The world of creek athletics had a number of features that will seem strange to us but which are essential to an understanding of the subject. Fundamental to the whole study is the word athlon, from which the name of our subject derives. Athlon is a noun that means, initially at least, “prize” or “reward.” This prize can take any form: money, victory crowns, shields, amphoras filled with olive oil. Its value maybe real or symbolic, but the athlon is omnipresent in competitions. Its verbal form, athleuein, means “to compete for a prize,” and the competitor was called an athletes, “one who competes for a prize.” This basic etymology should alert us to an equally basic aspect of the subject: athletics was not simply about competition: it concerned winning a prize. Sport for sport’s sake was not an ancient concept.
A second fundamental aspect of ancient athletics resides in the word gymnos, “naked,” and its verbal form gymnazein, “to perform in the nude.” This is the most obvious and striking difference between today’s athletes and the ancient Greeks, and we find it not only in the name but in the countless representations of Greek athletics (see fig. 3). It is a custom that invariably makes modern students (particularly males) uncomfortable, but, modesty aside, we now know that the cremaster muscle forces the genitals to contract during exercise so that the danger of injury is less than might first appear.
We do not know the origins of competition in the nude. Pausanias (1.44.1; A 3) attributes the “invention” of nude athletics to Orsippos of Megara, who won the sta-dion (a footrace) at Olympia in 720 b. c. when his pcrizoma (plural, perizomata; loincloth) fell off during the race. Another writer, Dionysios of Halikarnassos (7.72.2-3; A 4) also dates the custom to 720 b. c. but attributes it to a Spartan, Akanthos. Thucydides (1.6.5 - 6; A 5), writing around 420 B. c., likewise ascribes a Spartan origin to nude competition but states that it is “not many years since” the custom began. We do not know what Thucydides intended by that indication of date, but three hundred years do not
Fig. 5 Nude boxers flanked by a jumper and a boxer waiting his turn, both wearing perizomata. Does this represent an accidental omission by the loincloth painter? Black-figure kyathos in the Group of Vatican G.58, side A, ca. 530 B. c. Paris, Bibliothequenationale de France, inv. no. 354.
Fig. 4 Runners wearing peri-zomata (loincloths), with a single kampter (turning post) and a judge seated beneath the handle. Black-figure amphora by the Michigan Painter, side A, 530-520 B. c. Martin von Wagner Museum, Universitat Wurzburg, inv. no.
L 328 (photo: K. Oehrlein).
Seem to be “not many.” In other words, the ancients themselves were uncertain about the beginning of athletic nudity.
Augmenting our uncertainty is a series of black-figure vases of the sixth century B. c. that show athletes with perizomata (also called diazomata) painted in white over their waists and genitals (the ancient equivalent of the fig leaf; see figs. 4, 5,102). All these vases were discovered in Etruria, however, and it seems clear that they were made for an Etruscan market that admired Greek art but not nudity in athletics. In most cases the incised details of the genitals can be seen where the white paint was either carelessly applied and so failed to cover them or has since worn off. In one case (fig. 4) the perizoma was painted down the outside of the thigh; the painter seems not to have realized that this runner had his right foot and leg forward, hiding the genitals, so the perizoma’s lower flap, which ought to be between the legs, should not have been visible either. Yet these exceptions to the portrayal of athletic nudity actually prove the ubiquity of the custom among the Greeks.
Another custom related to nudity but less well documented and not completely understood is the practice of infibulation, tying up the foreskin of the penis. (The Greeks did not practice circumcision.) Infibulation is mentioned only in late lexicographic sources under definitions of kynodesmai (dog leashes). An example from Phrynichos (85; A13) is typical: kynodesmai are “the things with which the Athenians tied up their private parts when they stripped, because they called the penis a dog.” The practice is shown, albeit rarely, in depictions of athletics on vase paintings. In one
Fig. 6 Athlete tying foreskin of his penis. His aryballos and stlengis hang on the wall above a stool. Red-figure tondo by Onesimos, ca. 490 B. c. St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, inv. no. B-1534.
