his right hand as a warning to evildoers, and there having sacrificed a pig, they swore on its entrails to use no unfair means to secure victory, and further, that they had trained for ten months in a manner worthy of the festival. The ceremony of the oath is represented on a red-figured kylix in Fig. [132]. Next came the turn of the judges who decided on the eligibility of boys and colts to compete as such. They swore to give their decisions honestly and without bribes, and not to reveal the reasons for their decision. Then the final list of entries was drawn up and published perhaps on a white board (λεύκωμα).[[318]] Throughout the day there must have been various sacrifices both public and private, but little is known of their details. All through the year there was daily sacrifice at the great altar of Zeus. Sacrifice was probably offered on this day at the six double altars which Pindar mentions, and an offering of blood was made on the mound of Pelops.[[319]] Competitors and their friends would offer sacrifices and vows at the altars of the gods or heroes whom they regarded as their patrons, or who were specially connected with the events in which they were competing.[[320]] The superstitious would consult the oracles and soothsayers as to their chances of success.[[321]] The crowd of sight-seers would wander through the Altis admiring the statuary of the treasuries or Libon’s new-built temple, perhaps listening to some rhapsodist reciting Homer, or to Herodotus as he read the story of the Persian wars, or else visiting the workshop to the west of the Altis where Pheidias was busy on his ivory and gold statue of Zeus. There were friends, too, to be seen and greeted—friends from distant parts of the Mediterranean, who after years spent in the colonies had returned to meet their kinsfolk and acquaintances at Olympia.
The following days were occupied with the sports, on the details of which we need not dwell. These took place in the stadium, or the hippodrome, some of them probably in the open space east of the altar of Zeus. They began early in the morning and lasted all day. Before daybreak every point of vantage was occupied. There were no seats: spectators sat or stood on the banks of the stadium, or hippodrome, on the slopes of the hill of Cronus, on the rows of steps beneath the treasuries, on every point which commanded a view of the games or ceremonies. They were bareheaded, and suffered severely from the sun, and dust, and thirst. Yet nothing could damp their enthusiasm. As they watched the sports they shouted and cheered on their friends and favourites; in their excitement they sprang from their seats, waving their arms, or their clothes, embracing their neighbours in their joy.[[322]]
A special entrance was reserved for the Hellanodicae and competitors at the north-east corner of the Altis. The vaulted tunnel which served for this purpose in Roman times still exists. Through this the Hellanodicae entered first, robed in purple, with garlands on their heads, and took their places on the seats reserved for them.[[323]] After them came the competitors, and the herald proclaiming their names asked if any one had any charge against any of them. Each day’s proceedings were opened by the herald with a solemn proclamation.[[324]] Sometimes the Hellanodicas, or some other distinguished person, delivered an address to the assembled competitors. Each event in turn was proclaimed by the herald, together with the names of the competitors, their fathers, and their cities. Possibly the names were written on a white telegraph board (λεύκωμα). In the case of any events requiring heats or ties, lots were drawn in the presence of the Hellanodicae and spectators. The lots marked with letters of the alphabet were thrown into a silver urn; each competitor after uttering a prayer to Zeus drew one in turn, holding it in his hand but not looking at it till all the lots were drawn. Then the Hellanodicas went round and examined the lots, arranging the heats or ties accordingly.[[325]] Each event was started with a blast of the trumpet, and after each event the herald proclaimed the victor (Fig. [37]).
We have seen that the olive crowns were probably presented to the victors at once. These crowns were made of branches cut from the sacred olive-tree, “the olive of fair crowns” which stood behind the temple of Zeus. They were cut with a golden sickle by a boy of pure Greek birth whose parents were both living, and were placed on a tripod. At the time of which we are speaking, the old iron tripod had been already replaced by the ivory and gold table made by Colotes, which was kept in the temple of Hera.[[326]] The table was probably set beside the seats of the Hellanodicae. There, when the herald had proclaimed his name, the victor advanced, having bound his head with fillets of wool, and the chief Hellanodicas set on his head the olive crown, and in later times put in his hand the palm of victory; while the spectators cheered and showered upon him garlands, flowers, and presents of all sorts. The crowning of the victor and the showering him with flowers (φυλλοβολία) are depicted on the interiors of two kylices, in Figs. [25], [26].[[327]] In the case of a tie or dead-heat the crown was not awarded, but was dedicated to the god; hence the phrases ἱερὸν ποιεῖν, ἱερὸν γενέσθαι, hieram facere, are used to express a dead-heat or draw.[[328]]
Fig. 25. R.-f. kylix. Bibliothèque Nationale, 532.
Fig. 26. R.-f. kylix. Canino Coll.
Then in the evening, beneath the brightness of the mid-month moon, the precinct rang with revelry and song. The victors and their friends in festal attire, with garlands on their heads, went in glad procession round the Altis, while crowds of fellow-citizens chanted to the accompaniment of the flute the old triumphal refrain of Archilochus,[[329]] or some new hymn of victory written for the occasion by Pindar or Bacchylides. The victors wore the crowns which they had won, but there is no ground for the statement that they dedicated them to Zeus; rather it seems that they took them home and dedicated them in the temples of their own cities. The processionals followed by banquets given by the victors.[[330]] Alcibiades after his victory in the chariot-race entertained the whole assembly at a feast, and borrowed for the occasion all the plate and vessels belonging to the Athenian theoroi. Anaxilas of Rhegium and his son Leophron celebrated their victories in like manner. Empedocles of Aetna being a Pythagorean, and therefore a vegetarian, had an ox made of costly spices, which he distributed to the spectators. The banquets often lasted all night long, and in the morning the victors paid their vows and offered sacrifices to the gods to whom they owed their victories.
The most brilliant of all the ceremonies was the great sacrifice to Zeus on the morning after the full moon. The victors, the officials and the representatives of the different states, went in stately procession to the altar, where a hecatomb of oxen was sacrificed by the Eleans. This was the opportunity for the theoroi to display their magnificence and the wealth of their cities. So we can understand the indignation of the Athenians at Alcibiades[[331]] when instead of returning to the theoroi the vessels which he had borrowed for his banquet the evening before, he used them the next morning for his private offering; so that when a few hours later the Athenian theoroi took part in the public procession, the positions were reversed, and the magnificence of the State appeared but as the reflection of the magnificence of a private citizen.