According to the philosopher Aristotle, the first Olympic Games was held in 776 BC. We might imagine that these games were like those held in Paris in 2024, but they were much weirder and wilder than anything we will see on our TVs.
The ancient Olympics were a religious festival held to honor the god Zeus. One of the ancient wonders of the world was a vast statue of Zeus at Olympia made from ivory and gold. As part of the ceremony, 100 oxen would be sacrificed in his honor. Men—and only men—traveled from across the Greek world to participate in these games. And even more people came to witness them.
So, what was it like to attend and compete in the ancient Olympics? Here are 10 strange facts about the games.
Related: Top 10 Olympic Scandals
10 Athletes Were Nude—Almost
Every time the modern Olympics is held, people look to see what the uniforms worn by each country will look like. To avoid controversy, perhaps we should revert to the uniforms worn at the ancient games—there weren’t any. For the Greeks, nudity while exercising was the norm.
Greek men maintained their physiques by visiting the Gymnasium for training, and the very word gymnasium derives from the Greek word for nude. It was thought to be a civilized act to go naked while exercising while barbarians from abroad covered themselves up in shame. Early Olympians may have worn loincloths, but this was abandoned for full nudity fairly early in the history of the games.
There were limits to the Greek notion of letting it all hang out. The idea of the tip of the penis being exposed was thought to be highly indecent, so a simple method was invented to keep unruly penises in place. Known as a “dog tie”—kynodesme—this leather strip was tied around the end of the foreskin of athletes and used to fasten the penis down.[1]
9 Only Greeks Could Take Part
The modern Olympic Games were revived in the hopes that an international competition would help bring nations together and foster peace. In a way, this links it to the ancient games where a truce – Ecechiria – was declared before the games began, which brought all wars to a pause. However, there was a vital difference between the ancient and modern games in that peace was only between Greeks, and only Greeks were allowed to enter the games. The Greeks conceptualized the world as being divided between the Greeks and foreign barbarians.
According to the historian Herodotus, the exclusive nature of the games was tested around the year 500 BC when a Macedonian prince called Alexander turned up to compete in one of the foot races. The other competitors tried to bar him from participating because he was a barbarian. The Macedonians spoke Greek, which was one of the marks of a civilized person, but they had some unusual customs that marked them as uncouth, according to most Greeks. Before Alexander was allowed to take part he had to explain how his genealogy and ancestors really were Greek.
After this, the Macedonians could point to the fact that they were permitted to compete in the games if anyone questioned their Greekness.[2]
8 Avenue of Cheaters
Because the Olympic Games had a sacred aspect, the rules that governed them were taken very seriously. To cheat at the games was an affront to the gods. This is why competitors and judges were forced to take an oath, over a slice of boar meat, that they would commit no infractions and act fairly. This begs the question of what punishments were invoked for cheaters.
Firstly, the games had umpires who were armed with sticks or whips. If they decided that someone had broken the rules, say a runner starts before the signal, then they could give an immediate flogging. Since only slaves were normally beaten like this, it was a grave sign of dishonor—as well as painful.
For serious malefactors, though, the judges of the games could fine the rule-breaker a large sum of money. Several competitors were fined for bribing their opponents. This money was then used to pay for a bronze statue of Zeus which detailed the crime committed for all to see. To ensure that everyone knew of the shameful cheating, the statues were set up by the entrance of the games. Today, sixteen stone bases where such statues were erected can be seen in ancient Olympia.[3]
7 Prizes
Today, winners of the Olympic games can travel home with a shiny gold medal. This is very different from the ancient games where the honor of emerging as the victor was the main prize of the contests. At the games, the winners only received a crown made from sacred olive trees, which was handed out after a procession on the final day. But the rewards did not typically end there.
If you had the money, or your city was proud enough of your achievements, then you could pay for a statue to be placed in Olympia, which would make your victory immortal. The most valuable gift that Olympic champions won was fame. Many city-states offered benefits to those who brought home glory at the games. One city built a special gymnasium especially for their famous wrestlers to exercise in. Others gave Olympians the best seats at the theatre or freed them from paying taxes.
In Athens, Olympic victors received a cash gift and were given free food and board for life at a building known as the Prytaneion. When the philosopher Socrates was put on trial, he suggested the punishment he deserved was to receive the same rewards as he had brought the city just as much glory as any athlete. Perhaps understandably, his jury ordered that Socrates be put to death instead.[4]
6 Immortality in Poetry
Most of the statues of Olympic victors at the ancient games have long since been lost or destroyed. However, there was another way to ensure that memory of your prowess at the games was remembered forever. That was to pay a poet to make up a verse about your victory.
The poet Bacchylides created odes for many winners at the various Greek games. Thanks to these poems, we know the names of many athletes who would otherwise have been forgotten, like Lacon, who we are told “has won from the greatest Zeus the best glory with his feet.”
