Athletics in Ancient Athens 9004078614, 9789004078611

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pa1)c r in lhi' book rnccts the guidl·line for perrnanntribu.tions w.hich suggest. among other things, that the early bJstory of cults and games at Olympia needs revision,. and that peer polity interaction and oon1peti1 tive emulation helped spread athletic festivals. Rachke s volume also, rontai1i .· a .summary by David Young of l1is important demythologizing of the myth: of Greek amateurisrn; a.nd, with special atten·t.i on to Athens, I have pursued the themes of amatetiri m and decline further in the works of E. Norman Gardiner in .my 1990 essay . Scholar of Greek culture an.d society have always acknowledged,tllat ahtletics were a distinctive and integrfal part ·O.f the Greek expe;rienee, and yet tm.til

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recently the st11dy of Greek sport was a mi110.r area of classical studies... A~s ~omeone who for ome time er1countered less than enthltsiastic reactions to the · · sport, it· is· grab·rymg · to aee ,.:t.,. .. , ...: _ 1.. serious stud·y o..r ancient u1e suifi.J.Ug p:r·ogress t.m; field 11as made Cff late in research, p·ubllcation and scholarly acceptanee. It is notable that Yal-e University Press ini't iated its Sport and History Serles with Poliakoff's work, and that the 1.991 volum.e o·f the Journal of Helle1iic Studies includes thr·e e artic~es on Greek sport. With 011r modern enthusiasm for sport, scholars have be.come m·ore appr'Ccia.tive of the study and teaching ancient sport. As Erich Segal t1as declared. in the forward to Waldo B. Sweet"'s sou:rce--book: '•Sport is the most immutable and modem aspect of our heritage from the Greeks a11d. tb.erefore, tl)e stadium door is perhaps the most a,ceessible meatis of entering the ancient world ..'' The appearanc'f! of Sweet's soureebook from Oixford and the revised edition of Stephen 0. Miller's soureebook from the Univer"sity of C.alifornia are strong signs of increased teaching and acceptance. Nlgel B. Cro,wther's bibliographic survey and his review article now pro--

vide inv·aluable assistance for research on Greek spo,rt. In addition to coverage of ancient sport in the Jo.urrwl of Sport History and Stadion, :as well as some coverage also in th·e International Joi•rnal of the History of .Sp'Crt, the Journal of Sport Literature and others,, a new journal, Nfkepltoros, has ap-

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peared focu ing pecifically o n ancient port. In the I.a t decade the tud y of

Greek athletics has come of age. Finally, I want to thank Julian Deahl and E .J . Brill for believing in thl book in the fir t place, Dr. D .G. Geagan for year of upport and ad,Jice, the Hi tory Department of the University o·f Texa at Arlington for their collegiality, and, most of aJJ, rny \Vife Adeline, for being the be t teacher I have ever known. Do.n ald 0 .. Kyle, Arlin.g ton 1992

· ELECT.ED SUP.PLEMRNTARY BrBLJOORAPfIY

Bugh, O. R. The Horsemen of Athens. Ptinceton : Princeton UnivcrsJty Pres , 198 . Connor, \ V .R. ''Tribes, Fe; tival and P roeessjons : Civic Ceremonial and Political Manipulation in ArKJ' of the Greek Ctlmbat ~ Beirige zur Klas.sisclten Philologie 146 (Meise&heim~ 1982).

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INTR'.OOUCTIO

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diversified athletic program directed to the unity and benefit of the state. The g:ames of Atheru were a matter ·Of ceiebration as well u competition, for the value ,of staging as well as win11in,g contests did not elaborate

escape the Athenians .

Chapt.er Threeexamines Athens· athletic facilities thro.ugh. th.eir Jong hi tory of development a.nd expansion from the use of convenient sllady and gra - ¥ are-as to the building of archit«tt1ral complexes. H . A. Thompson and R . R. Wycberle:y s.ugg.est that the early Agora had athletic functions 13 > and this idea can be supported and extended. Tl1e development ·Of public facilities and the relatio11Ship between hopli.te watfare and the rise of gymnasia de.serve attention. Palaestrae existed inside. and outside of the ,gymnasia, raising questions of definition and the issue .o f private versu.s public facilities. Why did A.tbens .have three major gymnasia, and how did tlt~y oompare with respect t:o location and function? How were they affected by tyrants politi,c iam and chools of philosophy? The stadium at Athens also grew from informal and simple origin. into an ar-chitectural monument by the. fourth ·oonturyt and the hippodrome remains the leut well kn·o wn ·o f the sites of competition. What historical for·OOS· helped or hindet-ed the d'evelopmen,t of such facilities? What role did patronage and political aspiratio,ns. play? In short, how does the history of the city correlate with that of it& athletic facilities?

Cl1apter Four prosopographicalJy examine Athenian athletes by analyzing catalogue-S of k11own and possible Athenian athletes. As well as at Olympia Ath~.os

itself, Athenians competed in other Panhellenic and local games for which scattered references exist. Ga:rdiner contends that in the sixth

and

century sport was a great levelle.r of social distincti.0 ns until the ari tocmts later withdrew to the mot'e costly equestrian events, 14 but only a study of the individiial athlet~.-their ca,reers an d family con:nections---at o es toward play and games, and also the survival-based respect for physical prowess (in hunting and fighting) in early societies. 39 Military considerations may be relevant since many early sports appear related to primitive warfare. One can appreciate the cathartic effect of athletics in providing an outlet for hostility other than war and death.4 0 Religion has been offered as an explanation for the ri e of athletic ~ and, of course, the ancients themselves attributed the introduction of athletics to gods and heroes like Theseus and Herakles. Men with an.thropomorphic divinities could believe that the gods enjoyed viewing game ; furthern1ore, gatherings for religious purposes might appreciate the diversion or entertainment provided by atbletics. 41 Cults of the dead and funeral games were connected to early athletics but the relation hip is difficult to define.42 H. Buhmann, Der Sieg in 0/y,npia und in den af1d1?ren panhellenischen Spie/en (Munich. 1972): Bronistaw Bilin ki, L 'agonistica sporriva nella Grecia a111ica (Rome. 1959) and Ago11i ginnici (Rome, 1979) (reviewed by H. W. Pickel in S tadion 5 (1979): 282-86). 7 J H. W. Pleket, "Athletes and Ideology;' .. Zur Soziologie des antiken Sports," Medecl1tlinge11 nederlands historisch Jns1itut't te Rome 36 (1974) : 57-87. Ja On ancient and modem theories of the origin of athlelics, see Jiithncr· Brcin, I : 45-49: and J. Juthner, Philosrratos, Ober GJ·mnastik (Leipzig, 1909), I 7·228. The diversity of fe tivals and events at Athens (discussed below) may represent the diversit.y of developmental factors in early Greek a thletics in general. Athletics possibly were related to funerary or initiatory rites, hero cults, fe tivals of unification, fertility OT sacrifice, military inOuences and more. Origins need not be monocausal and lines of inOuence need not be direct. 9 On the significance of the human love of play. ee J. Huizinga. Ho1110 ludens. 3rd ed. J (Hamburg. 1963). On the practical character of athletics : Harris, SGR. 13· l 4 ; Bilinski. Agonistica, 11-16, sees the origin of athletics in the work of primitive man to survive. 4 0 On the military origins of athletic events, see Juthner, Philos1ra1os, 196-200, 205-13, commenting on Philostr. G)!111. 7. 1l . A. W. Gouldner, The Hellenic World, A Sociological Analysis (New Yo rk, 1965), 49, regards the Greek games as a substitute for, if not a sublimation of, war and fighting. 41 F. M. Cornford, "The Origin of the Olympic Games," in Jane Harrison ed., Epilegomena to the Srud;• of Greek Religion, and Themis (New Hyde Park, 1962), 212·60, sees vegetation magic ly.ing behind athletics at early meetings. In an early study, H. J. Rose, "The Greek Agones." Aberystwyth Studies 3 ( 1922) : 1-26; feels that athletics originally \a.tere a secular, natural development from the existence of early assemblies. He conclude that in historical Lime-S the agon was a c-0mmon feature of hero cult and that games frequently accompanied funeral rites, but that the theory of the funerary origin of games cannot be applied universally. 4 2 The earliest extensive account of Greek athletic activity, of course, is Homer's description of the funeral games for Patroclus, //. 23.257·897. Tradition record at least 33 heroes for whom funeral games were held in prehistoric Grceoe. Such games arc known from art and literary J6

