Describe what a spectator would enjoy at the five-day olympics

Alex Jones

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Describe What a Spectator Would Enjoy in the 5 Day Olympics

It is thought that the first Olympic Games were held in 776BC in Olympia, and were continued every 4 years until 393AD, when the king Theodosius I terminated them as part of his battle to enforce Christianity as the state religion. The historic origins of the games aren’t fully known, however, many myths exist to explain them. There are four main legends: one involving Pelops and his fight to win the Olympic kingdom; another explains how Heracles won a race at Olympia and vowed the games should forever continue at 4 year intervals; the next claims that Zeus created the games as a celebration of his defeat of the Titan Cronus; and the last told of a prophetess who advised King Iphitos of Elis to hold the Olympic games in honour of the Gods. This he did, and was also advised that wars should stop during the 5 day festival as a sign of respect to the Gods. The games themselves were a collection of athletic, combat and equestrian events usually held at the hottest time of the year, which coincided with the lull in agriculture. They were attended by many because of the celebration of religion as well as sport, as athletic ability was said to be a gift from the Gods, and because everyone was guaranteed a safe journey to and from Olympia. However, for visitors to the games, there were strict regulations to abide by. Only males were permitted to attend who were of Greek citizenship, and had not been convicted of murder or sacrilege.

Day One of the games was mainly occupied by a traditional oath-taking ceremony whereby spectators would view each athlete, their fathers, brothers and trainer, having to swear, over the entrails of a boar, that they would not cheat during the games. This was a vital part of the proceedings, and is thought to have taken up the morning and the first part of the afternoon. After this, the athletes were called upon again to swear that they had carefully prepared themselves for the Games, and had trained for the most part of 10 months. Training would have been held in the athletes’ home cities until a month before the Games, when they would complete their final training at Olympia or Elis. It is here that athletes learned the codes and conventions of fair play and honourable competition. Following this, were the judges’ oaths in which they swore to be fair and honest when it came to inspecting the men and colts before they took part in their chosen events. They also had promise not to accept any bribes they may be offered during the course of the festival. This would all take place under the statue of Zeus. What the spectators would most enjoy on this first day would be the procession, which would progress from the city state of Elis, 34 miles from Olympia. The procession would consist of judges in purple robes, followed by referees, heralds, athletes, and the trainers. The Olympic Flame was lit by the sun, and would last for the whole 5 days.

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Day Two of the Olympic Games had a distinct separation between the mornings’ and the afternoons’ events. Spectators would see the equestrian events in the morning, in which horses would be divided into categories according to their age and team size. There was a group for horses of all ages, and one for colts only; and there was an event for horses with two in a team, and another for four. These were exciting to watch for the spectators because fatal crashes often occurred between the chariots of four horses going at high speeds. The afternoon’s events were held at the stadium, so visitors would travel from the hippodrome, where the equestrian events were held, to watch the pentathlon. This consisted of five events; discus throw, javelin throw, running, long jump, and wrestling. This was a favourite event of the games as people liked to watch these specific athletes because of their overall athletic ability. The skills needed for this event were taught widely in schools, mainly just for boys, however an exception of this would be in Sparta, where women had almost as many rights as men and could learn to fight, and then compete in battle, for example. The second day of the Olympic Games would finish with a celebration and a feast.

Day Three would then begin with a sacrifice to Zeus, the God of the Gods. One hundred bulls would be sacrificed, which would lead the games into the second half the day. This was devoted to the boys’ events, which were similar to those of the older of the athletes. These may have included events such as wrestling, boxing, a stade race, and pankration, which was a brutal mix of both boxing and wrestling, but with fewer rules. During these first few days of the Games, spectators would be kept amused, despite the heat, by entertainers, who made good business as they played for the audience during intervals. These would be accompanied by people selling goods such as water or olives. Although it is not certain how the third day would have ended, Drees states that: "Although there are no written records to go by we may safely assume that the third day of the festival closed with a ritual banquet in the prytaneum at which the guests ate the flesh of the sacrificial victims".

On the fourth day of the Olympic Games, the main events of the morning were the foot races. The first of these was the long race, or dolichos, and began at when the sun rose over the mountains. It would have been the equivalent of about 2¼ miles. The next race was the stade race, which refers to the length of the stadium, which would have been approximately 600 feet. Classic dress for the games was shorts; however, on the word of an ancient writer, Pausanias, in 720BC, an athlete deliberately lost his shorts in a stade race so as to run more freely. Consequently, clothing was abolished, and athletes competed in the nude. Spectators loved to watch foot race events, because it gave people from different cities a chance to compete seriously with each other without causing any bloodshed. For the cities failing to win the stade race, the double stade race, or dialus, was favoured, as it gave them another chance to compete with their rivals. The distance of this race was double that of the first stade race, and was the last foot race of the day. Athletes would then have competed in boxing, wrestling, pankration (meaning all-powerful), and a hoplite race, which was a race usually participated in by soldiers as opposed to athletes, and was the only race to have clothing. Armour was worn, but no weapons were used, only shields.

Day Five of the games held no athletic events. It was the day of celebration and recognition of the winners of the games, labelled heroes. Visitors would witness the prize-giving ceremony, in which the athletes would hand over the palm branch they were initially given when their victory was announced, and presented with crowns of wild olive branches by the judges. This would take place in the Temple of Zeus, underneath the god’s statue, which would have had a new golden crown of wild olive branches placed on its head earlier in the ceremony. Spectators would have gathered sweet smelling flowers and leaves, and would be invited to shower the deserving athletes with them when the ceremony was finished.

There were also many things that spectators would not have seen during the course of the 5 day festival. Despite the miles of coastline in Greece, water sports never featured in the events of the Games, although the reasons for this are unknown. Women were not allowed to participate or even attend the games. This had nothing to do with the lack of clothing on the athletes, but more that Olympia was dedicated to Zeus, and was therefore, sacred to men. Punishment for disobeying this rule was automatic death, usually by being thrown off of Mt. Typeo. Women who wished to be athletic could compete in a completely separate series of foot races called Heraea, named after the Greek goddess Hera, the queen of the gods. The skills practiced and used in the Olympic Games were those that could be used in battle, however unlike an army, team events were never part of the Olympic Games, and spectators would only witness athletes competing by themselves for every event.

In conclusion, there were essentially 2 days of religious activities, day one and day five, with the three days between hosting sporting events for the eligible citizens of Greece. The events were a symbol of peace, with cities competing with each other in a controlled manner; however, the hoplite race was a reminder that the truce of the Olympics was only temporary. Spectators would be privileged to witness an array of events, including those involving horses, and also sacrifices and processions. Typically, they would watch the triumphs of some, failings of others, and the fatality of a few.

Ludwig Drees, author of Olympia: Gods, Artists and Athletes, Pall Mall 1968.