Fig. 7 Scene from a gymnasion: the athlete on the left is tying the foreskin of his penis while a boy watches. The athlete on the right disrobes in front of another boy, and the athlete at center prepares to throw a diskos while a trainer or judge gestures, apparently at his penis. Red-figure krater by Euphronios, ca. 510 B. c. Berlin Staatliche Museen — Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Antikensammlung, inv. no. F 2180 (photo: Johannes Laurentius).
A young man is tying himself while his athletic gear (oil jar and scraper) hang on the wall in front of him (fig. 6). In another one young man ties his penis while another practices the diskos and a third disrobes (fig. 7). In a vase painting of a boxing match the penis of one athlete seems to be tied up (fig. 8), while that of his opponent is not. The use of kynodesmai, then, must have been a personal choice, but the reason for deciding whether to use them is not clear. Did some athletes feel that the practice helped their performance? Did it have a sexual dimension?
The word gymnos gave rise to cognates we shall encounter throughout our study. A gymnastes could be anyone who did something in the nude, but it came to have the specialized meaning of a trainer of nude activities — an athletics coach. The gymnasion was literally a place for nudity, but specifically a place for nude athletes, and finally a place for training the (nude) body and the mind. Even more fundamental is the adjective gymn/feos, especially when applied to the word agon. The original meaning of agon was a meeting or assembly, and it came to refer to an assembly to watch games. So pervasive were the competitions that agon soon referred to them, and then to the act of competing in the games. The cognate agonia, the source of our “agony,” referred more exclusively to the struggle for victory that involved ponos (pain), regardless of whether a victory resulted.
In a technical sense, gymnikos agon referred to the nude competitions: what today we would call athletics. However, since by definition ancient Greek athletics were any competition for a prize, agon was modified by other terms as well: hippikos agon referred
Fig. 8 Boxers. The penis of the man on the left appears to be tied up, but not that of the man on the right. Red-figure tondo in the manner of Euergides, 510-500 B. c. Bologna. Museo Civico Archeologico, inv. no. 28655.
I ig. 1) Paides racing. The victor talks to judge on the right. Panathenaic amphora by the Achilles Painter, ca. 440 B. c. Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico, inv. no. 18039.
To equestrian events and mousikos agon to musical events, both of which were standard components of the competitive program in many places, though not Olympia.
In addition to being nude, competitors in the ancient gymnikos agon were divided into age categories. At Olympia there were two groupings: andres (men) and paides (boys). At precisely what age the division occurred is not clear, but the best evidence puts it at about seventeen. The exact age was not as important as the stage of development: a younger but more physically developed athlete might be assigned to the andres category. At other sites, there was an intermediate group called ageneioi (beardless youths). From vase paintings, we can deduce that these were probably in their late teens, while the paides at such sites were in their early teens. Representations of small youths (fig. 9), clearly not men, should be compared to those of larger, better-developed youths (fig. 10) who are without beards. The latter are the ageneioi. These, in turn, differ from images of youngish men who are bearded (fig. n), presumably the vase painter’s way of signaling the presence of andres. Although physical size and development might be considerations in assigning athletes to a group, there were no weight divisions. In boxing, for example, speed might be set against strength when one competitor was significantly smaller than his opponent.
Given the nudity of ancient athletes, a discussion of their equipment might seem to be brief But even without a uniform, the ancient Greek athlete, like his modern counterpart, did have a personal kit. The main component was a jar of olive oil, which he rubbed on his body before exercise and competition (fig. 12). The standard oil jar was the aryballos (plural, aryballoi), a rounded, baseless vessel with a small mouth that could easily be corked. Aryballoi vary in size, but the most common are about the size of a baseball (fig. 13). A cord by which the athlete carried the aryballos or hung
Fig. lo Wrestling competition for ageneioi. Note that the judge, though young, is starting a beard and therefore not ageneios — beardless. Panathenaic amphora, 420-410 B. c, Athens, National Museum, inv. no, 451 (photo: © Treasury of Archaeological Receipts).
V —
Fig. 11 The stadion race for andrcs. Panathenaic amphora by the Achilles Painter, ca. 440 b. c. Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico, inv. no. 18040.
It on a peg was threaded through the handles. Aryballoi are sometimes decorated, especially in the sixth century b. c., but the designs are usually simple repetitive patterns. A variant shape, the alabastron, is an elongated aryballos, and the larger surface was sometimes decorated elegantly, often with figures (fig. 14).