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Scholars often .avoid the :maze of theories by simply attribu.ting athletics. to an innate Greek spirit of agon.ism" the pursuit of honor and the love of "~ompetition. 43 In il \Yarlike. possessive society moved by strong ideals of arete. honor and victory, athletics seem alinost a naturctl development: .a.thletics provided a means whereby men displayen and. tested their prowess to the delight of their god · and visitors and in veneration of de,a d friends, leader and he1·oes. • ' . • can 'L.-. "..J A!,.,1 • A .L..1 uilencs in mo.·dern we.stern a'vil.imtton l1t; trace-u w_i'Ceuy to anaent Greece, but tlte original home of athletics remains uncertain. Considerations ofNear Eastern and Egyptian origins .are possible but a Minoan or M·yoenaean source appears ·n1ore plau.iblew 44 Research on Minoan sport has shown that Oar.diner was ·w rong simply to dismiss the idea of Mino.an athletics. 45 The

archae-0logical evidence entails quandarie such as the significa1l'ce of bull.. leapingt but representations of boxe:rs~ incl11ding tb«) e on a fresco· from TI1era, suggest that at least boxing was known in the Minoan world o·f the

second ·millenium.4 6 The question ·O f Myce11aean athletics C8°ll be posed thus : to wha.t degree were athletics in Homer Mycenaean ,pTa,ctice or anachro11istic attnootions from the late:r world. of the poet? Scholars, are divided between seein.g ·the Homeric games as suitable to the king:lY~ warrior class of· Achilles., and rejecting the poems as proof of Mycenaean athletics because of the limited

allt1sion. includi.ng the depiction of games for Peljas ·OD the dtest o{ Kypsdo at oiym,pia seen by Pausanlas (S. 1 7.$~11 }. See L Maltt?n, ·~uicl1ens-picl u_ud Totenkull.,+1 MDAI( R) 38-19 (192).2.4) : 30040 and L. E. Roller . ·~Funeral G:ames in Greet Literature. Art and Life.·~ (Ph. D. ·dis.sertationt University o.f Pennsylvania. 1971).. 4 l Th~ qonistje spirit of the Greeks. first ·led by J. Bu:r~kbardti is evi&mt in Hippolodlos• ineitem.ent of Glauko aJway .to be best aJld to exoel ovm- others (Hom.. II. ·6.208 f;: l t.784). For a bistoriad treatnient, see Antony E. R.aubi~, ''The Agomstic Spirit ln Or~et Culture,~• AncW 1 (1983) : ~7. £. Weiler, Der Agan im Myl:hos (Dm:mstadt, 1974) m.en:st'v:eiy studies U1e agon mt1tif (musical a.nd .athletic) in Orcek myth atld leg~ noting three fonn:s (dmllenge, festival a nd :ma.rrlage) and con,c:luding that the Gr~ks were n.ot u:niq:ne in \hi.a respect. but that tlli:s \VRS typical of early societies. For a study of the historico--i:deotogi:caJ backgro·und to views Ofl egonism. as w'cl1 as a discu&sion .eyf the European tmnd agaimt exclusivi:sm. see Wft!~·s ~"AJEN AR..ISTEUEIN. ldeologi~itisdie Bemerkun&lm zu eioem vwut:iertt-li Homerw--0rt," StoJlo~i l ( t.975) : 200-227. 44 See \.V. R. Ridingt.on, 0'The Minoan-.Myoonaean Baekgrmmd of Greek Arhletics,,. (Ph. D . ~atiol4 Univ~rsity of ~.nusyf\1ania. 1935). • s GaJ"tdinet! GA.SF, 11 and AAW, 14. The Orooks thCJ»se1v:cs saw the athletic tradkmn as an impOTtation from Crete : Pl. Rap. 5.4S2c ; Arist. Pol.. 2.10 (127lb); PalLs. S.8.1; Plut. Lye.

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4, Th.a. 15. " 6 On Mwoat1 sports-. see B. J'. PUtnam., '"Concepts of Spnrt in Mmoan Art,'' (PLO. d.is&ertation. Ollifo:rru:a. 19'7). On b'ulf..leapiug. ~ .1. G. Yon:ngel', ....'Brome Age Represen.t:alians of Aegean Bull-Leaping.•• AJA &U (1976) : llS~37. Walter Graham. The Pa.l aua of Crfte (Prinoetan, 1962}. 7l..s4,, associflres boxing with perfonu.nces ln the ~ntral courts. of the patac-es. Tbe boxer fresco from Them i · lllttstrat~d in Yalouri , EterMI Oly1npie:.s, pl. 6.

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corroboration from archaeological evidence.4 7 Thi debate will continue

as long a men d' cuss '-\,the Homeric qu tion. ' Given the ource problem involved. perhap a uggestion of cros -influence between rete and mainland Greece i t. Homer an.d hi at1dience were familiar with athletic activitie and the po,et retroj~ctcd , or a sume~ athletics as e "i ting ir1 the Mycena,ean era,. A few

poin.ts will uffice on this well-worn topic.4 8 Homer pr · ents athletics as a norm.al diver ion of the aristocr.atie wa·r rior Ja . ; prizes were given as gift to honor the dead and exalt the ho t. Rat11er tb,a:n to reward or attract

competitor prize perhaps bega,n a a mean to divide ·up the corp e po se ion .4 9 The epic motif of funeral gam ha over hadowed other atltletic note in Homer. so For instance the di cus, ja,relin and ar-chery were pa time for Archille men and Penelope' uitor , ar1d measur · o.f dj tan ' ere expr ed in term of di u or javelin thro . t Athieti al o were fou11d among the Phaeacian .52 The lack of a pecific Homeric reference to the Olympic Garo is not sound e ·idence For dating the poems but rather uggest the local n_ature of the early Olyrnpi fe ti a.1.53 It h.a been ugge ted tl1at. H omeric athletics were generally pontaneou . and aristocratic 5 4 but they were al o widespread welJ...kn ' n and governed by et proced\lr . Hom.er gives an eigl1tbweentt1ry tert11lnus ante quem for Greek atlileti.c ·~ b·ut t'heir level of advancement st1,gge. t a long period O·f develop1

ment.',. Tl1e

Hcrmeric activities, in the ·fo.rm amc 14 J. Coldstremn. ··a ecro-0.dts in t.h~ Age of Homer," JllS 96 (~976) : 8-17. attribute.s a large va:riety of hero cults to Attica (in-oluding Ereclttheus andt Akademos) of 750-650 because of the oontiouJty of ·the people and ·the ab-rupt chang.e in tomb types c-0m.bined wi:th the i n-

fluence \of epic traditioo. 15 Two votive deposits. from the Ago:ra contain seventh-ce:ntury items apprpria.te to cu.Jts of the heroized ·dead : rerraoot.ta repre.senta,tion of chari.o:t groups and horsemen.. mimatu:re terracotta · hields and pinakes•.and a miniature bro:nz.e tripod. See D. Burr, ,.A Geometric House and a Proto-Attic Depo it.n .Hesp. 2 (1933): 542-Mtl, and H. A. Thom~ "•A Fam~ in U1e North Central fut .o f the Agora.'" Heap. 21 (1958): 148-53. Also see T11ampson and \Vycherley, Ag01a XIV! 119-21. Th.e a:psidal strncrure wherein the votives were fou.nd may have been a ho~ aocoro.i ng to htt, or a temenos open to the s.ky. aroording to H. A. 'f homp on~ ••Acti"i.ty in the A thenian Ago~•• Hesp. 37 ( 1'968) : 58...00. Merle K. Langdo, ••A Sarn:~uary of Zeus on Mt. Hymetto r"' Hesp. Sup-pt 16 (1976): 25, no. S4. fia. 10, pl. 7. f'Cels that an early SC'Yenth~

graff'.'tto ftom the sanctuary may COtlt'ain a ~moo o-f ~uvaa1.~~ "tram... or ~·.ex·ercise. •• This is admittedly weak testimo'lly, but the fit1d, pot was a vot:ive dump aod the inscription may ru;gest athleitlcs in Attica. 16 O . Brmt'OOI', ••Hero-Cults in tbe Corhtthiaa Agora.~· Hesp. 11 (1942) : 128-61, argues from votiv~ myths a nd wheel rut for b:ero cult·rdat.ed athleti.c s .a t Cori.nth. century

