Unfortunately only scraps of papyrus have survived detailing exercises for sportsmen, or rules and regulations existing during the games and lists of victors.  From the minimal quantities of papyrus that has survived, it is evident that sportsmen would refer to textbooks to improve their sporting abilities. These, however, have mostly perished since antiquity.  Nonetheless, ancient Greek pottery, rather, is the most informative today for the sporting practices carried out during the games.  This is aided, as well, by coinage of city-states depicting the sports they were strong at, statues of athletes and literary sources that have survived down to the modern era. 

 

One of the principal regulations of the Olympic Games, attested both in literary sources and coinage, was the oath taken by athletes at the start of the games. Pausanias in the Description of Greece V 24.9-10 wrote the following description of the oath in the 2nd Century AD:

 

"But the Zeus in the Bouleuterion is of all images of Zeus most likely to strike terror in the hearts of sinners.  He is surnamed Horkios [Oath god] and in each hand he holds a thunderbolt.  Beside this image it is the custom for athletes, their fathers and their brothers, as well as their trainers, to swear an oath upon slices of boar's flesh that in nothing will they sin against the Olympic Games..."

 

This oath is also attested on a bezel of a cast gold ring that depicts a statues of Zeus Horkios accompanied by a flaming altar and a boar, dated around 325-275 BC. Delinquents could be publicly whipped by the mastigophoroi (whip-bearers) and heavy fines could also be imposed, particularly in the case of bribery, which was viewed as a particularly shameful crime.  The money amassed from these fines was, in part, used to pay for bronze statues of Zeus that adorned the terrace wall that led up to the stadium. Pausanias recorded that there were sixteen statues in total, six of which had been funded from fines against the city of Athens, when Kallipos, an Athenian, bribed his opponents in a pentathlon competition.

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Pausanias also wrote that women were banned from attending the Olympic Games in an unrelenting passage from his Description of Greece.  He wrote: 

 

“On the road to Olympia … there is a precipitous mountain with lofty cliffs … the mountain is called Typaeum.  It is a law of Elis that any woman who is discovered at the Olympic Games will be pitched headlong from this mountain.  (Pausanias, 2nd Century AD, Description of Greece v 6.7)

 

However, it appears this rule only applied to married women, as Pausanias records in another passage that “virgins were not refused admission.”  There is no written evidence surviving to explain this difference, however the original games of the ancient past were celebrated in honour of fertility, when virgins were deemed pure enough to attend, which could be the reason explaining the female rules at the Olympic Games. However, this austerity faded over time and, by the late first century AD, Dio Chrysotomus records that “even women of dubious character” were allowed at the Olympic Games.

 

Before the Games were established in honour of Zeus, one woman was, in fact, required to witness the Games.  She was the priestess of Demter Chamyne, who owing to the veneration of fertility of rites at the time, sat and observed the Games from the marble altar of the goddess halfway along the north bank of the stadium. 

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Literary sources underscore the severity of training and exertion that competing in the Olympic Games entailed.  Epictetus, who lived in the 1st and 2nd Centuries AD, wrote in his Discourses the following:

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"You say 'I want to win at Olympia'.  But wait.  Look at what is involved ... You will have to obey instructions, keep away from desserts, eat only at set hours, in both heat and cold; you must not drink cold water nor can you have a drink of wine whenever you want.  You must hand yourself over to your coach exactly as you would to a doctor.  Then in the contest you must gouge and be gouged; there will be times when you will sprain a wrist, twist your ankle, swallow mouthfuls of sand and be flogged.  And after all that there are times when you will lose."  (Epictetus, Discourses, I 5, 2-5)

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There is also an amphora made in Athens between 550 - 540 BC that shows two boxers, both with thongs or himantes covering their hands, however one is nonetheless bleeding profusely from the nose.  There was a mythical tradition in antiquity, and particularly in the Greek world, that connected medicine to competitive sport.  The Greek god of medicine, Asklepios, was said to have learnt his skills from the centaur Cheiron, who, it was claimed, introduced competitive gymnastics into the Olympic Games and brought in music from the double pipes to accompany sporting exercise.  On a more factual level, sport and medicine do appear to be nonetheless closely connected, since one of the two surviving list of Olympic victors is preserved in the writings of Aristotle, who for part of his career was royal physician to King Phillip of Macedon.