Why athletes oiled their bodies has been much discussed, and modern scholars offer many explanations. Some suggest that rubbing the oil in helped to warm up and limber the muscles before exercise, others that the oil protected the skin from the sun and the elements. Another theory is that the oil produced a glistening body which was aesthetically pleasing and desirable, or that the coating of oil prevented the loss of body fluids during exercise. Ancient sources support some of these interpretations. Lucian (Anacharsis 24; A 7) suggests that the tone of the skin was improved by the oil in the same way that leather is made more durable, while Pliny (NH 15.4.19; A 8) states that oil protected the body against cold. There may also have been a religious connotation: the athlete dedicated himself by the use of oil. There are many examples of oil being used to anoint both iconic and aniconic images of Greek divinities, and the Greek epithet for Jesus, Christos, means “the anointed one.” These theories are not mutually exclusive, and we may suspect that the custom was so venerable and ubiquitous among the Greeks that they themselves were uncertain of its full range of significance. The Romans had no such doubts—they considered rubbing oil on the body an extension of the same Greek perversion seen in nude athletes.
After exercise, the athlete scraped his body with a strigil (stiengis), a curved tool, concave in section, usually made of bronze although iron was sometimes used (fig. 15). Some sources mention reeds that were split to provide the requisite scraping shape. Greek vase painting is full of depictions of the apoxyomenos, the scraping off of
Fig. 12 Athlete prepares to anoint himself with oil from his aryballos. Red-figure tondo by the Ambrosios Painter, ca. 510 B. c.Malibu, Calif.,The]. Paul Getty Museum, inv. no. 86.AE.298.
Fig. 14 Alabastron showing an athlete fixing a ribbon on his head. An image of Nike appears on the opposite side of the vase. White-ground alabastron, ca. 480 B. c. Berlin, Staatliche Museen — Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Antikensammlung, inv. no. F 2258 (photo: Ingrid Geske).
Fig. 13 Black-glaze aryballos, 500-480 B. c. Athens, National Museum, inv. no. 12665 (photo: © Treasury of Archaeological Receipts).
The body (fig. 16), and one of the more famous statues by Lysippos, court sculptor of Alexander the Great, shows an athlete in this pose (fig. 17). There are also depictions of athletes running a finger or thumb along the inside of the stlengis (fig. 18), presumably to rid it of the combination of oil, sweat, and dust that accumulated on their bodies during exercise or competitions. This mixture was calledgloios and it was collected in the gymnasion and sold for its (presumed) medicinal value.
In addition to the aryballos and the stlengis, athletes also carried a sponge (sponges), which was used to wash up after the scraping was completed. These are depicted frequently as a part of athletic equipment (fig. 19), although the sponge is less often seen in actual use (fig. 20).
Fig. 16 Athletes (identifiable by the diskos and the kampter behind the figure at left) scrape themselves off with stlengides. The inscription reads “kalos” (beautiful). Red-figure bell kraterby the Kleophon Painter, 430-420 B. c. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, inv. no. 1922.8.
Fig. 15 Bronze strigils (stlengides). Olympia, Archaeological Museum, inv. nos. M 348, M 349, M 281 (photo: © Treasury of Archaeological Receipts).
One other piece of athletic equipment is sometimes portrayed. This is a kind of cap; it does not cover the ears but seems to be used to hold the hair down (fig. 20; see also figs. 122,141). It is not shown being worn in competitions, only in practice, and should perhaps be understood as a kind of hairnet. It typically appears in scenes featuring pentathletes (when the athletic event can be identified) and may be a way to keep the athlete’s hair from becoming entangled with the throwing strap of the javelin.
Lastly, ancient sources describe dust or powder (konis), which athletes used after they were through exercising and cleaning up; gymnasia even had a special room called the konisterion. Philostratos (On Gymnastics 56; A19) speaks of dust made from clay, from terra-cotta, or from asphalt, but recommends yellow powder as the most attractive. As described, it appears that the powder was thrown up in a cloud to settle evenly on the athlete’s body. There are not, so far as 1 know, any visual representations of this practice nor of konis as part of the athlete’s gear, and all references to it are from Roman times. It may have been a later practice.