Ro-ller. ••Funeral Games in G:r~k ,Literature," g:a..1os. rejec'ls the ldta that gam~ in honor ·Of heroes originated as a thletic contests he.Id a.t private funerals at Athens or Cormth. SJte :feels lb.at the e--viden.ce is too uncertain : the referenc:es. may simply be to warriors and equestrian items may simply oooootJa ari:stocratic status. ..T b.e terrao:otta. votfvcs. from Adi.em and Corinth do ru>t s-how that private flltm'&"}' oontes·i s we.re cormected with civic athletic festivals, for i t j . '.lll1eertain whether or not these objects actu-ally re.present a.th.ktics, and •1

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T HE RI SE OF ATHLETlCS AT A T H ENS

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Although critical of Thompson ·s theory, Lynn E. Roller has argued that funeral games (held by private families near the grave with valuable prizes as part of the burial ritual for a historical individuaJ rather than as part of a hero cuJt) were held in Attica in the seventh and sixth centuries. She suggests that such games had aristocratic overtones and perhaps were limited to a few aristocratic families. 18 Her evidence consists of three marble discuses from the late sixth century found in Attica, interpreted as prizes for funeral games in Attica because their inscriptions include the phrase eKTil>V ~p{rov-'' from the funeral mounds." 19 Roller also argues, from four bronze lebetes from the Acropolis with inscriptions dating from the early to the late seventh century suggesting that they were prizes from funeral games, that Athenians (names unknown) travelled to other private funeral games (here to Boeotia), perhaps drawn by such valuable prizes.20 Roller suggests that such early private games in Attica and Greece were superseded in the fifth century by civic athJetic festivals, which were properly related to hero cults (with the idea of origins in funeral games being pushed onto such festivals improperly by literary sources). 2 1 they seem in any case to have been ofTered al hero cults and not ac private graves.'' (104) " Moreover. there was no tradition which connected the Panathenaia with funeral game which formed part of a hero cult." (99-100) Roller. however, i open (180) to an early simpler version of the Panathenaea, perhaps con trolled by a local clan , with the apobates race perhaps being recorded in some Geometric scenes. 1 • Lynn E. Roller, " Funeral Games for Historical Persons:· Stadion 7 (1981) : 1-18, especially 3-5; and ··funeral Games in Greek Literature," especiaJly 6-46. 19 Roller. " Funeral Games for Historical Persons," 3-5. Paul Jacobstahl, Diskoi {Leipzig and Berlin, 1933). 18 nos. I, 2; 19 no. 4, also sees these a athletes' discuses awarded ro their owner as prizes at funeral games. Also see Jacobsrahl's 19 no. 3, a poros di cus from the Attic deme of Oa. Roller' date of the late ixth century i from Jeffery, LQcal Scripts. 66. L. H. Jeffery, " The Inscribed Gravestones of Archaic Attica," BSA 64 (1962) : 147, sees them as possible grave markers (cf. two sixlh-century grave markers ; 147 no. 64 of ea. 525 for Gnathon, and 147 no. 66 of the late six th ccnrury for the Attic phy ician Ainea ). H. R. lmmer· wahr, " An Inscribed Terracotta Ball in Boston," GRBS 8 (1967) : 263-64. accepts the discuses as prizes from Attic funeral games and discusses a ball of ea. 500 with athletic scenes and a graffi to with the same phrase. " We may as ume, then. that athletic contests, no doubt of a private nature, took place in Attica around the turn of the century at famjly tombs, where ance tors were worshipped as heroes.•· (264) He feels such game perhap arc illustrated on a red-figure vase of the early fifth century (A RJ" ' 188 no. 59, not in A R Vl) on which a bearded warrior rises up o ut of a mound against which athletic equipment is leaning. 2 ° Four inscribed bronze vessels from the Acropolis : I) Roller, Stodlon, no. 2; Jeffery. Local Scripts, 94 no. 3a ; A. G. Bather, " Bronze Fragments from the Acropoli ,·· JHS 13 (189293) : I29 no. 63; JG 12 40 I ; early seventh century; 2) Roller. Stadio11, no. 3; Jeffery, .Local Scripts. 94 no. 3b: Bather. " Fragmen ts," 129 no. 62: JG / l 406; late seventh century ; 3) Roller, Stadion, no. 4; Jeffery. Local Scripts. 94 no. 3c; Bather, " Fragments," 129·29 no. 64 a and b : /G 12 402, 403; late seventh century ; 4) Roller, Stadion, no. 5; JefTery. Local Scripts, 94 no. Jc : Bather, "Fragments;· 129 nos. 58-59; JG 11 405 : end of the seventh century. Other example offered by Jeffery. 9 t-94, are rejected by Roller for want of a definite funerary tie. 21 Roller. " Funeral Games fo r Hi torical Person ," 12 : " In the earliest example the contests were occasional events, one (sic) which brought aristocratic competitor together to honor the dead and show off their skiJI . The games held as part of a civic festival stressed

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Important facts of r-eleva:nce to seventh and early i'ixthNcentury (pre~S66) Athenian athleticcs come from reoords of ancient .athletic victors. The earliest and one of tbe most signtflcant d.ates in the history of Athenian athletic8 is 696, the year Athe.ns gained its rirst Olympic victory when Pantakles won

the stallion. The same man won both the stadion and diu.ulos in the next Olympic Gatnes of 692. Other pre..566 Olympic victors fro111 Athens indude Eurybates (s:tt:tdfD:rt, 672); .Stamas (statlion 644) · Ph.rya.on (pcmkration, 636) · and Alkmeoo (chariot 592). 22 By men acting privately but .till regarded as representatives of Athens. these victo·ries show that the fam.e of ·Olym;pia had. grown :to reach Athens and :that Athenians were a.ctivcly oompetin,g. Probably these men were aristoorat$ with ari tooratic motives., but their victories attest: an increasing familiarity with, and practice of, athletics by Athenians. The mo'St in.famous seventh--/. 12. On tha date, see k . &mley., A Htrl!Jl'1 of the Greek C/J:}...,Stt:Zte$. «t~ 700-JJB B.C. ~rkelecy, 1978), 9s,..99 and note 5, lOS-06. :t-"' Thuc. 1.126.S; J. Font~. The Delphic Oracle (hrkele-y. 1978},. 68. Q64. 25 Hdt~ 6.126-30. Klei;sthcnes,. Olympic chario·t win of 576 or 572 (Moretti. Oly111. ao. 96) foU~wed a victory a·t the Pythta m5:82 {PB.us. 10.7.6); sec .O. L. Hammond, •'The Family of Ortba.go:ra t• CQ n.s. 6 1JS6) : 44-Sl . Th'e date .o f the suitnr contest wa approximald)~ 510; ef. T.J . Cadoux, •lTJm Athlfni.ian Archons from Kreoo to Hypsiehides~·· JHS 68 ( 1941) : 104. tl.

s.

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n1E RISE Of AT!HLETICS AT ATHENS

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1that the tyrant built a rudim.entary atltletic facility for the youtlm•

diversion and he also made the younger suitors ooniend athletically.

