The history of the ancient Olympics: honour, glory, wealth vs politics, bribes and fraud

The ancient Olympic Games were one of the competitions between representatives of city-states. From the beginning, they were a political tool to assert dominance over others. The results were often manipulated. At various times, some city states refused to participate and exerted political pressure to promote their own interests, while others were excluded from the Games. The history of the Olympics is full of controversy and myth, in many ways no different from modern ones.

A brief history of the ancient Olympic Games

The games were held every four years in Olympia under the famous temple of the god Zeus. According to their cycle, time was counted "for the Olympics". They began in mid-August and were part of a religious festival to celebrate the supreme Greek god. In the early days, there was only one race called the "stadium", which was a run of about 192 metres in a straight line. The first recorded winner of the Olympics was the cook Coroebus Elis in 776 BC.

Over the centuries, other events such as chariot races, wrestling, long-distance running and boxing were gradually added. Eventually, there were as many as 23 different competitive events, with the most competitions in a single Olympiad being 20. The games hosted by the emperor Nero were spicy, who, according to biographer Suetonius, "introduced a musical competition" at Olympia, which he himself "won" with the help of bribes. After Nero's suicide, the judges had to return the bribes and the emperor's victory was invalidated.

In less than 12 centuries, a total of 292 or 293 recorded Olympic Games were held (the last were probably cancelled in the course of the Games). The first documented in writing in the aforementioned 776 BC and the last one was held in 393 AD, when they were banned by the Roman emperor Theodosius I on religious grounds - said to be pagan in nature.

The greatest social events of antiquity

The games were very popular and people often came from great distances to see and support the competing athletes. Travellers stayed in tents and communal 'hostels' where they forged friendships across regions. There is a well-known story about Plato, who stayed in one such communal hostel at the Olympia Games with the poor and travellers who had no idea he was a famous philosopher.

"The strangers were delighted by their chance meeting [...] he treated them modestly and simply and couldHe was able to win the confidence of anyone in his company," recalled the Roman writer Claudius Aelian. When Plato later invited his new friends to Athens, they were astonished to discover that he was in fact a famous philosopher and a disciple of Socrates.

Some historians believe that as many as 50,000 pilgrims from all over the Greek world attended the games. Each city-state had its own athletes who were very popular with the people. The 1st century Greek writer Chariton, in his work Kallirhoe, described how a large "entourage of supporters" often arrived at Olympia along with the athletes.

Honour and glory alone?

The winners received a wreath of olive leaves, there were no prizes for second and other places. Each of the winners had the right to have statues erected and displayed, for example, in their home village. Their victory was valued on the same level as a victory of a warrior in war. In honour of the victors, the government held a festive feast in the prytaneum, where they were from then on to eat free of charge forever. The victor was often exempt from taxes and often also received valuable gifts and wealth from donors.

In addition, the winner enjoyed immeasurable honor. For example, Iccus of Tarentum, who won the pentathlon at the Olympic Games in 476 BC, was to declare that for him 'prizes meant glory, admiration in life and an honourable name after death.' The Roman historian Velleius Paterculus called the Olympic Games 'the most glorified of all sporting contests'. According to Claudius Aelianus, upon his return to Athens, "a crowd gathered in the city from all directions" to celebrate the athlete Dioxippus (4. century BC), who won the Olympics in pankration, a match similar to today's MMA.

Only men were allowed to watch the games and compete?

Although the Olympic athletic games were a male-only privilege, women could also win equestrian events. The first woman to achieve an Olympic victory was Kyniska, daughter of the Spartan king Archidamus II. She won her prize for training the horses that won the tethrippe (a two-wheeled chariot race with a four-horse team) at the Olympic Games in 396 BC. She also won in the same discipline 4 years later.

Women were not allowed among the spectators, although there were exceptions: for example, a woman named Pherenice could participate as a spectator in the 4th century BC: "Pherenice brought her son to the Olympic festival to compete. The presiding officers refused to admit her as a spectator, but she spoke to the public and justified her request on the grounds that her father and three brothers were Olympic champions," as Claudius Aelian explained.

The truce during the games and politics

In the 8th century BC, city states competed for power in Greece. They often operated in close proximity to each other, creating pressure on resources and increasing competition. Although conflicts between city states were the order of the day, they also had to trade with each other, form alliances and foster cultural interactions.

In this political context, the Olympic Games served as a place where representatives of city-states could peacefully compete with each other. During the games, political intrigue and intrigue were commonplace, and not infrequently the outcome affected the affairs of states for decades. It was therefore important to agree to a truce during the games.

The start of the truce was announced by three runners sent from Elis to different cities. During this period, armies were forbidden to enter Olympia. All legal disputes and executions were forbidden. The truce was intended to allow safe passage for athletes and visitors from all over Greece. For the most part, it was respected, but not always. Thúkydides wrote of a situation where Spartans were forbidden to participate in the games and truce breakers were fined 2,000 mines for attacking the city of Lepreum during the ekecheiria period.

There was no truce in the political arena. The Olympic Games became the most influential athletic and cultural event not only of Greece but probably of the entire ancient world. As such, the games became a means of promoting the city states and their leaders, who always exploited the games for their own benefit and to strengthen their influence. The result was political intrigue and much controversy.

Thousands of years ago, as today.

Representing one's home country in the Olympics is and always has been a lifelong dream for every athlete. For the governments and officials of the winning countries, it is a huge advertisement, as well as an opportunity to raise their profile and push various political objectives at home.and to send different signals to foreign countries, manipulating or bending reality through huge public interest.

In the ancient world, the Olympics was the biggest cultural event, and it is no different today, with billions of viewers around the world watching their countries' athletes. Even those that send their athletes to the Peace Games, even though they themselves are the aggressors in war conflicts. Today, as then, the Olympics serve different power and political objectives. Perhaps we should take off the rose-tinted glasses and stop saying that politics does not belong in sport when it has not disappeared from it for 2 800 years.

Roman Nemec

Sources: phys.org, anastrophe.uchicago.edu, britishmuseum.org

A model of the Olympics around 100 BC.

Pancratiastes on a vessel from the 5th century BC.

Museum replica of a bronze disc

An artist's rendering of ancient Olympia

palaestra olympia - a place for training athletes