Another characteristic of ancient Greek athletics that strikes modern readers as alien is the punishment for fouls: flogging. The evidence for the practice is unequivocal. Vase paintings show judges equipped with switches (rhabdoi) throughout the sixth and fifth centuries (see, for example, figs. 5,43,81,88). Usually the switches are simply iconographic props, but sometimes they are shown in use on athletes committing a foul, such as the fighter gouging his opponent’s eye in figure 98. References in ancient texts to the custom of flogging are equally numerous. Perhaps the most famous is that of Herodotus (8.59; A J02), describing a scene in 480 b. c. on the eve of the Battle of Salamis. During the debate among the Greek allies about whether and where they
Fig. 17 Athlete engaged in scraping off his body (apoxyomenos). Marble Roman copy of an original statue by Lysippos, ca. 320 b. c. Vatican, Vestibolo Cortile Ottagono. inv. no. 1185 (photo: P. Zigrossi).
Fig. i8 Athletes after practice; at right, an older youth scrapes his left arm with a stlengis; at center, a younger boy with an aryballos hanging from his left hand looks toward youth at right; at left, an older youth runs his thumb down the inner groove of a stlengis to clean out the gloios. The dipinto above reads, “Euaion the son of Aischylos is kalos." Red-figure oinochoe by the Achilles Painter, 450-440 b. c. Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, inv. no. Bs 485 (photo: Claire Niggli).
Would take a stand against the invading Persian forces, Themistokles, in his eagerness to advocate the defense of Salamis, spoke out of turn. Adeimantos, a Corinthian, chided him; “At the games, Themistokles, those who start too soon are flogged with switches." These rhabdoi were typically switches cut from the lygos bush, a kind of willow, which, we can imagine, produced painful welts. Tellingly, it was not permitted to flog an athlete’s head.
The willingness of a free man to subject himself to the punishment of a public flogging should be understood not only as a basic part of ancient Greek athletics but also as a fundamental characteristic of ancient Greek society. The notion of equality before the law inherent in this custom may be the most significant contribution of athletics to the ancient world, one to which I shall return in Chapter 15.
A few further points should be mentioned here. They all have to do exclusively
Fig. 20 An athlete leaning on a basin while squeezing out his sponge. On the wall at left hang an aryballos and a stiengis. Detail from a red-figure mask-kan-tharos by the Foundry Painter, ca. 480 b. c. Malibu, Calif., The J, Paul Getty Museum, inv. no. 85.AE.263.
Fig. 19 An athlete is shown binding his hands for boxing, surrounded by his equipment. Jumping weights (below), diskos, and pick (right) lie beside him, while on the wall an aryballos hangs in front of a sponge. The inscription reads, “Epidro-mos is kalos.” Red-figure tondo by the Epidromos Painter, 520-500 B. c. Hanover, N. H., Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, inv. no. c.970.35; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Winfield Smith.
With the four stephanitic (crown) games, at Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea, and do not apply to the numerous local games held at and by individual city-states. But they are critical to our understanding of ancient Greek athletics because they demonstrate the gulf between ancient and modern ideas about athletics.
First, there were no team competitions. Every event pitted man against man, one on one. In addition, there was no prize for second place. One man won, and everyone else lost. We hear of no one taking solace in being a runner-up. The ideal of arete, “excellence,” had no room for “nearly.” Finally, there was no subjective judging in the gymnikos agon and the hippikos agon (I shall examine the judging in the mousikos agon in Chapter 4). No panel of judges awarded “style points” that could help decide a winner. The winner was chosen by obvious, objective standards: who crossed the finish line first, who hurled his javelin the farthest, who threw his wrestling opponent to the ground. The concern to remove all subjectivity from the competition extended to the adjudication of fouls or the arrangement of pairings that might influence the final determination of the victor. As we shall see, these strict standards resulted in a limited program of competitive events at the games. They also greatly reduced controversy and accusations of favoritism. This adherence to objective criteria in establishing a winner is the fundamental reason why the ancient Olympics thrived, and why the Olympic idea (whatever its reality) still lives today.
World History