2

'

The

youths included two Athenian .aristocrats: Hippo:kleides1 the Philiad, ''the wealthiest and best looking man in Athe'ns;,.. later archon in 566 · and Megakles~ grandson of ti1e archon at the time of the K}1lo-nian affai~r and ,eventually the victorious suitor. The ane:cd()te shows that Athenian noble . earJier . were aYo¥pt at.h,' len~y ·,,."" tl and· part1c1pawu . . • .,i..... youth · l1.k. e K, ylon m '1lu;< i

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interstate \\1,orid of foreign marriages and athletic competitions. 21 Such incidents1 the appearance of Olympic victors fr.om Atl1ens, and the .. nnmucr """' of vase-paintings . . . • 1.11erea.s1:ng Ul:;;ptCtmg ~tthl'et1cs, revea] a growing interest and familiarity \vi.tb a.thletics at Athens. Hero cults developing from the traditions of funerdl games may have been influ.ential, and aristocra.tic ambitions and external agones were ,possible factors. Evidence down to the early sixth century suggests the existence of Atl1enian athletics and proves that .Athenians com.peted at Olympia. In other words, to· this point A:thens demon ·trably had athletes and aristocratic athletics but not •'civic athletics.,, 28 For early sixth-century Athens the signillcane.e of Solo.r1 tbe archon of 594/3 is bo,th crucial and complicated, and he also seem· to have respond,ed lo the rise of a.tbletics,.29 Ongoing debate . over th·e date and iiature of his acts cannot he resolve-d here. In v-ery ge:neral terms, Athen · faced a social and econon1ic crisis, with oppressed and discontented lo-w« close , an,d with political turmoil produ.ced by regionalism, econ;omic foroes, clan rivalr[e or differing political inclinations. The body politic was composed of a narrow gro'.l!lp of baronial families, and th.e tbrea.t of t.yra.nny already had beer1 shown by the Kylonirul affair. Apparently a widespread appreciation of the dangerous po·tential of the situation led. to the grar1.ting ·o f plenipotentiary powers to Solon with th~ intention of establishing eunumkl. Solon's poems indicate his opposition to gfieed and oppression. but he was not a revolutionary anti in many re pects he simply codified laws according to earlier customs. Ho\iveve;r., -...1:r. • ""1 •_. J n~ts ' aJ.. • ·the act of cuu.u1cat1on, wong wt•th · .*"' u1e reaJ•1gnment o·f po]•,Jtl1;4! m terms o·f economic classes~ was of monumental significance. Therieafter power ,.4 ,,.

•

•

Hdt 6.126-28. ~ldt. 6.J30 also reco.r ds that Kleisth:encs rewarded ~b. uitor with a ta.Jent of silver at tlie end .o f the year. It iB quite iike'ty thac similar agnuistic receptions took place at Athens in this era. 27 f!lse.wbere, note the m.a rriage of the pb} ieian De'mokedes of Crot.on to the daughter ·o f Milo, the famous wrestler c45. 2 9' On Solon's Jaws. see E. R:uscll-enbu~h., ••so·lono omoi, " HistorltJ Einz.elschrifte'n 9 (1966). Fora full diseussion of my arguments on Solon, see D.G. Kyl~ ''Solon and Athletics," l6

Anc W 19 (l.984) : 91-lO·S.

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22

THE RISE OF ATHLETICS AT ATHENS

and ,political alle,giances couJd begin to shift from ari tocratic clans to the state itself; men could refer to a civic law code and develop a civic political consciousness. The Athenian state had to mature via the Solonian reforms before festivals and athletics a.t Athens could become truly ''civic''. In later traditjon Solon's fame as a lawgiver and a sage grew; and his acts were confused through unfounded attributions and through the influence of biographical and rhetorical motifs, such as the intellectual criticism of athletes, the reverence of lawmakers and sages, and the patrios politeia theme. Suggestions of Solonian law regarding gymna ia and palaestrae receive insufficient corroboration from the evidence for Athenian athletic facilitie .30 Yet Solon probably did codify a law granting reward for Athenian athletes : 500 drachmas for an Olympic victor and I00 for an I thmian. In other words, Solon officially established valuabJe rewards for Athenian victor in games at Olympia and lsthmia before someone (Pi istratus ?) officiaJly established prizes for victors in the games at Athens. His motivation cannot be detertnined with certainty but it is unlikely that he wanted to democratize athletics, discourage aristocratic charioteering, or limit athleticism as have been suggested.3 1 Given the overall nature of Solon' act • it eems rea onable that he simply wanted to assert the legal authority of the state and to promote harmony in one more aspect of Athenian life. Other evidence has shown that Athens had athletes and athletics of a probably aristocratic and private nature. This could have been one more potentially di ruptive activity that SoJon would want to control and direct to the good of the state. Salon's action was a civic response to athletics : the amount of the award was less important than the official, civic nature of the honor. Athletic festivals were being organized elsewhere at this time but Athens was still too politically unstable and disunified. Solon's reforms including the legislation of athletic rewards and possibly morality laws relevant to athletic activity laid the groundwork for civic consciousness and civic unity. Solon's seisach1J1eia and t1omotl1esia helped Athens advance as a po/is to a stage where a few years later and probably with Pisistratid influence, the state could develop its own system of civic athletics and increasingly direct athletic energies to the glory of Athens. It seems likely that some form of Panathenaic festival including games existed at Athens before 566 but this has not been proven conclusively. S. Karouzou has suggested that an early black-figure amphora from .Athens is a ''proto-Panathenaic'' prize amphora from such a festival .31 This single 3

° For example,

Dern. 24. l 14; Aeschin. In Tin1 . 1-10,12. On the state o f Athenian athletic facililie . in the early sixth century, see Part Ill below. 31 Plut. Sol. 23.3 ; Diog. Laert. 1.55; Diod. Sic. 9.2.5. Pickel, "Zur Soziologic," 62-63 ; Buhman, Sieg, I 06 ; and Young, Olyn1plc Afy tlz, 128·31 , all accept the So lo njan tradit ion of reward . 31 S. Karouz.ou, ··A Proto-Panathenaic Ampho ra," AJArch. 42 ( 1938) : 495-505. figs. 2, 10. The vase ( at. Mus. S59) is classified by Beazley, AB V, 85 no. 1. simply as a "neck a mpho ra."

YA.tKO µ£ npooracrta n t:uµa rtKwv ~LKaLwµa rwv

T H.E RISE OF ATHLETICS AT AT HENS

amphor.a has a flllte player with a goose and listeners on the observe., with a horse, hor eman and man in front on the reverse. She interprets the scenes

as depictions of the mythical flute player Olympos a

pos~ble

referena: to a nute contest at the Pythia or Panathemrea--a"n.d on the reverse a. jockey and hippokomos or tableman-a possible reference to victory in a harse r-ace. Shape and style date the vase to ea. 570 and. place it as a possible in1media.te prec~rsor of the Panathenaic prize amphorae. Karouzou argu.es tha.t the idea of giving arnphorae to Panatbenaic victors dates at least to the third decade of the sixth century; and that this is a proto-:Panathenaic amphora

refe:rring to musical contests and. horse races in an early pre-566· Panathenaea • • . eve:nts. Al ~h .&..,!, • pnor to .i. uie 1n· trod,_ucuon O·f .gymnast1c ·.' th· ouy... tius vase 1.s St'm ; ilar to the Panatbenaics~ there need not be anything specifically Pana,t henaic about this form prior to 566 ; and nothing in the va.se~s decoration :defmitely refers to the Panathena.ea..33 Furthennore, the aulete is seen: as the le1e:-ndary Olympos ra'ther than a competitor, !O the horseman too may be legendary and . . T:h -66 Pa • games is . not onreaso·nau,Ie 1...'I ·non-oompetruve. ,: e i'd' . ea. of pre-~ , : nat.h ena1c ·O:r u.na.ppealin~ but an argument .from ceramic evidence would be stronger if based on a group rather than a , i:ngle vase. A possible group of ~iproto ..Pa.nathenaies may be the black..figure ''Horse.. Head Amphorae."' These are Attic belly> panel amphorae with a ho,rse's .head on eitbeT r:ectangular panel .and with tlte rest of the wse blaek. The head 1s in profile to the right and wears a simple ha!ter. Over a hundred su~i1 vases and fragments are known. 34 Beazley dates them to not later tl•n 550 and A. Birch~Jl likewise places them in the first half of the sixth century. The"Se decorations presumably had some special significance an~ since some of the va.ses were ex:portedJ it is unlikely tha.t they were funerary. The series is brief, and the style barely develops, st1pporting the idea that these may be pre-566 Panathenaic prizes and precursors of the canonical ,..t,. • d' ,..,.,...1 t....... ~5 T't..!. • ' ' • Cil:./lt, . lSCUS~ ot; ow. "ws is a tempting uggem.on sm.ce a pre•..;w Panaulenrucs Panathenaea probably would have had horse races and possibly wo1dd have $

had prize amphorae. Acoordin.gly the reorganization of S66 would mean the . od·. ucuon . of ClVtc . . aid.m1n1stra. . . tio· . n and. ..u1e t.. • - ·"' • •on mtr, retluorcement of· th' e. assoc.1atJ. with Athena. However, before the .appearance of the official inscriptions on the later Panathenaics, one can only say trurt the horse..:head group S:upports the argument for ~'proto'"'Panathenaicsi' 'better tha11 the lone OlymJX>i amphora. Civic athle'tics and civic :athletic prize amphorae cannot be ide-ntifi~d l l

