Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art

by Walter Woodburn Hyde

The most valuable parallel to some of the scenes described by Pausanias is found on the Amphiaraos vase in Berlin,[71] dating from the sixth century B. C., on which the wrestling match and chariot-race correspond surprisingly well with the descriptions of Pausanias, despite certain differences in detail. Another archaic vase depicts a two-horse chariot-race and the parting of Amphiaraos and Eriphyle.[72] The scenes on this latter vase appear to have been copied from those on the chest, and it is possible that the scenes on the Berlin vase had the same origin.

Funeral games are commonly pictured on early vases. Thus on a proto-Attic amphora, discovered by the British School of Athens in excavating the Gymnasion of Kynosarges, there are groups of wrestlers and chariot-racers. The wrestling bout here, however, seems to be to the death, as the victor has his adversary by the throat with both hands. It may be a mythological scene, perhaps representing the bout between Herakles and Antaios. A still earlier representation of funeral games is shown by a Dipylon geometric vase from the Akropolis now in Copenhagen, dating back possibly to the eighth century B. C.[73] On one side two nude men, who have grasped each other by the arms, are ready to stab one another with swords. This may represent, however, as Gardiner suggests, only a mimic contest. On the other side are two boxers standing between groups of warriors and dancers. A similar scene in repoussé appears on a Cypriote silver vase from Etruria now in the Uffizi in Florence.[74] We should also, in this connection, note again the reliefs representing funeral games, which appear on the sixth-century sarcophagus from Klazomenai already mentioned.[75] Here is represented a combat of armed men; amid chariots stand groups of men armed with helmets, shields, and spears, while flute-players stand between them; at either end is a pillar with a prize vase upon it; against one leans a naked man with a staff, doubtless intended to represent the spirit of the deceased in whose honor the games are being held.

Games in honor of the dead tended to become periodic. The tomb of the honored warriors became a rallying-point for neighboring people, who would convene to see the games. While some of these games were destined never to transcend local importance, others developed into the Panhellenic festivals. As the worship of ancestors became metamorphosed into that of heroes, the games became part of hero cults, which antedated those of the Olympian gods. But as the gods gradually superseded the heroes in the popular religion, they usurped the sanctuaries and the games held there, which had long been a part of the earlier worship. We are not here concerned, however, with the difficult question of the origin of funeral games. They may have taken the place of earlier human sacrifices, which would explain the armed fight at the games of Patroklos and its appearance on archaic vases and sarcophagi; or they may have commemorated early contests of succession, which would explain many mythical contests like the chariot-race between Pelops and Oinomaos for Hippodameia, or the wrestling match between Zeus and Kronos. In any case such games would never have attained the importance which they did attain in Greece, if it had not been for the athletic spirit and love of competition so characteristic of the Hellenic race. Whatever their origin, therefore, there is little doubt that out of them developed the great games of historic Greece. The constant relationship between Greek religion and Greek athletics can be explained in no other way.[76]

EARLY HISTORY OF THE FOUR NATIONAL GAMES.

