What Were the Ancient Olympics Like?

Biblical Archaeology Review ^ | Thursday, February 8, 2018 | David Gilman Romano

[SunkenCiv]

To the west of the Temple of Zeus was a modest fifth-century B.C. facility where the Olympian athletes bathed... A 5-foot-deep swimming pool, measuring 79 feet by 52 feet, lay adjacent to the baths; this pool also dates to the fifth century B.C.

In the third century B.C. a palaestra was added... a large open-air courtyard enclosed on all four sides by a colonnade, which was surrounded by rooms. The Greek word "palaestra" means "the place of wrestling," so wrestling and other events were probably practiced in the courtyard.

In the second century B.C. a large gymnasium was constructed to the north of the bath facility... included a roofed racecourse, 600 feet long, allowing runners to train under cover... also... a large open-air courtyard for practicing the discus, javelin and long jump...

Archaeologists have found starting lines carved in stone at both ends of the dromos, 600 feet apart... Spectators used the northern slope of the Cronus Hill to view the contests. By the mid-fifth century B.C., the dromos was surrounded on four sides by artificial earth embankments on which 45,000 spectators could watch the contests.

Spectators at Olympia stood while watching the games. The word stadion, in fact, may have originally meant "the standing place" ...

The hippodrome -- for equestrian events -- was located south of the stadium, in the broad, flat plain north of the Alpheus River... was probably about 2,000 feet long and 650 feet wide. One lap of the hippodrome would have been about three-quarters of a mile long...

An Olympic champion was the man most pleasing to the god, and the qualities that made him attractive to the god were aidos (modesty and self-respect), sophrosune (moderation) and arete (excellence).

[SunkenCiv]

Nestled in a valley bordered by the Alpheus and Kladeus rivers, the ancient sanctuary of Olympia hosted the earliest, and most prestigious, Greek athletic-religious festival. Starting in 776 B.C. as a simple foot race dedicated to Zeus, the quadrennial Olympic games expanded into a five-day festival -- during which 100 bulls were sacrificed to Zeus, and athletic events were contested -- that attracted tens of thousands of people to Olympia from all over the Greek-speaking world. Photo: From Ancient Greece.

[SunkenCiv]

[BenLurkin]

They didn’t have curling....8^(

[a fool in paradise]

No bloodsports featuring sharks with lasers, I can assure you.

[a fool in paradise]

What were the stadium skyboxes like?

[left that other site]

And...it’s probably in better shape than many of the abandoned “Olympic Villages” around the world.

[texas booster]

Stadium skyboxes?

The view from Mt Olympus was pretty good but very, very exclusive.

[Monkey Face]

:oO !

[Mount Athos]

They did have something like MMA, pankration

[Jan_Sobieski]

Herod the Great saved the Olympics in 12BC and was named “President for Life” of the Olympic Games. Wonder if that honorable designation still stands?

[Crucial]

The athletes were a hell of a lot less liberal, I bet.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Did they have special sports where chicks competed against only other chicks?

[TopDog2]

Yeah, but how diverse were they? How many people of color or womyn or LGTLPQZFGUNO participated?

[sneakers]

Horrible Histories take on the Olympics. I thought it was quite entertaining!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QedMg7Kppr8

[SunkenCiv]

• City of Fables Unearths Real Heroes from Roman Era [2005]
• Chariot races bring ancient Roman city back to life in Jordan [2005]
• Chariot Races Bring Ancient Roman City Back to Life [2005]
• A Worldwide Push To Bring Back Chariot Racing [2007]
• Justinian 30, Factionists 10: The Nika Rebellion of AD 531 [Superbowl Warm-up] [2008]
• Chariot racing could return to Rome [2008]
• Ben Hur in Colchester? Race is on to save UK's only Roman chariot racetrack [2010]
• Highest-Paid Athlete Hailed From Ancient Rome [2010]
• Relief found in W Turkey shows chariot race in ancient times [2011]
• Blue versus Green: Rocking the Byzantine Empire [2012]
• Carthage Archaeologists Dig Up Smart Cooling System For Chariot Racers [2016]

[elcid1970]

“Did they have special sports where chicks competed against only other chicks?”

Maybe not, but the Romans seem to have. Look up “Villa Romana Della Casale” for images of athletic bikini girls of the fourth century A.D.

[SunkenCiv]

There were actually Heraion games for the married women; also, one of the monuments that survives as ruins at Olympia commemorates one of the aristocratic women of Sparta — she didn’t attend or compete, but bankrolled a chariot team that won twice.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

No ghosts were allowed to compete, only people with color.

No women. That is why they competed naked. To make sure a female competitor did not sneak in.

Lots of homos, bi and guys who had sex with animals.

It was Greece. What did you expect?

[SunkenCiv]

whoops, my error, the games were called the Heraia, were put on by married chicks, but only unmarried chicks competed. There’s a bit about it at the original article, I just applied a really sexist filter and edited all reference to it right out. ;^)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3631036/posts?page=17#17

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!