J. A. Davison, ·· olieS ,oo tbe Panathenaea,tt JHS 78 (1958} : 27-28 ; likewi&ei K.

ht«.s~

panatllenaisc~n

Prei:samphoren•· {Pb. D. dissertalli>n, Kola. 1941 ). 13. 3 ' For oatnplete catal{)gileS and styli tic analysis, ~ A. Bircb'all. ••Attic Horse-Had Amphora:e.," JHS 92 :(1972): 46-63:, and M. 0 . Picozzi, ~·Anfor'C atti.cb:e a pr0'; elc; licrru. cL)'SOPOI. Tribult! 1,0 B. D. M er/11 ( Locust Valley ,

.Y .. 1974). 156--60f has uggested tbat the dromo in

ibe Ago~ the establi bment of the Hek.atompc.'(fon. votives ifl th:e .sanctuary of A.tb.ena Nike on the Acropofis, a.nd tfJe bttildio_g of an archaic ramp up the Acropoli all are to be connected with. the estabti hmcnt of the Panathenaea in "566'' . Variderpool further uggests that the: ramp {transfo·rming tbe citadel of the Aetopolis into 1 sa11ctuary) presuppo es a city wall dating to 566 or several year earlier. CT~ F. E. Winter. ''Sepulturae Intra Urbem and the Pre~Pers.ian Wall of Athen ," He p. Suppl. 19 (19 - ) : 199-2-04. Su.eh a waU and the de elo.pment of the Agora, as Wycherley. Stone. , 10-11 , not . a.re ign~ of civic development and civic conscious· n . si

Raubitscb,ek,

DAA ~

355-56; on tbe official

see .below p. 3

r.

53 Davison. "'P tllRthenaea. •• 30, poi:ots out tJ1at ogon and dromos may refer

tO

an activity.

the ;>!Goe wber:c it t.nkes pl1loe, or the pe.o plc who take part in it.

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T HE l\lSE! OF ATHLETICS A'f ATiiENS

w,o rds are ambiguous . and th.e dating and relationship between the inscrip-tions are uncertain. However,, thia. grotip .o f inscriptions does · how that official :action wa · being taken concerning a dromos and .an .agon. Such

terms suggest athletics and the reference is probably to the .Panatl1enaic Ga,mes, which, for practical purpo es, can be dated from approximately 566 onwards. It is regretta.ble ·tb~at ''566~' su:eh a cru.cial date for Athenian a:thletics-remain · so uncertain. It is important to realize that if the Pa:nathenaea wa · reformed, during the m~ons.bip of Hippokleides in 566 lhis means only that he was in office at the time of the reform. It is an interesting qtlestion: wheth&r the .a:rchonship was th.e place from which political power and :initiative came, 54 or whether it was the office by which a younger man was oo~opted into the ruling citcles. 5 5 Althou,gh Hippokleides was a member of the aristocratic, norse-racing fa_mily of Miltiades, and he should not be judged too harshly for his performance earlier in Sikyon, n"owhere .else is he known as a serious reformer. Did the· responsibility for the reformation ·Of the Pa\lla.thellaea then lie elsewhere? A scholiast on the Pa11atl1enaicus of A.eliu.s Aristides adds an interesting note about the ear ly festival: 6 WV nave&r,vaimv d.y~J tWv µtKP!V lkyet (sc. Aristid,es)· m l>m yap dp:xa.io~ "CGP«l tni 'Epix9ovio·u rot) ~AµqnK'tOOV~. Ysv01Jl6VC1 em tti> 'fJ6'VqJ· •AO"t$p{Oo toil rtyuVt~.

m Si µayal.a n cwiu-t;CXXW4; lnot11o:sv. SI

De pite the lade of corroborating testimonia for this refC'rence c-0nnecting Pisi"trattts with the establishcment ·Of the Orea,t Panathenaea, the idea ha ·. found general acceptanc~. Ziehen suggested that Hipp,okleides perhaps found·e d only the athletic games,. and that Pidstratus gave the Oreat. Panathenaea its extended format later during the tyranny.s7 ·Others have suggested that theire was a connection between Hippokleides and P isistratus in their possible influen'Ce on the festiva}, since ·b oth .a pparently came from Brauron. 58 Cer· tainly Pisistratus \-Vas prominent and politically ambitious at the time~ and

' " A:s in Arist. Alh. Pol. 13.2. 5~

R.

Sealey~

~6

Sdtot on Aelltts Amtides 13.189.+ S (ed. Din:dorf. Ill. 323 ; cf. Ari t. ft'ag. 637 Rose);

••&e,gionaliml in Arcb-a ic A.them."' llts1. 9 (1960) : 167.

onl:y Oindol'f's manuscript coutaiu l\px;tt.i6up~ ; Da,vison~ ' 'Panathenaea.•• 24. S'7 L. Zi'Cllen, s.v. Panadlenaia. p;y XVIll 3 (19-49h 459. Thomas J. Figueira. "The Ten Ardl.u.ntes of 579 . at Athm~·· Hup. 53 (19'84) : 447-74, has mede an intrigu.ing argument conc:erning ..... me involvm1e.ut of the Panathema in the rhythm of political crisis in early 6thce.nt1tcy AU:it:a." (46'6) He suggest that years of th~ Or~ater Panatbc:naea rorres.pooo to signiftcant political i®i.d:ents ru1d ·~populist agitaoo.n" at four-year interval · becaU&e of io· ~ participation in elections of some offieiaJ.s due to attendaooe at the festival, especially of people from beyond die as1y. Unfortunarelyt hi~ argument '(467-68): that the .quadrennial versW.n Of ·m e hfiadJe00\:8. predfttU ~"566,., is WlCOflViftCing. .si See D'.ivisQn. "Panathena.ea;'~ Sealey. Greek City.States, l3741 ; C. Hipett, A History of JM Athenian Constitution (OX;fOTd~ 1952; reprint ed., l9til), 133, 326--31.