By the beginning of the sixth century B. C. the athletic spirit displayed in the Homeric poems had given rise to the four national festivals—at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and on the Isthmus. On these four, many lesser games were modeled.[77] The origin of all these, as we have already remarked, is lost in a mass of legend. The myths of the origin of Olympia are particularly conflicting. We are practically certain, however, that Olympia as a sanctuary preceded the advent of the Achæans into the Peloponnesus, and that the foundation of the games preceded the coming of the Dorians, but was probably later than that of the Achæans. The importance of the games dates from the time after the Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus, when the warring peoples finally became pacified.[78] For centuries Olympia was overshadowed by Delphi and the Ionian festival on Delos. The importance of the latter festival in the eighth and seventh centuries B. C. is shown by the Homeric Hymn to the Delian Apollo. Only by the beginning of the seventh century had Olympia begun to gain its prestige. The pre-Dorian Pisatai, in whose territory the sanctuary was situated, probably controlled it early. The Dorian allies, the Eleans, whom legend had King Oxylos lead into the Peloponnesus from Aitolia,[79] tried to wrest this control from the Pisatai, who, however, aided by religious reverence for the sanctuary, were able to maintain their rights. On account of the conflict the games languished, until finally a truce was made by the two factions and the games were re-established under their common management. This work was ascribed to Iphitos and Kleosthenes, kings respectively of Elis and Pisa, and to Lykourgos of Sparta.[80] The dual control was not successful, as the jealous Pisatai constantly tried to regain their old honor; but the Eleans, supported by the Spartans, prevailed and finally, after the Persian wars, destroyed Pisa and the other revolting cities of Triphylia and henceforth remained in sole control. The restoration of the games under Iphitos and his colleagues took place in 776 B. C., from which date the festival was celebrated every fourth year, until it was finally abolished by the Roman emperor Theodosius at the end of the fourth century A. D. In 776 Koroibos of Elis won the foot-race and this was the first dated Olympiad in the Olympian register,[81] and from it, as Pausanias says,[82] the unbroken tradition of the Olympiads began. This history of Olympia is very different from the orthodox mythical story told by Pausanias and Strabo and based on the “ancient writings of the Eleans.”[83] According to it the games were originally instituted by the Eleans under Oxylos and refounded by Iphitos, his descendant, together with Lykourgos, still under the management of the Eleans. In Ol. 8 the Pisatans invoked the aid of the Argive king Pheidon and dispossessed the Eleans, but they lost the control of Olympia in the next Olympiad. In Ol. 28 Elis, during a war with Dyme, allowed the Pisatans to celebrate the games. Six Olympiads later the king of Pisa came to Olympia with an army and took charge. The story leaves the Pisatans in control from about Olympiads 30 to 51, but some time between Ols. 48 and 52 the Eleans defeated Pisa and destroyed it, and henceforth controlled the games. Such a story was manifestly a contrivance by the later priests of Elis to justify their control of the games through a prior claim. It is contradicted by all the evidence.[84] The antiquity of Olympia is known to us from the results of excavations and from its religious history. The latest excavations on the site have disclosed the remains of six prehistoric buildings with apsidal endings, below the geometric stratum, upon the site of what used to be considered the remnants of the great altar of Zeus.[85] Such an inference is borne out by many primitive features in the religious history of the sanctuary. The altar of Kronos on the hill to the north of the Altis was earlier than that of Zeus; an earth altar antedated that of Zeus, while a survival of the earlier worship of the powers of the underworld is seen in the custom, lasting through later centuries, of allowing only one woman, the priestess of Demeter Chamyne, to witness the games. We also know that the worship of the Pelasgian Hera antedated that of the Hellenic Zeus; her temple, the Heraion, is the most ancient of which the foundations still stand, a temple built of stone, wood, and sun-dried bricks, whose origin is to be referred to the tenth, if not to the eleventh, century B. C.[86] We have already remarked that the worship of the hero Pelops preceded that of the god Zeus.[87] All such indications attest the high antiquity of Olympia. That it is not mentioned in Homer, while Delphi and Dodona are, only proves that in the poet’s time it was still merely a local shrine. Not until the beginning of the sixth century B. C. did it attain the distinction, which it retained ever afterwards, of being the foremost national festival of Hellas.[88]

The periodical celebration of the three other national festivals was not dated—except in legend—before the early years of the sixth century B. C., though local festivals must have existed also on these sites long before.[89] The old music festival at Delphi, which finally was held every eight years,[90] was changed in 586 B. C., in consequence of the Sacred War,[91] into a Panhellenic festival celebrated thereafter every four years (pentaëteris). It was under the presidency of the Amphiktyonic League, which introduced athletic and equestrian events copied from those at Olympia[92] and replaced the older money prizes with the simple bay wreath. About the same time the Nemean and Isthmian games were instituted. The local games at Nemea, said to have been founded by Adrastos in honor of a child, were reorganized some time before 573 B. C., the first Nemead.[93] Thereafter they were celebrated every two years, in the second and fourth of the corresponding Olympiads.[94] They were administered in honor of Zeus by the small town of Kleonai under Argive influence. The games were transferred to Argos some time between 460 B. C. and the close of the third century B. C. Centuries later, Hadrian revived the prestige of the games at Argos. The games held on the Isthmus also originated as an old local festival, which was revived in 586 or 582 B. C. We are not sure whether they were refounded in Poseidon’s honor by Periandros or after the death of Psammetichos in commemoration of the ending of the tyranny at Corinth. The geographical location of Corinth, the meeting-place of East and West, involved it in many wars, and therefore the Isthmian games never attained the prestige of the other national festivals; they were held every two years in the spring of the second and fourth years of the corresponding Olympiads and were administered by Corinth.[95]

