The musical programme for the fourth century is partly known to us from an inscription, which is unfortunately much mutilated.[[396]] The opening lines, which apparently referred to the recitations of rhapsodists, are almost entirely wanting. Then come four competitions. For singers to the lyre there are no less than five prizes: a crown of gold valued at 1000 drachmae with 500 drachmae of silver for the winner; prizes of 1200, 600, 400, and 300 drachmae respectively for the next four in order of merit. The “men singers to the flute” receive only two prizes—the first a crown of 300 drachmae, the second a sum of 100 drachmae. For “men players on the lyre” there are three prizes: the first is a crown valued at 500 drachmae; the third is a sum of 100 drachmae; the amount of the second prize is uncertain. Flute-players again have only two prizes, the figures for which are missing in the inscription. There were doubtless many other competitions. The insertion of the word “men” before “singers to the flute” and “players on the lyre” implies that there were also musical contests for boys, as was undoubtedly the case at Aphrodisias.[[397]] Another competition mentioned in connection with the Panathenaea was called συναυλία,[[398]] by which perhaps is meant a duet on flutes. The preference shown at Athens for the lyre over the flute is noticeable in the value of the prizes assigned for these events. Playing on the lyre was part of every Athenian’s education, but whereas flute-playing had become popular in the early part of the fifth century, it did not commend itself to Athenian educationalists. Its moral effect was considered bad, and it was an ungraceful performance which distorted the face. So it was in the fourth century left for the most part to professional flute-girls.[[399]] From the number of prizes offered it is obvious that there must have been large entries for the musical competitions, and Mommsen is probably right in assigning three days to these events.

Next came the athletic competitions. The early Panathenaic vases show that all the events of the Olympic programme existed in the Panathenaea in the sixth century, and that there were competitions for men and boys, but there is no evidence as to the division of boys into boys and youths at this period. In the fourth century the inscription already mentioned proves the existence of all three classes.[[400]] There were five events for boys and youths respectively, the stade-race, the pentathlon, wrestling, boxing, and the pankration. There were two prizes for each event, consisting of so many amphorae of oil; the winner received five times as many amphorae as the second. The following table shows the amounts of amphorae awarded in the different events:—

Boys (παῖδες). Youths (ἀγένειοι).
1st Prize.2nd Prize.1st Prize.2nd Prize.
Stadion50106012
Pentathlon306408
Pale306408
Pygme306408
Pankration4085010

The portion of the inscription referring to men’s events is wanting, but we know from Panathenaic vases and other sources that the programme for men included the diaulos, the dolichos, the hippios-race,[[401]] and the race in armour. When the last two events were introduced we cannot say: the diaulos and dolichos certainly existed in the sixth century. The dolichos is frequently represented on early Panathenaic vases, and a fragment of such a vase found at Athens bears the inscription: “I am a diaulos runner.” The prizes for men were of course proportionately higher than those for boys and youths. In inscriptions of the second century we find that the pentathlon has disappeared from the programme for boys; but two races have been added in its place, the dolichos and the diaulos. The programme for youths and men remains unchanged. The whole programme can hardly have taken less than two days. Probably the first day comprised the ten or eleven events for boys and youths, the second day the nine events for men. In the fourth century we learn from Plato that the sports opened with the stade-race, which was followed by the diaulos, the hippios, and the dolichos. The last event was the race in armour—a favourite subject of the Athenian vase-painters, and frequently associated on the red-figured vases with the pankration, which immediately preceded it. In the second century it seems probable from the inscriptions that each day began with a long-distance race; the first day with the boys’ dolichos, the second day with the men’s.

A noticeable feature in this programme is the large proportion of events for boys and youths. All events were open to competitors from all the Greek states; but events for the young naturally appeal chiefly to local competition. Such being the case, we should expect to find Athens well represented in the lists. But the reverse is the case. Out of more than sixty names only seven are Athenians, and of these five are pankratiasts.[[402]] These figures show how utterly unathletic Athens became after the fifth century in spite of all her competitions. Watching sports never makes an athletic nation; at Athens it produced a crowd of idle critics and spectators. Nearly half the victors known to us come from Asia Minor and the Aegean: not only Colophon and Ephesus, but Tyre and Sidon figure in the lists. On the mainland Corinth, Sicyon, Argos, Boeotia, and Epirus are best represented.

Previous to the erection of the Panathenaic stadium by Lycurgus the athletic competitions took place in the deme of Echelidae, and this site continued to be the scene of the chariot and horse races. The Hippodrome of Athens is stated to have been of the unusual length of eight stades.[[403]] The Athenians were at all periods passionately fond of horses. The four-horse chariot-race, the pair-horse chariot-race, and the horse-race are represented on the Panathenaic amphorae of the sixth century. The earliest of these vases which we possess, the Burgon vase in the British Museum, was the prize for the pair-horse chariot-race.[[404]] The apobates race must have existed in the fifth century, for the apobates is represented on the frieze of the Parthenon.

For the fourth century we have only a portion of the equestrian programme, preserved in the inscription already quoted. We have apparently only the last six events, with the number of measures of oil presented for each of them. The inscription runs as follows:—

1st Prize.2nd Prize.
Chariot-race for colts (ἵππων ζεύγει πωλικῷ)408
Chariot-race for full-grown horses (ἵππων ζεύγει ἀδηφάγῳ)[[405]]14040
War (πολεμιστηρίοις), horse-race (ἵππῳ κέλητι νικώντι)164
War (πολεμιστηρίοις), chariot-race (ἵππων ζεύγει νικῶντι)306
Processional chariot-race (ζεύγει πομπικῷ νικῶντι)41
Javelin throwing on horseback (ἀφ’ ἵππου ἀκοντίζοντι)51

In the light of later inscriptions it seems probable that the last four events, if not all six, were confined to Athenian competitors. In this case there must have been other events open to all comers. The introduction of local events of a military type was undoubtedly due to the development of Athenian cavalry in the latter part of the fifth century. According to Photius the war-horse was not really a horse used for war, but merely one equipped as for war in competitions. It is just possible that in the second century the race for war-horses had become a purely artificial event and the war-horse had then as little practical value as the Athenian hoplite of that time. But we can hardly suppose that this was the case in the fourth century, when Athens still possessed a real army. Every Athenian of the first two classes was bound to provide a horse for military service, and the races for war-horses must have been introduced in order to encourage cavalry training, just as the hoplite race had been intended for the benefit of the heavy-armed infantry. But the war-horse was not the same type of animal as the highly-trained and expensive race-horse, and the difference is marked in the amount of the prizes. The team of war-horses receives only 30 amphorae, the team of race-horses 140. The same difference exists in the present day between the prizes given at military or hunt steeple-chases, and those given for race-horses. Still smaller are the prizes for the processional chariots. In this event the chariots and horses may possibly have been provided by the State.

We do not know how many events constituted the full programme in the fourth century; an inscription of the second century enumerates twenty-four events, and another, which is incomplete, contained at least as many.[[406]] It is possible that on these occasions the programme was exceptionally elaborate, owing to the presence of kings and other distinguished visitors at the festival. Certainly the inscriptions prove that at this period the programme varied considerably from time to time. On one occasion, when four sons of King Attalus were present, it appears that there were three if not four chariot-races for their benefit. Three of their names appear as victors in the chariot-race; the name of the fourth also occurs, but the inscription is here broken, and the name of the event which he won is lost. Still, making allowance for such circumstances, we can form a fairly accurate idea of the programme as it existed at this time and probably also in the fourth century.