Pindar was the supreme poet that all Olympians wanted to sing their praises. Pindar knew the value of his poems in spreading the fame of a victory and probably charged a great deal to produce one of his odes. When Hieron of Syracuse won the single horse race, Pindar created an ode for “whom we shall adorn with the glorious folds of song.”
In another poem, Pindar says he is “lighting up that dear city [of the victor] with fiery songs, and more swiftly than a spirited horse or a winged ship.” If you want to be known, Pindar says, you want him to be your PR man. “I will send that message everywhere, so surely as I, by some destined skill, am cultivating the exquisite garden of the Graces.”[5]
5 Treasuries
Sacred sites were considered ideal places to store fabulous amounts of valuables because who better to defend precious objects than the gods? Stealing from a treasury at such a place was not only a crime against your fellow citizens but also a sacrilege. At Olympia, many city-states built treasuries that were used to store votive offerings dedicated by the victors at the games.
In the 2nd century AD, a writer named Pausanias undertook a tour of Greece and recorded all the wonders he saw. Among the places he visited were the treasuries of Olympia, and thanks to him, we know what was inside. Many contained costly images of the gods, such as a statue of Apollo carved from expensive wood with its head covered in gold. Other treasuries had gold and ivory statues and decorations.
These treasuries allowed cities to boast of everything from Olympic wins to victories in battle by setting up inscriptions about their latest successes. The Olympic games were a key way of letting other Greeks know just how great you were.[6]
4 Champion of Champions
With his 23 Olympic gold medals, Michael Phelps is the most successful Olympian of all time… so far. But before him, the record was held for over 2,000 years by Leonidas of Rhodes, who competed at four successive games beginning in 164 BC. He managed the feat of claiming three golds each time.
Leonidas was a master of the three foot race contests in which he triumphed repeatedly. Two of them are similar to modern sprints, with competitors covering around 200m and 400m, but the last was something you will not see in modern Olympics. The hoplitodromos was a race where the competitors were kitted out in the full and heavy armor of a hoplite warrior.
Before Leonidas’ success, it was thought that sprinters were not able to run quickly in a suit of armor, but Leonidas must have been both quick and strong. The Olympic games took place in the hottest part of the year, so running in metal armor must have been a sweaty business.[7]
3 The Deadly Art of Pankration
Wrestling in the modern Olympics may take a lot of skill and strength, but it is a rather tame affair compared to the ancient games. The most exciting sport in the ancient Olympics was undoubtedly the Pankration—where two fighters attacked each other with a mix of wrestling and boxing moves until one collapsed or gave up. There was really very little difference between Pankration and a battle. Skilled Pankratiasts were sought after by generals because they made the best soldiers.
Unlike boxing and wrestling, there were very few rules in Pankration. Essentially, any move could be used as long as you did not bite your opponent or try to gouge their eyes out. This led to bouts where people were choked, knocked to the ground by hoisting their leg, or thrown over backward. Should you find yourself being beaten too heavily, you could raise your index finger to signal that you are yielding.
As we shall see, however, some Pankration matches were true duels to the death.[8]
2 Winning While Dead
Arrhichion of Phigalia must have been fairly confident of victory in the Pankration when he entered the ring. He had already won the olive wreath twice before by overcoming all opponents at the games. In his final games, he made it to the final bout, and one more victory would earn him his third wreath.
Things began to go wrong, however, when Arrhichion was tightly gripped from behind by his opponent in a choke hold that lifted him from the ground. With suffocation quickly approaching, all Arrhichion had to do was lift his finger and give in, but instead, he decided to fight on with one last wild move. He kicked downward at his foe’s foot—and it worked! His opponent’s foot was dislocated at the ankle, and he was in too much pain to carry on, so Arrhichion was released. Unfortunately, it came too late, and Arrhichion was found to have died in the final moments of the match.
This did not matter much to the organizers or his home city as Arrhichion’s corpse was awarded the victor’s crown and a statue erected in his honor.[9]
1 Sour Grapes
Cities were fiercely competitive at the games and celebrated home-grown victors, but they were not above bringing in a ringer to ensure that they claimed the ultimate glory. Astylos of Croton, as his name suggests, came from the town of Croton. For them, he won a number of victories that led to his fellow citizens erecting a statue of him to underline the success of their fellow citizens.
But at a later Olympics, Astylos was tempted away from his hometown and entered the Olympics to compete for the rival town of Syracuse. This change may have been motivated by purely economic motives, as the Syracusans were one of the wealthiest cities of the time and may have simply bought Astylos’s services. When Astylos emerged victorious again, the people of Croton were furious that he had robbed them of another win.
The statue of Astylos that had been raised in Croton was torn down. This was not enough, however. Astylos’s home in Croton was seized by the town and turned into a prison. Hopefully, Astylos got to enjoy the cash he had earned somewhere far from his embittered neighbors.[10]