 

An illustration from the Codex of Chirurgy shows a patient being treated for a dislocated knee.  Although a Byzantine copy, dated to about 10th Century AD, the codex was a copy of an illustrated version of Apollonios of Citrium’s commentary, from the 1st Century BC, of one of Hippocrates' treatises.  Hippcrates records a method for dealing with shoulder dislocations, and we can deduce that there were physicians present at the Olympic Games who could treat dislocations, albeit at a primitive level.  Athletes would also have trainers, who Philostratus, records vied fiercely among competitors.

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Surviving artefacts also suggest athletes would have taken measures to overcome sunburn during the games.  There is an Etruscan bronze statuette from around 500 BC of a man using a strigil or scraper to apply and remove olive oil from his skin.  An example of an aryballos that would’ve contained the oil, accompanied by two strigils, has survived down to the modern era in the form of a Roman artefact, measuring close to 7 cm.  The aryballos was usually attached to the wrist and the oil applied throughout the day.  Remaining alongside the sun would’ve been the problems of food and water contamination, tetanus, malaria and the continuous problem of flies and mosquitoes that caused the Eleans to regularly worship Zeus Apomyios, the “Averter of Flies”, whose origins linked back to the myth of Herakles who appealed to Zeus when beset with the pestuous problem. 

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Ten months before the start of the games, the hellanodikai, “Greek Judges” were chosen by lot.  Although their numbers fluctuated over the years, for the most part there were ten of them in total, who were divided into three groups that presided over the equestrian events, the pentathlon and the remaining other competitions, with one acting as an overall supervisor.  At the same time, athletes were expected to train fervently in their home towns.  Philostratus the Elder wrote in the 2nd - 3rd Century AD:  “if you have worked hard enough to render yourself worthy of going to Olympia, if you have not been idle or ill-disciplined, then go with confidence; but those who have not trained in this fashion, let them go where they will.” (Apollonius of Tyana V 43).  Ten months prior to the games athletes were, in fact, required to swear an oath pledging they would devote themselves to strict training.

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A month prior to the start of the games, athletes were required to reside in the town of Elis and engage in compulsory training.  There were three gymnasia at Elis in total, and the local market was dismantled and used as a space of horse-races.  A shoulder of a water jar, from c. 510 - 500 BC, shows athletes and instructors engaged in this preliminary training.  An instructor is shown supervising a discus thrower, who is poised at the furthest point back in his swing, while another athlete beside him binds a thong around a javelin.  There is also a pick for breaking up the pitch and a set of jumping weights on the ground.  To accompany the training, there is a pipe player on the left side, manifesting the Greek representation of Rhythm. At this point before the start of the games, the athletes would also be verified on the age, fitness to compete and Greek ethnicity. 

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The company would set out to Olympia, roughly 58 kilometres away from Elis, two days before the start of the games.  The journey would take two days, and taking the Sacred Way along the coast, they would sacrifice a pig and perform other rites at the fountain of Piera, and spend the night at the settlement of Letrini.  At the same time, people of all kinds would make their way by different means to Olympia.  Visitors could travel up the river from the sea, or ride on horses, chariots, carts, donkeys or walk by foot.  With no nearby town, merchants would have to find a way to transport their goods.  Once there, official delegates could enjoy the Leonidaion, the magnificent guest house, however the majority would simply have to find a space on the grass where they could sleep.  

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Athletes would also commonly make sacrifices to the gods during the games.  Although seemingly barbaric and cruel to us today, it was common generally in antiquity in worship of the gods.  A Greek amphora, dated to between 475 - 450 BC, shows a thanks offering ritual in honour of a victory.  Decorated on the vase is a scene involving two athletes who are roasting pieces of meat above a fire  on an altar, on which there is also an ox’s head.  A bearded man superintends the sacrifice, while Nike, the Greek personification of Victory, flies above and pipe player is depicted providing music for the ceremony.  Scenes like this were the common practice among the Ancient Greeks, and sacrifices to Zeus and other gods were commonly carried out throughout the games.  