Besides the four national games, many Greek cities had purely local ones, some of which originated in prehistoric days in honor of hero cults, while others were founded at historical dates. Athens was particularly favored in having many such local festivals. The most important of these were the Panathenaic games in honor of Athena, which developed from earlier annual Athenaia or Panathenaia. The festival was remodeled, or perhaps founded, just before Peisistratos seized the tyranny (561–560 B. C.), possibly by Solon, who died 560–559 B. C. The name certainly points to the unity of Athens promoted by Solon, if not to the earlier unification of the village communities of Attika ascribed to Theseus. In any case, under Peisistratos it became something more than a local festival, as the recitation of Homer became a feature of it. Following the games at Delphi and Olympia, the Great Panathenaia were held every four years (the third year of each Olympiad) in the month of Hekatombaion (July), while the more ancient annual festival continued yearly under the name of the Little Panathenaia. There were musical, literary, and athletic contests. The central feature of the festival was the procession which ascended from the lower city to the Parthenon on the Akropolis to offer the goddess a robe woven by noble Athenian maidens and matrons.[96] This procession is known to us in detail from the great Parthenon frieze. The Theseia exemplify a festival whose origin can be definitely dated. Kimon, the son of the hero of Marathon, in 469 B. C., discovered the supposed bones of the national hero Theseus on the island of Skyros. The Delphic oracle counseled the Athenians to place them in an honorable resting-place. Perhaps there was a legend that the hero was buried on Skyros; in any case a grave was found there which contained the corpse of a warrior of great size, and this was brought back to Athens as the actual remains of Theseus. Thereafter an annual festival was celebrated by the Athenian epheboi, comprising military contests and athletic events—stade, dolichos, and diaulos running races, wrestling, boxing, pankration, hoplite running, etc. It began on the sixth of Pyanepsion (October), and was followed by the Epitaphia, a funeral festival in honor of national heroes and youths who had fallen fighting for Athens.[97] Athletic games were held at the Herakleia in honor of Herakles at Marathon in the month of Metageitnion, and had attained great popularity by the time of Pindar.[98] The Eleusinia, in honor of Demeter, took place annually in Athens in the month of Boëdromion, when horse-races and musical and other contests were held. This Attic festival claimed a greater antiquity even than Olympia. The great national festivals encouraged these smaller local ones, so that they attracted competitors from the whole Greek world.

EARLY PRIZES FOR ATHLETES.

The prizes which were offered at the early games in Greece were uniformly articles of value. Their value, however, was regarded not so much in the light of rewards to the victors as proofs of the generous spirit of the holders of the games, who thereby celebrated the dead in whose honor the contest was held. In Homer’s account of the funeral games of Patroklos, each contestant, whether victorious or not, received a prize. In one case a prize was given where the contest was not held. In the chariot-race five prizes were offered: for the winner a slave girl and a tripod; for the second best a six-year-old mare in foal; for the third a cauldron; for the fourth two talents of gold; and for the last a two-handled cup.[99] For the wrestling match the winner received a tripod worth twelve oxen, while the vanquished received a skilled slave woman worth four oxen.[100] For the boxing match a mule was the first prize and a two-handled cup the second.[101] For the foot-race a silver bowl of Sidonian make, an ox, and half a talent of gold were the prizes.[102]

