Fig. 41. Portion of starting lines at Olympia.
The most interesting discovery at Olympia was that of the actual lines which marked the start and finish of the races (Fig. [41]). These lines consist of stone sills about 18 inches wide extending nearly the whole breadth of the course. Each sill is divided at intervals of about 4 feet by square sockets obviously intended to hold posts. Between each pair of sockets are two parallel grooves cut in stone about 7 inches apart. Their object was clearly to mark the place for the runners’ feet. There are twenty of these sections in the western sill and twenty-one in the eastern sill, one of which is, however, a short one. Each section afforded room for a single runner. The western sill is 11 metres from the end of the stadium, the eastern only 9-1/2. The distance between the two sills is 192·27 metres, which gives ·32045 as the length of the Olympic foot. The Olympic foot was said to have been determined by Heracles, who measured out the stadium with his own feet. Hence the stadium at Olympia is slightly longer than other stadia on the mainland.[[437]]
The discovery of similar stone sills in the gymnasium at Olympia, and subsequently at Delphi and Epidaurus, makes it probable that they were universally employed in Greek stadia, though it is impossible definitely to fix the date at which they replaced the earlier custom of marking the lines in the sand. The reason why the lines are alike at either end is obvious. In the stade-race the finish was at the opposite end from the start, in the diaulos and other races consisting of an even number of stades the runners finished where they started. Hence, as it was clearly desirable that all races should finish at the same point, it was necessary to have starting lines at both ends. At Olympia it seems probable that the finish was at the eastern end of the course. Here were the seats of the Hellanodicae, and opposite them was the seat of the priestess of Demeter Chamyne, the only married woman, possibly the only woman, who was allowed to be a spectator at the Olympia.
Closely resembling the Olympic stadium was that at Epidaurus,[[438]] where the festival of the Asclepiea was celebrated as early as the time of Pindar. It lies in a shallow trough formed by two low ridges descending into the plain from the hills which encircle the sanctuary of Asclepius. The bottom of the valley has been levelled and its eastern end and part of the sides raised by an embankment. Its western end lies open giving free access to visitors, who here as at all Greek festivals might enter freely without payment. The actual track is 181·30 metres long. Finish and start are alike, marked at either end by a pair of stone pillars between which lies a row of stone slabs with parallel grooves and sockets precisely similar to those found at Olympia, save that there are only eleven divisions and that the parallel grooves are somewhat closer, about four inches apart. The fact that traces of lead were found in some of the sockets confirms the view that iron posts were fastened in them. The pillars possibly belong to an earlier time than the slabs, when start and finish were still marked by lines drawn in the sand between the pillars. The stone slabs seem to have been added in Macedonian times when the stadium was improved, and a record of this reconstruction is preserved in an inscription which states that one Philon of Corinth having undertaken a contract for providing the starting lines (ὕσπλακα) and having failed to fulfil his contract within the specified time was condemned by the Agonothetes and Hellanodicae to pay a fine of 500 drachmae.[[439]] A still later, possibly Roman arrangement for the start is seen in five half pillars placed at either end in front of the stone sill which they were obviously intended to supersede (Fig. [42]). On each side these pillars have a shallow groove intended apparently to hold some form of barrier or starting gate, such as we find used in the Roman Circus.[[440]] A further difficulty is caused by the remains of four small stone platforms which stood immediately in front of the stone sills, two at each end between the outside pillars and the edge of the course. Their use is quite unknown; but the fact that they completely block the grooved starting lines immediately behind them proves that they belonged to some later arrangement. Possibly they are remains of an intermediate arrangement between the stone sill and the pillars, or possibly they served for starters and judges in later times.
Fig. 42. The Stadium of Epidaurus, S.E. corner, showing the starting lines and rectangular end. (From a photograph by Mr. Emery Walker.)
Another interesting feature of the course is that it was marked off on either side at distances of a plethron (100 feet) by small square pillars. These pillars would have been very useful for races in which, as in the girls’ race at the Olympic Heraea, only a portion of the course was run. They may also have served for measuring the distance in a javelin or diskos throw. The finish of the course was obviously at the east end, round which alone the rows of seats extend. Between the actual finish and the seats is a further space some 16 metres deep, which may have been used like the curved sphendone of later times for events like wrestling which did not require much room. The three sides of the rectangle were surrounded by a stone border a little less than a yard from the embankment and seats. This contained an open runnel supplied with water by a pipe at the north-east corner of the stadium, and opening out at intervals of 30 yards into oblong basins, like those found at Olympia.
The seating arrangements like the starting lines bear traces of different periods; in contrast to Olympia it seems that from early times a certain number of seats were provided, if we may dignify by the name of seats the five rows of small stones cemented with mud which enclose the eastern end of the course. Beyond the points where these terminate are numerous tiers of seats on either side built of large blocks of dressed stone. The irregularity in the number and dressing of the stones shows that they were not constructed all at the same time. Some of them bear the inscriptions of the dedicators, which seem to date from the Macedonian period to the close of the Roman Republic. But even these seats cease entirely in the western half of the stadium, where as at Olympia spectators can only have stood or reclined on the banks. Staircases give access at intervals to the seats. In the centre of the seats on the northern side is an arched passage communicating with a square enclosure on the other side of the embankment. The enclosure was possibly the place of assembly for officials and competitors who entered the stadium in state through the arch-way. On the southern side of the stadium close to the finish are four stone blocks some 15 feet long and 16 inches high which were probably the seats of the Hellanodicae. Lower down, opposite to the arched passage, there are remains of a curved seat which may also have served for officials. It is rather more than 40 yards from the finish, and if the javelin or diskos were thrown from the finish, would have been a convenient seat for judges in these events. It seems likely too that, at all events after the erection of the later seats, wrestling and other events of the sort took place opposite these seats and not at the east end of the course. Behind this curved seat a broad staircase leads to a platform half-way up the seats. Here, Cavvadias conjectures, stood the table on which the prizes were placed, here the herald proclaimed the victor’s name and city, and here the victors received their crowns from the hands of the Hellanodicae. From this point too we may suppose, when the games for the day were finished, the Hellanodicae followed by the victors started in a triumphal procession, and passing through the official entrance on the north side, made their way to the temple of Asclepius to render thanks and pay their vows to the patron of the festival.
Fig. 43. Stadium of Epidaurus.