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THE RISE Of ATHLeTlCS AT Ame s

29

fie distinguished himself as polemarch in 565 in a war against Mega.era. s 9 The fostering ofgames in 566 could, have :been a move by Pisistratus 't o advance llis career.6'0 Unfo,rtunateiy there is no certain evidence that Hippokleides n: . .......l • t'I th c. • l tb at p·wstratus . . tttut~~ . and r1sistratu coopera~, to in11uence , ce iesttva , 1n the Great Panathenaea"' or that the relatiomhip between the .arca-onship of Hippokleides. and the introductior1 .o f the games, was anything but chronological. Consider the sitiia,tion in the 560s. ·The sixth century had already · een the establishment of the Periodos~ Athenians. had competed. th:erein, and SoJ,on apparently had legislated rewards for victorious athletes. In approxima:tely 566 Solon, .till alive and back fi·om his travels, appat"ently was on good. terms "'ith Pi istratu (prior to 561).61 With ·t he uceeslful ·Olympic mo.del a.t :hand~ with .a t'lative tradition ·O·f funeral games, and even perhaps wid1 a fear of the negative politi.ca) pote ntial of aristocratic athleti:ci m, the poli'tical p-0wers at Athens-perhaps.urged by Solon or Pisistra,tus--recast a traditional festival to include games and an extended format ever--y fourth year. The idea of patriotism and decreased factionalism would. appeal to perceptive leading citizens, and the opportunity to armpete or observe at home would appeal to all.. Recall that la ter during his tyranny Pisi tratus had a policy of advancing the cult of Athen_a,62 and that the Pisistra.tids d1d d.evelop the fe tivaJ further., notably with the setting of rules for a competitive recl:tation of Homer.'13 If not necessarily initiating the idea, Pisistratus,, later when .he was solidly in power in the 530s, could reinforce the operation of civic athletics, Hj motivation and the end results remain the same. Some conclusions can be drawn from the admittedly scattered and inde-.. fmite ·e-vidence for early atl1letic at Athens. F.ro,m Geom.etric vase-paintings and Hon1eric traditions, it is reasonable to assume that .Athens bad funeral ~

Arist. A:th. Pol. 14.l . 60 Park.e, Festiv.als, 34. points to the political rivalry at Athens aro·uad 566 aad, despite the lack of ,evid~. lte feels that a. iikdy mi:>tive behi nd tb:e founding ocf the gam~ was its a,p-peal to the populace. W. R. C.onnor, ·iTneseus in Chls$icat A,thens~"' in Ward~ Quest for Tkmtu:t. 146. notes that Pisistra·tus used mytJJS,, cults .and fcstiv.als a~ part of his policy of ~hasmng .and en:oomatin& the 1,mity of Atti.ca : ~·1·1. was ede£ him that the Pauathena.ia, the annual festival of the tmion of Attica, was given a splendour which it bad hitherto never 59

1

attained~··

Ari :L Allr~ Pol. 14.2; Plut. Sot. 29-JO. t1z The .a.l\SOclation of Pisistranm u.i tb Ath.ena is. d~mon5trated in Herodo~· acooUJtt (l .60.l-5) of Pisis:tratus' return to Athens in a chariot with Pity~ posing, as Athena,, John Bnard:mao has Mgtred tha.1 Pi&i tratus aJso deliberately lde-mifu:id himsel.f with Herakies., pre> sentitti both o:f them a prot• cf A.the-na : '*H~akles, Peisistratos and S-0·ns."' RA fa c. i (J972) : 57~72 an:d HHeraki•. Peisistratos mtd El~· · JHS 9S (1975) : 1~12. Boardman m~~ pret-s the ruse of Phye installing Pi-•tmtas on the Acropolis. as a. manipulation of the tb:eme of Herakles~ mtro.duction to Olympus. 6'

1

61

Pl. Hipptll'dl. 2.llb ; *sec

Oavi&;)·n~ '"Pamltheua~"'

19.

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30

T!i:E RtSlE OF A THLETlCS AT ATH ENS

gan1es in the eightl1 century on. a spontaneous aristocratic ba is. Aocoi·ding to Thoinpso:n's theory and inferring from votive evidencet there probably was a development toward ifdllles acSsociated with hero cults in seventh..century Athens. From at least 696. onward Athens was producing Olym,pic athletes and one o·f these through hjg, tyranniatl .ambition, cre-ated chlt0$ at Athens during the Kylonian affair . Like Kylon, the ,young, aristocratic and: athletic Hippokleides and Megakles, in their pur ui,lt of Agariste ·howed the appeal of clan interests and foreign contacts. Athletic proficiency was socially signifieant but athletes lacked a strong poJ/3-0rientation. By the early decades of the , ixth centu_ry Athens. b.a d athletes a.nd aristocratic athletics but th,e . ltse . If was trouw l..,led • d· m . its . politica . l an.d atiueti. LI, • · ·~ city · and ,.t_;,""..... udvrgantze c 1.,11e. Despite the hlstoriographic probJ.eins. Solon can be seen as a significant figure in the history of Athenia,n atl1letics. It can be argued that. Solon codified into law awards for athletic victors not necessarily inventing or circumscribing su:ch rewards. It is also quite conceivable that he legi .lated certain morality laws concerning slaves, pederasty and activities related to athletics. Suppo edly Solonian laws concerning athletic facilities seem an_a.. chrooistic and probably pro'Vide go-Od examples of false a,ttributions to tb.e lawgiver. The crucial point is that Solon represented the Atl1enian body politic, and in a non-revolutionar,y but significant move be a ·.·erted t~he influence of the state for the first time in the realm of athletics. Altl1oug_h not a major co·ncern of the reformer, Solon's atllletic laws were oonsistent with his other acts i,n being motivated by his patriotic desire for a strong and hanno.niou ·, state. The date of Solon's act remains uncertain but in. terms of the history of Athenian athletics he may represent a ·tntnsitional step between the athletic world :o f Kylon and the athletic world of Athenian civic athletics that is, between the athletics of a clan state and those of a citizen" · state. After Athens, came to terms with the practice of athletics, acknowledging it 'via official la.ws and rewarids, the po/is could advance to...-A • • thlet1cs. . w~ u crv1c a It is possible but unlikely that civic athletics predate 566 at Athens as indicated by the proto.-Panathenaic or borse--head amphorae. The myths of Athens include sacred and political version . of the introduction of the P1'c.tnatbenaic Grunes but late and problernatie sources attach the introduction to 566· and the arehonsllip of Hippoldeides. This ap;proximate date and the civic nature of the Panathe-ruUc Games are corroborated. by the famou . Bt1rgo.11 Panatherutic prize amphora, and tbe heavily reconstructed drotnos inscriptions from the Acropolis. Hippokleides !eeIDS an unlikely candida.te to be the motivator of Athenian civic athletics. Rather t.he venerable Solon, or n1ore pro'bably the rising :Pili tratus, put the wheel in motion. An appre-w ciation of the negative disruptive potential of non-civic athletics should have been created earlier by tlie K.ylordan affair. ·Civic athletics would favor

Yi\tKO µ£ npoatao'la nv£uµartKWV bLKOtt0µarwv

31

THE RISE OF ATHLETICS AT ATHE · S

commu11ity con ·.cioum:ess .rather th.an clan factionaJism ; and, in inore basic tenns"' it would be good fo,r the reputation of the city· and increase Athenian opportunities to· observe an.d participate in games.64 The situation in 566 is tin.clearf but Pisistratus became a dominatJt force in Athenian. history shortly tberea:fteri and by the end of the tyranny civic athletics were thriving at Athens. Although bis motives \Vere not as admimble as Solonls, Pisistmtus provided the patriotie drive and the political and reJi.gious centra.lization tltat helped Athens progress as a state. The ty.r~nt had

the means and the mo,tive for influencing the Panathen:aea · archaic aristoora,tic agonism (in politics and games) had to be controlled for the ake of the city and the career of Pisistra.tus. The ancient evidence i . weak but probability and moder11 opinion support the idea that Pisistra.tus, not tinselfishly, fostere:d atl1letic · a,t Athens to appeal to the populace and spread the fame·of Athens.6 ~ 6

"'

Figueira, ''Teo Arc-Ab111es: · 469, oo:cnments : ' 'TI1e PaMth·emtla,. Fram its

nam~

from

its association wiU1 PcisicStratos* and from its ubs,equent ela.baration m P'eridmn AthellS,. am t...~ to f,lave L.. L~ A :....t'" t.utte. .... •• ~ seen llmiJ a " pof)1J1·ll>\. t>$ Sealey, Greek City--StateJ, 135-39; V. Ehrenberg. From Solon 'io So.at1w (Lond.Gn. 1967).., 32·83, feels Pi&istratu ~· feiti'val program reflects the tyrant's '*typical mixture of reiigionl patriotis:m and sd.f-agrandiz:ement.•f On the involv~ment er Hi.ppias and Kip.parch.OS m the Panathenaeai see Ari t. At.Ji. Pol. tS.2«3; Thuc. 6.S+-58. Their active roJe fn the organimtion of the proce sion: prohabJy s;vas a p:ro.minent btlt not a solitary exa.1'1lple of the family'& involve. """'"'"'1'

,~ ,.