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Our knowledge today of what events there were at the Olympic Games is derived principally from archaeological evidence of the site, but there is also written sources, decorated vases and other artefacts that gives us an indication of what the sports were actually like.  For example, the remains of the stadium at Olympia exhibits the likelihood of running contests, and, indeed, there is a starting sill at the centre of the race track with grooves for the runner’s toes.  An amphora, made in eastern Greece roughly between 550 - 525 BC, takes our knowledge further, showing the muscular and vigorous action of a runner engaged in a sprint contest. 

 

Statius, writing in the 1st Century AD, records a description of a discus thrower in action in the Thebaid.  He wrote: “Phlegyas of Pisa… first roughens the discus and his own hand with earth; then shaking off the dust he turns it dexterously to see which side best suits his fingers, or fits more snugly the middle of his arm.  He had always loved this sport, and used to practise throwing the discus across the Alpheios where the banks are furthest apart, always clearing the river and never getting the discus wet.”  (Statius, 1st Century AD, Thebaid VI 670-77).  A bronze discus, from the 6th Century BC, is still preserved today, in the form of one that was thrown by Exoidas, who won a contest in Kephallenia in the 6th Century BC.  He dedicated the discus to Castor and Pollux, the characters in Greek mythology who were the twin brothers of Helen of Troy, since Castor was renowned as a discus thrower.  There is a spiral inscription, written in retrograde in Archaic Greek lettering, and the object amounts to 1.25 kg in weight and 16.5 cm in diameter.  

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Similarly, there is Roman marble statue of a discus thrower, poised at the back of his action, from the 1st Century AD, that was most probably a copy of a Greek original, potentially the famous discus-thrower by the renowned sculptor Myron.  In total, about twenty ancient discuses are preserved today, the majority constructed out of bronze, a few of marble and single one of iron.  Their diameter’s vary from 17 to 35 cm, averaging at a thickness of 0.5 cm and varying between approximately 1.5 kg to 6.5 kg, with 2.5 kg as the average.  

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Sources also attest the presence of combat sports within the Olympic Games. These were called the heavy events by the Greeks and were split into three disciplines: upright or proper wrestling, the pankration and boxing.

 

A 2nd Century AD piece of papyrus gives instructions for a wrestling drill.  It stated: “You, throw your arms around him - You, get under his grip.  You, push your foot between his and close with him.”  There were generally two types of wrestling: upright or proper wrestling, which was won by throwing your opponent onto the ground three times, and ground wrestling, which was won when your opponent conceded by raising his right hand and pointing with his index finger.  A Greek amphora, dated roughly between 520 - 500 BC, illustrates exactly that action, depicting the end of a contest where the victor aims a final blow as a defeated man on the ground points his index finger up towards an official.  He acknowledges the sign and makes sure a judge on the other side of contest realises as well.

 

Only upright wrestling was allowed in the wrestling competitions and pentathlon.  It was allotted a special place within the palaistra and usually took place in the skamma, which was a levelled and sanded area.  Contestants would fight nude and some were accustomed to grow their hair short or wear a leather cap to prevent their opponent from grappling onto their hair.  They also covered themselves in olive oil and powder to help their chances further within the ring.  Aristophanes records that some unscrupulous wrestlers would wipe an oily hand over the parts of their body they thought their opponents were likely to grasp, and also brush off sand briskly to disguise a fall.  

 

Red figure Ancient Greek pottery gives us an indication of the manoeuvres utilised in the upright wrestling competitions.  A drinking cup, dated between 450 to 425 BC, illustrates a “flying mare” manoeuvre where one wrestler crouching down pulls another over his shoulder with his arm.  There is a trainer or judge watching closely on the left side.  Similarly on another Greek drinking cup, dated roughly between 475 - 450 BC, the artist illustrates a “heave” manoeuvre where one wrestler grapples around the torso of another with both hands and attempts to pull him backwards.  A judge or trainer observes and there are also some jumping weights and an oil flask illustrated in the background.  Decorated vases, thus, give us an indication that strength, the use of oil and skill were central to the upright wrestling competitions at the Olympic Games.

