Historical sources on the ancient Olympic Games

Extract A

"After Oxylus the kingdom [passed down] to Laias, son of Oxylus. His descendants, however, I find did not reign, and so I pass them by, though I know who they were; my narrative must not descend to men of common rank. Later on Iphitus, of the line of Oxylus and contemporary with Lycurgus, who drew up the code of laws for the [Spartans], arranged the games at Olympia and [brought back] the Olympic festival and truce, after an interruption of uncertain length. The reason for this interruption I will set forth when my narrative deals with Olympia." 

"At this time Greece was [terribly] worn by [wars within the country] and plague, and it occurred to Iphitus to ask the god at Delphi for deliverance from these evils. The story goes that the Pythian priestess [declared] that Iphitus himself and the Eleans must renew the Olympic games. Iphitus also [persuaded] the Eleans to sacrifice to Heracles as to a god, whom [until then] they had looked upon as their enemy." 

Extract B

"As you go from Scillus along the road to Olympia, before you cross the Alpheius, there is a mountain with high, [steep] cliffs. It is called Mount Typaeum. It is a law of Elis to cast down it any women who are caught present at the Olympic games, or even on the other side of the Alpheius, on the days [forbidden] to women. However, they say that no woman has been caught, except Callipateira only; some, however, give the lady the name of Pherenice and not Callipateira. She, being a widow, disguised herself exactly like a gymnastic trainer, and brought her son to compete at Olympia. Peisirodus, for so her son was called, was victorious, and Callipateira, as she was jumping over the enclosure in which they keep the trainers shut up, bared her person. So her sex was discovered, but they let her go unpunished out of respect for her father, her brothers and her son, all of whom had been victorious at Olympia." 

Extract C

"These things then are as I have described them. As for the Olympic games, the most learned [historians] of Elis say that Cronus was the first king of heaven, and that in his honor a temple was built in Olympia by the men of that age, who were named the Golden Race. When Zeus was born, Rhea entrusted the guardianship of her son to the Dactyls of Ida, who are the same as those called Curetes. They came from Cretan Ida — Heracles, Paeonaeus, Epimedes, Iasius and Idas." 

"Heracles, being the eldest, matched his brothers, as a game, in a running-race, and crowned the winner with a branch of wild olive, of which they had such a [plentiful] supply that they slept on heaps of its leaves while still green. It is said to have been introduced into Greece by Heracles from the land of the Hyperboreans, men living beyond the home of the North Wind." 

"Now some say that Zeus wrestled here with Cronus himself for the throne, while others say that he held the games in honor of his victory over Cronus." 

Extract D

"After the reign of Oxylus, who also celebrated the games, the Olympic festival was discontinued until the reign of Iphitus. When Iphitus, as I have already related, renewed the games, men had by this time forgotten the ancient tradition, the memory of which revived bit by bit, and as it revived they made additions to the games." 

"This I can prove; for when the unbroken tradition of the [Olympic Games] began there was first the foot-race, and Coroebus an Elean was victor. There is no statue of Coroebus at Olympia, but his grave is on the borders of Elis. Afterwards, at the fourteenth Festival, the double foot-race was added: Hypenus of Pisa won the prize of wild olive in the double race, and at the next Festival Acanthus of [Sparta] won in the long course." 

"At the eighteenth Festival they remembered the pentathlum and wrestling. Lampis won the first and Eurybatus the second, these also being [Spartans]. At the twenty-third Festival they restored the prizes for boxing, and the victor was Onomastus of Smyrna, which already was a part of Ionia. At the twenty-fifth they recognized the race of full-grown horses, and Pagondas of Thebes was proclaimed victor in the chariot-race." 

Extract E

"There are here other offerings also: a couch of no great size and for the most part adorned with ivory; the [metal disc] of Iphitus; a table on which are set out the crowns for the victors. The couch is said to have been a toy of Hippodameia. The [metal disc] of Iphitus has inscribed upon it the truce which the Eleans proclaim at the Olympic festivals; the inscription is not written in a straight line, but the letters run in a circle round the [metal disc]." 

Extract F

"Every fourth year there is woven for Hera a robe by the Sixteen women, and the same also hold games called Heraea. The games consist of foot-races for maidens. These are not all of the same age. The first to run are the youngest; after them come the next in age, and the last to run are the oldest of the maidens. They run in the following way: their hair hangs down, a tunic reaches to a little above the knee, and they bare the right shoulder as far as the breast. These too have the Olympic stadium reserved for their games, but the course of the stadium is shortened for them by about one-sixth of its length. To the winning maidens they give crowns of olive and a portion of the cow sacrificed to Hera. They may also dedicate statues with their names inscribed upon them. Those who administer to the Sixteen are, like the presidents of the games, married women." 

"The games of the maidens too are traced back to ancient times; they say that, out of gratitude to Hera for her marriage with Pelops, Hippodameia assembled the Sixteen Women, and with them [started] the Heraea." 

Contextual information:

Pausanias was a Greek traveller and geographer who visited Olympia in person during the second century CE and recorded what he saw. His Description of Greece is the main ancient source for the layout of Olympia, the history of the Olympic Games, and the separate women's festival held there. This translation was produced by the British classical scholars W. H. S. Jones and H. A. Ormerod and published in 1918. 

Bibliographical reference:

Adapted from Pausanias. Description of Greece (W. H. S. Jones & H. A. Ormerod, Trans., 1918; Vol. II, pp. 388, 396–398, 400–402, 406, 472–474, 504). Harvard University Press. (Original work written ca. 150 CE) 

Copyright: Public domain. 

Extract A — Olympian Ode II

"Lords of the lute, my songs, what god, what hero, or what man, are we to celebrate? [Truly] of Zeus is Pisa the abode, of Herakles the Olympian feast was founded from the chief spoils of war, and Theron's name must we proclaim for his victory with the four-horse-car, a righteous and god-fearing host, the stay of Akragas [a city in Sicily], of famous [ancestors] the flower, a saviour of the state. They after long toils bravely borne took by a river's side a sacred dwelling place, and became the eye of Sicily, and a life of good luck [clung] to them, bringing them wealth and honour to crown their inborn worth." 

Extract B — Olympian Ode III

"And Pisa bids me speak aloud, for from her come to men songs of divine assignment, when the just judge of games the Aitolian man, fulfilling Herakles' [instructions] of old, hath laid upon one's hair above his brows pale-gleaming glory of olive. That tree from [the River Danube's] shadowy springs did the son of Amphitryon bear to be a memorial most glorious of Olympian triumphs, when that by his words he had won the Hyperborean folk, who serve Apollo. In loyal temper he besought for the precinct of Zeus, whereto all men go up, a plant that should be a shadow of all folk in common, and [also] a crown for valorous deeds. For already, when the altars had been [made holy] to his sire, the midmonth Moon riding her golden car lit full the counter-flame of the eye of Even, and just judgment of great games did he ordain, and the fifth year's feast beside the holy steeps of Alpheos." 

Contextual information:

Pindar was an ancient Greek poet from Thebes who lived from about 518 to 438 BCE and wrote victory odes celebrating winners at the four great Panhellenic games. The Olympian Odes were composed to honour champions at Olympia, making them direct contemporary evidence for how the Greeks understood the games, their location, and their religious dedication to Zeus. This translation by Ernest Myers was first published in London in 1874. 

Bibliographical reference:

Adapted from Pindar. The extant odes of Pindar (E. Myers, Trans., 1874; pp. 2, 9). Macmillan. Original work written ca. 476 BCE) 

Copyright: Public domain.