The first one thousand years

 

“Olympiska spelen: De första tusen åren” (Olympic Games: The first one thousand years) is a book in Swedish, written by classicist, archeologist and tourist guide Allan Klynne. It was published this summer – obviously to coincide with the Olympic Summer Games in Paris (which many Swedes follow on TV). Despite only being 180 pages long, it´s packed with information, and even feels a bit unwieldy! And no, it´s not primarily about the modern unwieldy multi-sport event known as the Olympic Games, but rather about their ancient precursors.

In Olympia in ancient Greece, Olympic Games were organized every four years between 776 BC and 389 AD. In 393 AD, the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius ordered the “pagan” games to close down, and the planned event that year was swiftly cancelled. At least, that´s the traditional view. Klynne believes that the real story is more complex (obviously). Some kind of athletic competitions may have existed in Olympia even before 776 BC, and there is no real evidence that Theodosius banned the games (as opposed to de-paganize them). Perhaps the games continued to be held until some unspecified point during the 5^th century AD when the temple dedicated to Zeus at Olympia burned down, never to be restored? The “Isolympic” Games in Antioch weren´t banned until 524 AD by Emperor Justin after sports fans had staged a massive riot in the city! (The term “Isolympic Games” means “equal to the Olympic Games” and was part of the ancient Olympic “brand”.)

Obviously, the games at Olympia had their ups and down over the centuries, but it *is* intriguing that they were organized in some form for about one thousand years. My impression is that the religious character of the games had something to do with it. The games were held in honor of the Greek high god Zeus. The idol of said god in the local temple was regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world. Large sacrifices of cattle to Zeus took place during the championships. There was also a female “competition”, the Heraean games, which may have been an explicit worship service of Zeus´ divine consort, the goddess Hera, although the question is apparently controversial. It´s precisely these connections to pagan cults that made many historians suspect that the Christians suppressed the games for religious reasons. However, the Christianized population of the Roman Empire loved sports just as much as the pagans, so the real reason for the decline of the Olympic Games and similar competitions was the general crisis of the Empire, which made it difficult to sustain large-scale events of this kind.

When the French baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, historians had very romantic and frequently erroneous views of the ancient games. For instance, there was a widespread misconception that the ancient Greek athletes had been amateurs and only competed for the glory. But as Klynne demonstrates in this book, money or other gifts (from olive oil to mules) were always part of the picture. So were bribes, cheating and all kinds of scandals. During the second century AD, when Greece had long been part of the Roman Empire, an enormous bureaucracy around the Olympic Games and other sport championships was created and the prize money sums became even larger. Sounds familiar? Klynne even compares the sports bureaucracy to the modern-day International Olympic Committee! And no, the ancient athletes weren´t “amateurs” by any stretch of the imagination.

Sports at the ancient games included running, discus, javelin, boxing, wrestling, pankration (could be compared to modern MMA), horse-races and more. The horse-races were considered to be competitions between the owners of the horses, many of the actual riders being slave-boys. One sport *not* included was marathon – the sport is named after an event following the Battle of Marathon in Greece in 490 BC, but the sport itself is wholly modern and seems to have been invented especially for the 1896 revival games. In ancient times, only males were allowed to compete in the games at Olympia (but see below), and both athletes and trainers were nude. During Greek times, only male spectators were allowed, but under the Romans, at least unmarried women were also allowed to watch. There was one partial exception to the rule prohibiting female competitors: female horse-owners were allowed to participate, since the actual riders were male. But as already mentioned, the prize money and recognition went to the owners. The first female to win an Olympic prize in this way was Cynisca, a Spartan princess.

Klynne discusses the various ancient Olympic disciplines in some detail. The running competition known as “stade” (about 200 meters) was considered the most ancient one and seems to have had the highest status, at least nominally. The most popular sport among the spectators, however, was the pankration. The most dangerous may have been boxing. It´s not clear to me why the athletes were nude, but I doubt that it had anything to do with equality or democracy! The Greeks themselves claimed that the runners originally wore garments, but one day, a Spartan realized that he could run faster without it and simply dropped it during the race, winning naked. To me at least, this suggests that nudity may have been the most practical “outfit” for an ancient athlete, making his movements unhindered. After all, this was long before modern aerodynamic sport-related clothes. At Olympia (but nowhere else), trainers also had to be nude, supposedly because of a famous incident involving a boxing trainer who turned out to be woman dressed as a man!

But what about the results? How good were the ancient Greco-Roman athletes? The simplest answer is that we don´t really know, since the ancient sources almost never discuss such matters. Everyone could see who was the winner, so why bother with details? In all likelihood, ancient athletes were at least technically speaking worse than modern ones, but I assume that “worse” is a relative term. Throwing a discus a certain distance may be “good” or “bad” depending on what technique you use, your physique, and so on. The most original Olympic disciplines were contests for heralds and trumpeters. Or perhaps not so original, since these were a necessary part of the program. The winners´ name, for instance, was announced by a herald, and obviously this person needed to have a voice both strong and beautiful.

The Olympic peace is well known – the idea that the constantly warring Greek city-states should lay down their arms during the Olympic Games – but it wasn´t always successfully upheld (surprise). Elis and Pisa even fought for control of Olympia itself, and in 364 BC Elis and the Arcadian League fought a battle in Olympia during the actual games! The sources don´t mention how the spectators survived the melee. The “treasure houses” in Olympia were filled with trophies the Greek states had stolen from each other during various wars. The previously mentioned Spartan princess Cynisca may have entered the games on behalf of the Spartan king as a diplomatic sleight to Athens. It´s also interesting that the Athenians organized their own multi-sport event, the Panathenaic Games, as an alternative to the Olympic Games. Think Ionians versus Dorians. Under Roman rule, the worst scandal took place when Nero (yes, *that* Nero) forced the organizers to accept him as a competitor. The tyrant did indeed “win” every discipline he chose to enter, from playing the lyre to racing with a chariot with ten horses (despite falling off the chariot during the race).

I already mentioned the 1896 modern revival of the Olympic Games several times and will end on that note. Judging by Klynne´s description, Coubertin´s invention comes across as a gigantic LARP: modernized versions of the original sports, no women allowed, only amateurs, and Athens in the modern nation-state of Greece as the venue. Later Olympic Games also added artistic competitions, which had been on the program in other Panhellenic games in Antiquity. They also allowed women to compete, however. The strange ritual among the ruins of Olympia where the Olympic flame is lit before the games came later, but fits the picture. 

Coubertin´s games weren´t the first during the 19^th century to use the name “Olympic Games”. For instance, a large sports event in Athens in 1870 for Greeks from all over the world used the same designation. But Coubertin had created a larger apparatus around his idea and…well, here we are. Of course, today the Olympic Games have almost nothing in common with either Coubertin´s 1896 version or the ancient version, the latest edition in Paris even including breakdance! Note also the Winter Games, unknown in ancient times since (of course) there were no winter sports in the Eastern Mediterranean. Paralympics would also have been impossible in ancient times, since the rules expressly forbade disabled males from participating. *Sometimes* there really is progress.

But will the modern Olympic Games last for one thousand years? That would be until 2896. Somehow, I doubt it…

With that reflection, I end this review.