 

The greatest wrestler in the history of the Ancient Greek Olympics was most probably Milo from Croton in southern Italy.  He won five times at Olympia and was victorious at another twenty five occasions across the athletic circuit.  Remaining historical sources state that it was only when he was attempting his sixth victory at Olympia, at the age of 39 or 40, that he was defeated by a younger man, called Timotheos.  His popularity nonetheless remained enormous, so much so the crowd lifted him up on their shoulders in a parade, with Timotheos himself reportedly joining in in the celebrations. 

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Philostratus describes the differences between standard wrestling competitions and the Pankration.  He stated in the On Gymnastics: “Pankratiasts… must employ backward falls which are not safe for the wrestler… They must have skill in various methods of strangling; they also wrestle with an opponent’s ankle and twist his arm, besides hitting and jumping on him, for all these practices belong to the pankration, only biting and gouging being excepted.”  (Philostratus, 2nd - 3rd Century AD, On Gymnastics).  Although the Greeks considered it less dangerous that boxing, the Pankration was a violent and aggressive event.  For instance, the athlete Sarapion of Alexandria is recorded as running away the day before the event out of fear.  A Greek drinking-cup, dated roughly between 500 - 475 BC, gives an indication of the dangers involved in the Pankration.  It depicts two wrestlers, one strangling another with his hand around their mouth while that athlete attempts to gouge the other’s eye, for which he is about to be struck by a trainer on the right side, as it is a foul.  On the left side there are two boxers, which was considered the most violent event at the Olympics, which thereby gives an indication that the artists is attempting to express the violence and danger present within these sports.  As a big crowd-puller, by the 4th Century BC, few amateurs entered the Pankration, and remaining professionals could enjoy bigger prize sums at most local games.  Perhaps owing to the bigger crowds or the more dangerous pursuit, the end result was the professional pankriatists were honoured in eight of Pindar’s Odes for their athletic prowess.

 

Both upright and ground wrestling were permitted in the Pankration. Contestants could also strike with the fist or open hand, and conduct a range of leg holds, which were common in the palaistra.

 

The Ancient Greeks idealised manoeuvres from the Pankration and general wrestling competitions in both their pottery and coins.  For example, a Greek amphora, dated roughly between 520 and 500 BC, adapts a manoeuvre from the palaistra into a mythological scene, depicting Herakles executing a ladder-grip on Triton, who was a half-man, half-fish creature.  Similarly, a bronze coin from Alexandria used during the reign of Antoninus Pius (AD 138-61) in the age of the Roman Empire, shows Herakles enacting a body-lift on the giant Antaios.

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Lucian, in the Anarcharsis, describes how dreaded the ladder-grip manoeuvre was in the palaistra in a humorously written passage.  According to him, all the enemies of Greece would flee “lest as they stand gaping, you fill their mouths with sand, or jumping round to get on their backs, twist your legs round their bellies, squeeze your arms beneath their helmets, and strangle them to death.”  That manoeuvre is recorded as being a favourite of the Eleans, and each region had their own particular specialities.

 

The most renowned Olympic pankriatists were Theagenes of Thasos and Polydamas of Skotussa.  For his numerous victories, Theagenes was honoured with a statued next to Alexander the Great within the Altis, while Polydamas was said to have strangled a lion with his bare hands, a feat which is depicted on the base of his statue that has survived at Olympia to the present day.

