A Poetic Introduction

It is fitting to begin any discussion of the Greek Olympics with a recitation of Pindar's poetry.  If you are unfamiliar with the poet Pindar and his work, allow me a few words of introduction. Whoever won a victory at Olympia, or one of the other numerous athletic games that were held in antiquity, was crowned with a wreath of laurel at a special awards ceremony, received a substantial prize, and was permitted to make a dedication to the god or goddess who sponsored the games. The dedication could take either of two forms. Either the victorious athlete could commission a statue in his honor or he could commission a poem. Both cost money. Presumably, poems were cheaper. Pindar made his living by composing dedicatory poems for victorious athletes.

The Eighth Pythian Ode, which is among Pindar's most famous, was commissioned by the wrestler, Aristomenes, to celebrate his victory at the Delphic games, held on the religious site at Delphi, the seat of the oracle of Apollo. 

The ode goes as follows:        

In Megara you have a prize already, Aristomenes,
and in the plain of Marathon, and three victories
in Hera's games in your home of Aegina.
But now you fell heavily and from high and with malice aforethought
upon the bodies of three opponents.
For them there was at Delphi no decision
for a happy homecoming like yours,
nor did happy laughter awaken pleasure in them
as they ran home to their mommies.
They slunk through the back alleys, separately and furtively,
painfully stung by their loss.

But he who has won has a fresh beauty and
is all the more graceful for his high hopes
as he flys on the wings of his manly deeds
with his mind far above the pursuit of money.

The happiness of man grows only for a short time
and then falls again to the ground,
cut down by the grim reaper.
Creatures of a day, what is a man? what is he not?
Man is but the dream of a shadow.
But when a ray of sunshine comes as a gift from the gods,
a brilliant light settles on men,
and a gentle life.

A Brief History of the Games

Athletic games were an ancient feature of Greek culture. No one is quite sure as to when athletic games were first held. There is some archeological evidence that athletic contests were being held among the Greek cities in Asia Minor before they were established on the mainland. The crowning of the victor with a laurel wreath suggests that the games were associated with the worship of a vegetarian god or goddess, with ancient rites extending far back into the dark ages of Greece. That great tourist of the classical world, Pausanias, records that the first Olympic Games were traditionally said to have been held around 1100 B.C. The Games were discontinued for three hundred years until they were reestablished in 776 B.C.

The first pictures of athletic contests come from the eighth century as well as the first literary account. Homer devotes the Twenty Third book of the Iliad to an account of the Funeral Games of in honor of Patroclos, the slain comrade of Achilles. Homer is an untrustworthy source for the content of the most ancient games. (1) He makes the chariot race the most important contest, judging by the prizes. In actuality, the footrace, or the stade race, was the most important contest, for reasons we will cover in a minute. (2) Secondly, along with the competitions in boxing, wrestling, running, javelin throwing, and chariot racing, Homer includes archery and spear-fighting, which were absent from all known Games. And (3) thirdly, these are Funeral Games, dedicated to the hero, Patroclos, not games dedicated to an immortal god or goddess.

It is true that mythical heroes were associated with the sites of the ancient games. In particular, the pan-Hellenic hero, Heracles, was associated with Olympic site. Pindar credits Heracles with founding the Olympic Games to commemorate his task of cleansing the Augean stables. In a similar vein, the artist Phedias incorporated motifs depicting the labors of Heracles on the trigliphs decorating the Temple of Zeus. The local hero Pelops is also associated with the Olympic site. He won a kingdom by beating his bride's father in a chariot race. He cheated by loosening the wheel of his opponent's chariot, but the old man's death was not greatly lamented because he had the rather nasty habit of stewing and dining on the remains of unsuccessful suitors. Curiously, there are remains of a hero's mound tomb on the site at Olympia; but this may well be a later day reconstruction to titilate the tourists.

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