Yi\tKO µ£ npooracrta nvcuµattKWV OLKOtt0µarwv

CHAPTER TWO

ATHENIAN CIVIC ATHLETICS Famous for its varied .a nd numerous festivals., 1 ancient Athens was proud

of its repu.tation for having mo:re festivals than other states~ 2 and many o.f the agonistic aspects of these celebrations. were athletic. State festivals were reli. h. olidays d'-....1·. ,.1..,.: • . c-0mpetitions) .. lik .fi giow . ~1cated to U-f.;1.ties; an.d ath'"'etic .·' e sacr11ces, processions and feasts, were an appropriate act of worship and an element o.f religious ceremony o.f festivals. 3 The Panathenaea and the Athenian festival program with it .· athletic aspects .gtiew with t;he city and becwne more splendid with the Empire io the fifth cen.'tury. Some festivals were established or fostered · ""' speci·ntc reasons . and. · events at time& • by various persons .:or . certain were introdueed or became more or les · popular. The following examines the evidence for the athletic components -0f the Panatltenaea and other stat,e festivals. It als·o s11rveys.the .evidence for various individual events. By outlining the Athenian athletic pro~ and by suggestirtg significant stage-s a11d 1..." • - - l t"- . • CL() 'L..! .• • • .utSton~ ui.ctors in t h, a t p11ogram Je,·:rom ea. .~ to 322 ··· · . t1l» mvestigatton. ·demons.tra.tes the involvement of athletics with .Athenian civic life. Before turning to ·the Panathetiaea as the most famous Athenian athletic gathering, it is importa11t to clarify this study'. approach to Attic vasepaintings as a valuJl.ble source for tae history of Athenian atf1letics. While black-figure PIDtathena.i~ prize ampho1~ae testify to the establishment and operation of civic athletics in. th.e P.ana:d1en.aea,4 other non.~Pana:thenaic vases 1

On the exceptional number and ·expense of Atltenian saorifices and. prooessions : Ps.Xen. A:th·. Pol. 3.2.8 ; Ar. Nub. 306-13. E.q. 582, 1037, Pa:c l .24.3; Ps.Pl. Ale. II 148e. 2 In the Fu.Mral Oration (Tbuc. 2.38) ;Pericles praises Ath:enian games and festivals held throughout th:e year as civilized re~eationa.t divw&ion&. Likewise lsoc. Paneg. 50.454 6. 3 On Athenian festivals the basic wark is Augll8t. Mommsen•s Fesle der Stadl A.then Im Altertttm, 2nd ed. (Le~i& 1898), which was brought up to date by Ludwig ~ubner, Atfimhe Feste (Berlin~ 1932;. repf'int ed.• HiJ~J1eim, 1959). H. W. Parke,. Festivals of the •.f:tke'niall3 (Lo:adon, 19'n).. is more r-emm but aims at a broader au:dien,t:e and eoneenttates on t,M M h and fomtb O(}llturies. Lib l)e:.u.bner, his focu.s i on, euJt, ritual and tl1e festival yoor. B. Simo'°* Fativoh of A1tica (Madison. 1982}., ml'egra~ recent ardlaeotogical evidmce a.nd discn ses the origins of fcs;tivals. For an ·0:11tda1ed tr&ttneD't fron1 ru.1 athletic viewpoint, see Gardiner, GASF, 227-50. For tes:timonla. and. discu.ssioo .of the dates af various festivals, see Jon D. Mikaloon~ The Saued and Civil Cakndm of th Athenimt Year (Prifl0t1too,, 1975). " 0-n the Panath:enaics : the standard r:efemJ:ce collection is J. D . Beazley. Attic Black· Ftgwe flau-Pc; d&:rvit-tOt>t; nµli®l . 59

That ·the '"games .o f strength, knowledge and wealth'' were gyrnn.astie; tnusicaJ and. hippie contests is shown in a Platonic passage on Athens~ treatment ,o f her

\Vat

dead :

a:~oix; ~£ TO~ ~ftcr«vt~ nµdlao. obM!tot.s iK"~ m9' iltomov !~ t(rv at u) tU V-0µ1'6psva JtiOlO'ikxt K-Otvij Kaa1v cmep b«t~ iB{q. y{yWmt. ft~ &t tootottov t6t£ xp&1ov enoi'flcre) and legislated that ovations were to be given upon those buried at public expense. 62 There has been debate on when the public burial ground was establjshed in the Kerameikos; and Jacoby, although he dates the cult of the war dead to the battle of Marathon, dates the institution of state buriaJ of the war dead and the epitaphios logos to 465/4.63 The classical evidence is too weak to re olve problems of te11ninology with certainty, 64 but it is now proven that games by some name were held after the Persian War. Archaeological proof of such game has been found in the form of prizes. Three bronze vessels (two lebetes and a hydria) bear the same inscription (one reminiscent of that on Panathenaic prize amphorae): 'A0avatot· a0A.a £7ti t"Oi

K t:pa.µ&lK~).

Travlos, PDA, 300, sees this as a reference to lhe custom of holding games in hoaor of the dead e tablisbed early on in the Kerameikos, but there i no indication of tate involvement in uch games prior to the fifth century. See Deubner, A11ische Fesre, 23 1; Roller, "Funeral Games in Greek Literature," 76 and n. 86 on 43. 61 Tbuc. 2.34.1,5. Cenainly the tradition continued for Demo thene delivered uch an address after Chaeronea (Dern. 20.141). An ephebic inscription of the late third century (see 0 . W. Reinmuth, " A New Ephebic Inscription from the Agora." H esp. 43 ( 1974): 246-59 and J . Trajll, •·A Revision of Hesperia XLill, 1974," Hesp. 45 (1976) : 296-303), by restoration, may be the earliest reference to ephebes at the Epitaphia ; but the Epitaphia is not definitely mentioned by name until second"(;entury inscriptions record that ephebes held races in ar-mor and torch races as part of the festival : JG 11 2 1006.22, 1011 .9 ~ see Chr. Pelekidis, Hi.sto.ire de / 'epltebie arrique (Paris, 1962), 235-36, 272·73. Brueckner, .. Epitaphio Agon," 200- l 0, tried to show a connection between the Theseia and Epitaphia, but Deubner, Attische Fesre, 230. rejects cbis for want of classical evidence. 68 o propo er is menti.oned but the reigning political figure was Themistocles ; concern for tombs may have been part of a rebllilding and restoration program. 69 The problematic evidence is di cussed by G. Van Hoorn, Choes and Anthesteria (Leiden. 1951)and Pickard-Cambridge, Dran1aric Festivals, 2od ed., 1-25. As Burkert, Homo Necans.• 21326, 240-4 I, points vious in the "''War .borae• events of ea. 38-0~ 96 and th'e contest for javelin. on horseback- li ·ted with the war hor :e t:'Yents on IG U2 2311-w.gg-ests that new ea:vah')'..Style events came in ,rery late in the fifth century. The anth.(ppasia confirms that definitely military ,events were held by tl.te first half o·f the fourth century. It is probable bu't unproven that only ciliaens participated in the war hors:e and javelin event .. prior to the .Hellenistic age when military agones became very elaborate 9 ., . Thus, aJthough the cavalry and ephebeia affect Athenian QD'nes from the fourth century onward, military events repres"Cnt additions rather than, replacements in the Athenian athletic program. H.ow do·trends in tlte representations of athletics in the general vase~painting corpus -c orrelate with. the above ou.'tline of Amen • .a thletic pr ogram ? Certainly . . . of a:thleties . arrt~ate . . ....} . . auJ..tet1cs ,.,:t,. 1 • vue--pamtings ugses.tive ,c1v1c at Ath · · ens.; 11epresentations of 'boxers a.n d other a.thlet;es are found on Geometric and Proto-Attic works,, but on these early vase_ the reference is probably to·

funeral games or legends. The e.a.rliest una1ubiguous and numerous indications of athletics appear on black--figure works in the fir t half of the sixth century indicating an increasing interest in athletics.9'8 Non..priz'e black.. figiire vases of the middle two quarters of the sixth cennrry ho·w a few · tock athletic scenes . ucb as wrestling footnlres and the discus 99 and the vut n:o:where was various and morf! numao11s.... * The Ath:eman policy continued and wa apµJie-4 to areas u.ndet Athenia11 influence; after the purifi.catk.>n or Ddos (426/5) tht!: AthenJaalS esrablish:tro a pent~.eric fe tival ~i,tb games inclu,cliJig horse races (Tbuc. :;., 104). Tlle earJie;r Oelian '0 antGs (Hom~ric H )J1n111.0 ii.po/lo J49~50) }lad laps-ea.