 

As for boxing, the sport was considered the most violent event of all, but was also one of the most ancient.  Boxing scenes appear on Greek pottery as early as the Minoan and Mycenaean periods.  A fragment of a Mycenaean pot from Cyprus, dated roughly between 1300 and 1200 BC and measuring at a height of 19.6 cm, shows two schematic figures engaged in a boxing contest.  As with many ancient traditions, boxing was given a mythological origin.  The god Apollo, who became particularly associated with boxing, was said to have beaten Ares, the god of war, in the first ever boxing contest held at the Olympic festival.  Herakles was considered famous for his boxing prowess, however, it was the mythological hero, Theseus, who was credited with its invention.  According to the legend, he learnt the skill under the guidance of Athena. 

 

On a more factual level, it is most probable that boxing originated among the ancient Spartans, who would use it as a means to harden their face and teach themselves to avoid a head blow in warfare.  In the Olympic Games proper, in the early period, most of the champions were Ionian Greeks from Asia Minor and the islands off the coast nearby.  Onomastos of Smyrna, who was the victor at Olympia in 688 BC, was said to have formulated the rules that were adopted at the Olympic Games.  Philostratus commented that he did this “although he came from effeminate Ionia,” and at the time Ionia Greek were scorned for their round and effeminate figures. 

 

However, this may have proved to be an advantage in the palaistra.  On a Greek drinking-cup, dated roughly between 510 and 500 BC, the artist depicts a slim athlete standing ready to wrestle, however his corpulent friend points to the space in front of him while holding boxing thongs in his hand to suggest rather they engage in a boxing match.  Philostratus recorded that a paunch was a useful attribute to a boxer, as it made it harder for their opponent to score a head shot.

 

Pausanias, writing in the 2nd Century AD, gives us a rough and anecdotal account of a boxing contest at the Olympic Games in his Description of Greece.  He wrote:

 

“Glaukos was originally a farmer.  One day the ploughshare came away from the plough and his father observed Glaukos hammering it back with his bare fist.  Impressed by his son’s great strength, the old man decided to take him to the next Olympic Games.  This he did and Glaukos fought his way through to the final of the contest.  But he was inexperienced and so took a great deal of punishment in the preliminary bouts.  Consequently when he came to face his last opponent he was so badly wounded that everybody thought he would have to give up, but his father called out to him ‘My boy, remember the ploughshare!’, whereupon Glaukos hit his opponent so hard that the contest was ended there and then.”  (Pausanias, 2nd Century AD, Description of Greece VI 10, 1-3) 

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As to the precise nature of the rules of the event, there is no conclusive evidence from the remnants of sources remaining.  From the surviving illustrations and literary references, it can be conjectured that no wrestling or holding was allowed, yet it was acceptable to hit a fallen man.  It can be presumed that the vast majority of blows with the hand were permitted, although gouging with the thumb was banned.  Scenes on pottery attest the presence of hooks, upper cuts and rabbit punches as a common feature, while blows with the side and heel of the hand appeared often as well. 

 

It may well have been the case that a contest was won when a competitor was either knocked insensible or conceded defeat.  The contests often lasted for many hours, and in some cases competitors chose to exchange undefended blows in order to finish the match before nightfall.  Competitors fought fiercely, and at the beginning of the contest there was no shaking of hands, rather sources state they advanced towards each other deinon derkomenoi, “with looks that could kill.” 

 

There was no ring for cornering, and contests took place at midday so neither competitor had the sun in his eye.  Until around 500 BC, depictions on pottery suggest that the standard norm for boxers was to fight with what Homer described as “well cut thongs of ox-hide.”  During the 5th Century BC, a new form of glove evolved, which were called sphairai and consisted of a padded inner protection, which was bound on by stiff leather thongs.  Being a laborious process to put on, before long these were developed into a ready-made hard glove.  A Panathenaic amphora, dated to 336 BC, shows boxers wearing these ready-made hard gloves.  Two boxers are engaged in a match, with the sheep skin lining visible across their forearms.  On the left side, an idle boxer adjusts the thongs of his gloves with his mouth.  The amphora also gives an indication that boxers aimed their punches at their opponent’s head.  This was the common tactic among the sport, and Melankomas of Caria, an Olympic victor in the 1st Century AD, is recorded as dancing around his opponent while keeping his guard up for two days, causing his opponent to give up from exhaustion and frustration.

