Athletics and Games of the Ancient Greeks

by Edward M. Plummer

The pentathlon was succeeded by horse and chariot races.

Chariot racing, even as far back as the heroic time, had attained a high rank in the domain of antagonistics; it was, indeed, the first contest in the funeral games of Patroklos. (Il. xxiii. 262-650.) In the minute and vivid description of Homer, the nature of the contest and the arrangements are very clearly indicated. There was no artificially constructed hippodrome. A flat, open plain, with its natural irregularities and without buildings of any sort, served as the race-course. The point of starting was on the sea-coast, but the turning point was in the plain of Troy. The goal, which was the stump of a tree, could be seen in the far distance only by its having two white stones leaning against it on either side. On account of the great distance, the spectators were not able to distinguish between the approaching horses. (Il. 450 ff.) Hence rose an altercation between Idomeneus and Aias, as to whose chariot was leading in the race. Achilles advised both to wait quietly until the horses were nearer and the order of the chariots could be recognized by all.

With a very few points of difference, this description of Homer gives a good idea of a chariot race at Olympia. The difference consisted, first, in running the length of the course several times instead of once, in order that a body of spectators might witness the entire race; second, in the greater number of chariots, and third, in the arrangements, whereby they might start without confusion. In the games of Achilles, the chariots were five in number, each with two horses and a single driver, who stood upright in the chariot. As we have already mentioned, the Homeric hero made use of two horses in the race as well as in hostile combat, while the Olympic contestant did not limit himself to two horses. In fact, the four-horse chariot-race, which was introduced in the twenty-fifth Olympiad, was the first in honor and in importance, and always remained the most popular. In this contest, only kings, nobles, and the wealthy could take part, on account of the great expense involved in rearing fine horses, and in maintaining costly chariots. Very often, the victor had his triumphs recorded on the state issues of coins.

Races on horseback date from the thirty-third Olympiad. Philip of Macedon won in this contest, and celebrated his victory by having an enormous horse, ridden by a diminutive jockey, placed on his coinage. As this victory took place in the same year in which Potidaea fell into his hands and his son Alexander was born, he regarded that year as especially auspicious.

While the race of the quadrigæ of horses was introduced as early as the twenty-fifth Olympiad, that of the bigæ of horses was not introduced until the ninety-third Olympiad. A quadriga consisted of four horses harnessed to a chariot; a biga, of two horses. In the seventieth Olympiad, bigæ of mules were admitted, but in the eighty-fourth Olympiad they were excluded; their exclusion may be ascribed to two reasons: first, they presented an unpleasing appearance; second, among the Eleians, according to Pausanias, a curse had rested on the animals from ancient times.

Prior to the twenty-fifth Olympiad, all athletic contests had taken place in the Stadion. As chariot-racing, however, demanded more room, a separate race-course, called the Hippodrome, was established. The site of the Hippodrome cannot be exactly traced. This is because the Alpheios has washed away all certain indications of its limits. But from the account of Pausanias (V, 4; VI, 20, 7 foll.) it may be approximately located; it lay to the south of the Stadion and extended roughly parallel with it, though stretching far beyond it to the east. The German explorers who excavated Olympia inferred from the state of the ground that the Hippodrome was about 2526 feet in length. The Stadion and Hippodrome were closely connected, the rear part of the aphesis, or starting point, of the Hippodrome adjoining the end of the Stadion. At the farther end of the Hippodrome was the goal outside of which the chariots had to turn. To round this goal with advantage, that is, to keep as close to it as it was possible to do without upsetting his own chariot or colliding with another, required long practice and great dexterity on the part of the driver; it was indeed a very dangerous feat; at every race a large number of the chariots involved were wrecked, and in such accidents the charioteers rarely escaped without serious injuries. According to legend, Orestes had met his death at a Pythian festival; his chariot colliding with the goal, he fell to the ground, became entangled in the reins, and was dragged or trampled to death. After every turning of the goal, the chariots were greeted with the sound of trumpets in order that men and horses might attain new courage and vigor after so dangerous an ordeal.

The signal for the chariots to come out from the rooms allotted to them in the aphesis and form in line for the race was given by an eagle which, by means of mechanism, rose into the air at the same moment that a dolphin fell to the ground. Such a signal was characteristic of the Greek; but in the Roman races, the chariots started at the waving of a white cloth by a person of distinction.

The equestrian contests at Olympia were succeeded by boxing. Boxing for men was introduced at the Olympic festival in the twenty-third Olympiad, and for boys in the thirty-seventh Olympiad. But the sport was already very old, and its introduction at Olympia was probably a recognition of its popularity and antiquity. In fact, as the fist is the simplest and most natural weapon of mankind, it is not surprising to find that boxing was one of the earliest athletic games among the Hellenes. Homer’s detailed description of the contest of the invincible Epeios with Euryalos has already been mentioned, and Homer had probably heard many similar tales of the prowess of Mycenæan boxers. Polydeukes, the bravest boxer among the pre-Homeric heroes, is said to have defeated the strong Amykos. The latter was a teacher of the art, and allowed no stranger to depart from his country without challenging him to a pugilistic contest. Apollo himself, the gracious companion and leader of the Pierides, is described as engaging in a boxing contest at Olympus with Ares, the powerful god of war; perhaps in this myth there is a suggestion of the advantage which the nimble and quick-witted boxer sometimes has over a more bulky one. In the mythical founding of the Nemean games, Tydeus was victorious in a boxing contest. In the passage of Virgil’s Æneid (Book V, 401 ff.), which so closely resembles the twenty-third Book of the Iliad, the aged Entellus vanquishes the young and boastful Dares. This contest showed a complete system of striking and parrying.

It is quite likely that these and many other similar legends augmented the natural interest in the sport, and hastened its introduction into the greatest of all athletic festivals. But at Olympia the sport was marked with variations. Whereas, for instance, the Homeric heroes, when boxing, had protected their bodies by means of a girdle around the loins (Il. XXIII, 683), the Olympian athletes, being already accustomed to nudity in the wrestling and racing contests, dispensed with such protection. Again, from the first, Olympian boxers oiled the body, contrary to the practice of Homeric athletes.