Ancient Olympics: Athletes, Events, and Roman Influence
Ancient Olympics: Athletes, Events, and Roman Influence
**11 Requirements to Participate in the Ancient Olympics**
To participate, athletes had to meet several conditions: be male, be Greek, be free, be a legitimate son, and have trained for ten months. The games were held during the summer and coincided with the full moon.
Discrimination against women existed in ancient Greece. Women were unable to participate in the games or attend as spectators. They organized separate games for women, called Heraea.
**12 Athlete Training in Ancient Greece**
Professional athletes trained systematically and dedicated themselves almost exclusively to their practice to win. They trained exhaustively from dawn to dusk, repeating a four-day cycle: light training on the first day, intensified training on the second and third days, and rest or very light exercises on the fourth day. Athletes trained with their heads uncovered and barefoot. Milo of Croton, known for his victories, is the most famous athlete of antiquity. He famously lifted a steer.
**13 Events Held at the Ancient Olympic Games**
During the first thirteen iterations, there was only one event: the stadion race, which took one day. It was a single lap around the stadium.
Later, other events were added:
- Diaulos: Two laps around the stadium.
- Dolichos: A long-distance race of twelve laps.
- Long jump: Performed with dumbbells in hand to gain momentum. The winner was the one with the best total of three jumps.
- Javelin: Thrown using a stick with an iron point at one end, propelled by a belt wrapped around the post.
- Discus throw: Performed from a well-trodden surface. The thrower rubbed his hands with sand or dust, grasped the heavy stone (heavier than today’s discus), and threw it without leaving the designated area.
- Boxing: Originally done with bare fists. Later, the caestus (glove) was invented, initially consisting of leather straps to soften blows. Professionalism led to modifications, making it more devastating and sometimes deadly. There were no weight classes; the taller and heavier fighter usually won. If a fight threatened to go on indefinitely, one fighter would stand still, allowing the opponent to hit him, and so on until one acknowledged defeat by raising his arm.
- Wrestling: The goal was to throw the opponent, making their hips, shoulders, or back touch the ground twice. Wrestlers anointed their bodies with oil to make holds more difficult.
- Pankration: A violent form of wrestling where almost everything was allowed except for eye-gouging.
- Pentathlon: Consisted of five events: running, jumping, javelin, discus throwing, and wrestling. It combined these events to crown the complete athlete, who needed extraordinary flexibility, agility, and well-proportioned physique.
Horse races with different types of horses, charioteers, and chariots were also held but were reserved for the upper classes. Only very select horses were available, and the owners did not always drive the horses.
Olympic winners achieved great popularity, prestige, and admiration. The prize was an olive wreath, but victors were also received as heroes in their hometowns. Bronze statues were sometimes erected in their honor, and they were exempted from paying taxes. The Games came to an end during Roman times. Lucius Cornelius Sulla plundered Olympia in 86 BC and took the Olympic Games to Rome. This ancient festival ended in 393 AD by order of Theodosius I.
**14 Events in the Pentathlon**
Running, jumping, javelin, discus throwing, and wrestling.
**15 Differences in Physical Activity: Greece vs. Rome**
In Rome, the utility of physical activity was purely military. Physical culture became less important, with a focus on intellectual pursuits. The Romans introduced changes, shifting from medical and sanitary uses to entertainment (fun, hobby, spectacle).
**16 The Amphitheater and its Activities**
The Greek stadium was replaced by the Roman amphitheater, circus, and racetrack, emphasizing spectacle.
The amphitheater was elliptical, with a central space called the arena. The stands were divided into four sections: the first for distinguished persons, the second for gentlemen, tribunes, and citizens, the third for those without citizenship, and the fourth for plebeian women. The basement had corridors and rooms for stage equipment and animal cages. It hosted gladiator fights and hunts. Some amphitheaters had a mechanism to turn the arena into an artificial lake for naval combat.
- Gladiatorial combat: Gladiators were usually prisoners of war or those sentenced to death. They included Samnites, Thracians, and retiarii. They used various arms: helmet, long shield, shin guard, net, trident, leather cuff, etc. They could fight on horseback or from chariots.
- Naval combat (Naumachiae): Extremely bloody events that reenacted recent historical battles, fought in two formations.
- Hunting (Venationes): Two types: animals fighting each other or men hunting wild animals with arrows. Sometimes, defenseless people were put against beasts.