 

Away from the palaistra and hoping to avoid personal injury, archaeological, literary sources and artworks attest the presence of a range of equestrian events within the Olympic Games.  These included the chariot-races, the mule-cart race and the standard horse race.

 

The earliest written record of an equestrian event is that of a chariot-race at the hands of Homer, who gives an account of chariot-races taking place in a funerary games.  Chariot-racing became closely associated with funerary games, as it indicated the wealth of the deceased that they would take onwards with them into the Underworld.  Developing most probably out of these funerary games, the festivals at Olympia, Nemea and elsewhere most probably adopted the chariot-racing and took it onwards into an event at the festival.  For instance, in mythology Pelops was closely associated with chariot-racing and was said to have entered one of the first races ever held at Olympia.  

 

Sophocles provides us with a description of the start of a chariot-race in his Elektra.  He wrote: “Then, at the sound of the bronze trumpet, off they started, all shouting to their horses and urging them on with the reins.  The clatter of the rattling chariots filled the whole arena, and the dust flew up as they sped along in a dense mass, each driver goading his team unmercifully in his efforts to draw clear of the rival axles and panting steeds, whose steaming breath and sweat drenched every bending back and flying wheel together.”  (Sophocles, 5th Century BC, Elektra 698-760).

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There were two types of chariot-races.  There was the four-horse race, called the tethrippon, and the two-horse race, called the synoris.  Generally, the synoris was the older discipline, which has been judged by its presence on some of the earliest pottery, however it wasn’t officially recognised at the Olympic Games until 408 BC, whereas the tethrippon had been first introduced in 680 BC.  Within the two disciplines, there were different events depending on whether the horses were colts or fully aged, and the length of the race differed accordingly, averaging at about 4 kilometres for the colts and up to over 13 kilometres for the fully-grown horses. 

 

Once the race had started, the most dangerous point, and what was later idealised throughout the Greek and Roman periods from the hippodrome, was the turning post.  Sophocles, in his Elektra, provides an account of a charioteer navigating the turning post.  He wrote: “At each turn of the lap, Orestes reined in his inner trace-horse and gave the outer its head, so skilfully that his hub just cleared the post by a hair’s breadth every time; and so the poor fellow had safely rounded every lap but one without mishap to himself or his chariot.  But at the last he misjudged the turn, slackened his left rein before the horse was safely round the bend, and so struck the post.  The hub was smashed across, and he was hurled over the rail entangled in the reins, and as he fell his horses ran wild across course.”  (Sophocles, 5th Century BC, Elektra 698-760).

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A Panathenaic amphora, dated roughly to between 420 and 400 BC, depicts a charioteeer with a four-horse chariot navigating the very turning post that troubled so many charioteers.  He is illustrated wearing traditional long white robes and grapples the rein with his left hand as he directs his horses around the post.  In Homer’s Iliad, the character Nestor advised his son before a chariot race to “make sure your left-hand keeps hard by the turning post.”  Racing around the hippodrome anticlockwise thus, the turning post was the critical moment in races at Olympia and across the athletic circuit.  

 

The chariots were usually made out of wood, wickerwork that was probably brightly painted and leather thonging.  On some occasions, they were also adorned with sheet bronze cladding and decoration, and in some instances inlaid with silver.  Racers operated within in a team, and Pindar, for instance, congratulates in one of his Odes Herodotos of Thebes for driving his own team.  

The mule-cart race was only present at Olympia for a brief period, fourteen Olympiads to be precise, and was most probably introduced by Greeks from Sicily, where the land was famous for its mules.  In Elis, conversely, there was a curse upon breading mules, and it can be presumed that the race was frowned upon by them.  Nonetheless, a coin minted by Anaxilas of Rhegium in either 484 or 480 BC to honour a victory in the mule-cart race at Olympia, depicts a man riding a mule-cart, illustrating the box-like seat that was particular to mule-cart racing.  