Hesiod records his winning a tripod for a victory gained in singing at the games of Amphidamas at Chalkis.[103] Tripods were the commonest prizes at all early games and it was not till later that they became connected especially with Apollo’s worship. They were presented for all sorts of contests, for chariot-racing,[104] horse-racing,[105] the foot-race,[106] boxing,[107] and wrestling.[108] They were presented at various games in honor of different gods and heroes: e. g., those in honor of Apollo at the Triopia[109] and Panionia of Mykale;[110] of Dionysos at Athens and Rhodes;[111] of Herakles at the Herakleia of Thebes and elsewhere;[112] of Pelias;[113] of Patroklos.[114] They were kept in temples dedicated to various gods: e. g., in those of Apollo at Delphi, at Amyklai,[115] and on Delos,[116] at the Ptoian sanctuary[117] and in the Ismenion at Thebes;[118] in the temples of Zeus at Olympia and Dodona;[119] of Herakles at Thebes;[120] at the Hierothesion in Messene,[121] etc. Later, because it served the Pythian priestess, the tripod became a part of the Apolline cult and the special attribute of that god.[122] Gold and silver vessels and articles of bronze were everywhere used as prizes. In early days bronze was very valuable. Pindar proves this for games held in Achaia and Arkadia;[123] and it continued to be used in later times, as, e. g., at the Panathenaia, where a hydria of bronze was a prize in the torch-race.[124] At the lesser games all sorts of articles were offered, merely for their value. Thus a shield was offered at the Argive Heraia,[125] a bowl at the games in honor of Aiakos on Aegina,[126] silver cups at the Marathonian Herakleia[127] and at the Sikyonian Pythia,[128] a cloak at Pellene,[129] apparently a cuirass at Argos,[130] and jars of oil from sacred trees at the Panathenaia.[131] A kettle is mentioned in the Anthology;[132] an inscribed cauldron from Cumae, which was a prize at the games there in honor of Onomastos, is in the British Museum,[133] while measures of barley and corn were prizes at the Eleusinia.[134] While presents of value continued to be given at the local games,[135] a simple wreath of leaves gradually came to be the prize offered the victor at the great national festivals. Pausanias[136] says that this was composed of wild olive (κότινος) at Olympia, of laurel (δάφνη) at Delphi, of pine (πίτυς) at the Isthmus, and of celery (σέλινον) at Nemea. Phlegon says that the olive wreath was first used by Iphitos in Ol. 7 ( = 752 B. C.), when it was given to the Messenian runner Daïkles,[137] and that for the preceding Olympiads there was no crown.[138] Probably before that date tripods and other articles of value were the prizes at Olympia, as we know they were elsewhere. Pausanias says that the wild olive came from the land of the Hyperboreans.[139] Pindar calls it merely olive (ἐλαία), and not wild olive.[140] The Athenian tradition was that the olive which Herakles planted at Olympia was a shoot of a sacred tree which grew on the banks of the Ilissos in Attica.[141] Phlegon also says that the first crown came from Attika. In later days the Olympic wreaths were cut from the “Olive of the Faircrown”;[142] its branches were cut with a golden sickle by a boy whose parents must be living;[143] it grew at Olympia in a spot near the so-called Pantheion,[144] which was probably a grove behind the temple of Zeus.[145] The laurel prize at the Pythian games replaced the older articles of value or money in 582 B. C.[146] It came from Tempe and was plucked by a boy whose parents must be living.[147] The wreath is seen on late Delphian coins of the imperial age.[148] Lucian also states that apples were given as prizes at Delphi.[149] Wild celery was the prize at the Isthmus in the time of Pindar.[150] It was dried or withered to differentiate it from the fresh celery used at Nemea.[151] Later writers say that the wreath was of the leaves of the pine,[152] which was the tree sacred to Poseidon. Probably pine leaves composed the older wreath, a practice certainly revived again in later Roman imperial days;[153] for while on coins of Augustus and Nero celery is represented, those of Antoninus Pius and Lucius Verus show pine.[154] A row of pine trees lined the approach to Poseidon’s sanctuary.[155] The prize at Nemea was celery and not parsley, as many wrongly interpret the wreath appearing on Selinuntian coins.[156] Pausanias also states that at most Greek games a palm wreath was placed in the victor’s right hand.[157] The palm as a symbol of victory occurs first toward the end of the fifth century B. C.[158]