 

Away from carts and chariots, the horse-races were a much celebrated event both by the Eleans and Greeks from all across different regions.  Pausanias, in his Description of Greece, provides an anecdote of an eventful horse-race at Olympia.  He wrote: “The mare of Pheidolas the Corinthian was called… Aura and, although her rider was thrown at the beginning of the race, she ran straight on and turned at the pillar; when she heard the sound of the trumpet, she ran on all the faster and beat the other horses.  The Eleans proclaimed Pheidolas the victor, and allowed him to dedicate this statue of the mare.”  (Pausanias, 2nd Century AD, Description of Greece VI 13.9).

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From this anecdote it can be surmised that horses were highly regarded and victory was a celebration of a horse’s prowess.  From a Greek amphora as an example, dated roughly between 520 and 500 BC, what can be firmly established is that riders rode bare-back as saddles had not yet been invented.  The races took place after the chariot-races, so the ground would have been rugged and churned up on top of the already present dangers.  The black-figure vase depicts a young victor accompanied by a herald ready to announce the victory, with the inscription “The horse of Dusnikeitos wins” painted beside him. On the left side there is a groom holding a crown and supporting the prize on top of his head.  The rider is illustrated with no saddle, giving an indication that saddles had not yet been invented.  

 

Jockeys were usually paid servants, but in some cases owners competed for themselves. The horses were expensive. For instance in 421 BC, 1,200 drachmai was paid for a horse constituting at least three times the average wage at the time.  The standard horse-race was contested over six stages, or stades, and in total amounted to slightly under 1,200 metres.  At Olympia, there were three events in total: a race for adult horses, colts and mares.

 

After the Ancient Greeks had toiled and exerted themselves to the max, what was left for them was the prize-giving and celebrations that followed.  A victory at Olympia was the pinnacle of an athlete’s sporting accomplishments and the festival surpassed all others in the glory and fame associated to it. 

 

Each victor was presented with a special wreath made from an olive tree from within the Altis.  Aristotle described the tree as particular owing to its leaves, which grew symmetrically like myrtle leaves and, unlike other olive trees, were pale green on the upper side and not on the underside.  The origins of the use of these wreaths began with King Iphitos of Elis, who had consulted the Delphic oracle and been told he should find a tree decked with spider’s webs (spider’s webs were associated with rain and therefore fertility in antiquity).  The King found the tree, constructed a fence around and so began the famous olive wreaths.  

 

A cast from a sealstone, dated to the 2nd Century or 1st Century BC, illustrates a winged figure representing Victory crowning a victor with an olive wreath, who also holds an olive branch in his hand.  According to one account the prize-giving took place immediately after the event, however Pausanias records, conversely, that the wreaths were kept in the Temple of Hera before a prize-giving ceremony in front of the statue of Zeus.  The former narrative accounts for an event taking place in 107 AD, so it may well have been the case that the practice evolved during the later eras of the games.

 

From the prize-giving onto the feasting.  Pindar gives an account of the banqueting that took place once the events had come to a close.  He wrote: “And the whole company raised a great cheer, while the lovely light of the fair-faced moon lit up the evening.  Then, in joyful celebration, the whole Altis rang with banquet-song.”  (Pindar, 5th Century BC, Olympian Odes X 73-78)  Similarly, a Greek drinking cup from roughly between 500 and 475 BC shows a group of men engaged in this drunken revelry, either depicted as playing a game of kottabos, which involved throwing detritus found in the wine cups towards targets, or drinking from deep wine cups.  Decorated alongside them are also some baskets for cheese and a cheetah-skin case for the double pipes.  On the reverse side, five youths dance to the sound of the double pipes while helping themselves to more wine.  

 

Pausanias records that victorious athletes could be honoured by the erection of a statue in honour of them within the Altis, providing they had adequate funds or their friends or relatives did.  These have mostly perished during the intermediary years since the games ended, leaving in most cases only busts behind, however in antiquity there would have been open area like an art gallery adorned with statues of victors.  Returning home, victorious athletes could also even gain civic honours, receive sums of money and dine for life at public expense.  Achieve glory at Olympia, then, and the perks of your victory would last for a lifetime.