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Although Pisistratus fostered sport in several ways, from 566 to the Persian Wars the history of Athenian athletics was mainly that .o f the Panathen.aic Games;. and the Per .ian Wa;rs left Ath,e ns, flushed with patriotism,. in a leading position in Gr:eece. From ea. 479 Athens celebrated the Epitapbi:a · a national festival of the heroized dead incll1ding games with official. prizes. The praise of Atbens as ''the chooJ o'f HelJas '' 119 put in the mouth of Pericles by

Tl1ucydid.es) pro,bably was typical of the sentiment o·f the Epitaphia. Around 475 Kimon returned \~·the bones of Theseus', and Athens added the Theieia to its athletic progran1, elevating it from what bad been a gentilicia:11 cult of the Phytalidai . This political manipulation o·f the myth of Theseus was probably a democratic version of P1sisttarus earlier use ·Of •.\thena. The institutio·n of the civic .hero ct1lt was 111utually attractive and beneficial to Kirnon ai1d Athens, and by Hellenistic times the Theseia was especia1ly the fe tival ot' the ephebes. Although the Panat.henaea remained the showplace of Athens) athletic agorzes werespread thro t1ghout the civic calendar a ·lesser cults ·were d-eliberately made into state ciilts. The Genesia, Otlc~ the private clan festival to the dead fathers, was taken over by the state (perhaps, as ,early as Solon) and may have included ga:mes. Choes from the Ar1thesteria to Dionysus suggest that athletics were part of this .official form of an early vine-growers' cel.ebration~ The O chopho·ria with its ritualistic race was taken over by the state from the Sala1ni.nians. Athens, when it suited her interests, even adopted foreign festiv-als ·such as the Ben.didia with i:ts spectacle of a, tor-eh race on horsebaek. The Oiym.pieia developed from probably a Pisistratid creation. into a feltival .involving games for the cavalry. Several torch and boat races supplem.ented 1

the various festivals~ and Athens also supervised ex.tra-uxban games such as those a'l Marathon. In the late fourth. century and un.·der the car·e of Lycurgus

the it1'creasing ties between athletics and Atherua.n educational and military life anticipate Hellenistic trends. The At11enian program of athletic festivals developed elaborately from Panhellenic model • and pr~cursors in funerary and hero cu[ts, but a polisorientation was increasingly a common feature. The significance of the games at Athen . was festz:lie and athletic : they were to celebrate and glorify the city and its gods and heroes,. and to satisfy the agonistic inclinations of the Athenians directly by competition and vicariously by observation. Just as the Pana.t hena;e a in mytf1 and in the sixth..century motivation behind its suooess--was. a festival of unity, Athenian. athletics overall reminded the citizens of the shared glory ·Of Athens. 110' t

19

1. lO

Thuc. 2.4 i .1.

o. R.. Morrow. Pl.ato'.r Cretan C i l) I (Princcton., 1960). 3SJ. comments OJ:l me impartrui,ce

of festivals lo a polis. Festivals were civic in being administwed by civic officials and in

con tituting a 11egu!ar part of civic life. Moreover. '111.C}' were ,civic also, i,n a dooper se~~ as powerful agencies in promoting unity of feeling among ci:tize:ns and in fostering the seatiments of loyalty a11d devotion tDA , 2: l'ho ropson and Wycherley, Agora: XI V, 19-20.

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An open fla t region free o f major building', the new Agora had amp le room for new officiaJ e tabli hments a nd variou public activities. Throughout the ixth aod fifth ceoturies the Agora progressed a a. religio u a nd civic centre, acked b the Persians but reconstructed by Kimon and Perides.9 The Agora. developed functionaUy but remained a rnhitecrura lly informal a a simple, tree-lined quare co mparable to a ''village green. · Acres ible and uitably level, the A gora wa an ideaJ place for exercises a nd a thletics. 10 la cta -jcaJ times the Athenian gymnasja lay beyond the A gora a nd the city walls, but in. later times the suitability of tile Agora for athletic :facilitie i b.own by the establishment of gymnasia within (tbe Diogeneion and Gymnasium of the Giant ) aud near the Agora (tbe Ptolemaion). 11 T he topography and centrality of the Agora. and its involvement. in civic life. suggest a connection between it and t be rising inreres t in a thletics at A thens. A general theory of a Greek dev elopment from funeral cults to civic competitions in the agora seems appUcable to Athens. R. Martin presents the Greek agora as crucial, pby: ically and spiritually, to t be coUective life of a polis. 12 He credits the agora with agoni tic function due to its double role fir t as a religious centre an d later also a a political ga:theriog place : the agora was the ite of early agonistic activity related to religion a nd funeral cuJt and oflater agoni tjc activity related to civic cults and political festival . i. 3 H. A. Thompson makes a similar argument concerning f1meraJ game hero cult and the rise of Athenian athJetiCJ in tbe Agora.1'' He point to the existence of Mycenaean ; Proto~Geometric and Geometric grave beneath the Agora, the prominence of chario t-race cene on la te-Geometric vases from Athenian graves, and tbe d iscovery of eve"nth-century terracotta re-

presentations of chariot group and bor emen and a miniature bronze tripod

9 A.gora Xl , 20-24; Boerona, ABP, 15, 23; J udcich, Top-0g., 62, 42&-57; R. Martin, Redtf!rdu!s SY.T l'agara, 255-78. 10 R. E. Wycherley, How tile Greeks Built Cilles, 2nd ed. (Garden City, 1969), !47. t' A later piece of evidence suggesting Agora-gym.nasiuro conneaioo is a Nelleni tic inscription which may refer to the Gymnasium of Plolemy; sec D islcin a ay, " A Gymnasium. Inventory from the Athenian Agora," H a p. 46 (1977) : 259-67. H. A. Thompson, " Activity in the Athenian Agora," Hesp. 31 ( 1968) : 38-41 , ugg,e sted the exl&tence of a pre-Hellenistic gymna ium in the Agora from the discovery of a pair o f poro water ba ins, but ltc bas since withdrawn

tlie sugge tion. 12 R. Martin, Recherches .wr /'.agoro, 8 : "En m@ me tempS, en effet. qu'une forme arch.itt.c· tumle, l'agora est une idee, une oo tion, un ~ltment essentiel de la cite. de I.a polis, cette

valeur poUtiq·u-e qui regfe les modaJ it6s de la vie collective du mo:nde grec. L'agora est a la foi formc et espdt." n Jbld•• 202-23. Eady rel'ereoccs to atbleti in ag.oras inolude Hom. Od. . 120-384 at Pha.eacla. The Gyinnopaideil1 festival at Sparta {P'.tu . 3.J 1.9) is a later example. t • Thropson, "Pllna tbe.naic Festival," 227~3 1 ; Travlos. PDA, 2; .R.. Mar,1in.. Rer:.herclles sur l'agvro, 194-201. The theory of funerary origin of athletics a~ Alhen is discu ed on p. ISff. above ; the concern here i the location.

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(votive depo its appropriate to the heroized dead) from the Agora. 1 ' He concludes that chariot race were part of foneral games i,n early Athens, and that there was a relations hip between the grave , offering to the heroized dead and equestr ian events held in the Agora in the eighth. and seventh centuries. 16 Tho mpson further suggests that funeral games persisted after their establi hment; a nd, with the development o f community con ciou nes , the gam es became a socia.ted with a patron deity. T hus festivals a ro e, gymn astic events were added to the· early eque trian game , and the wbole program took place in the Agora. A possible pa:rallel development seem to have occurred at Corinth. 0 . .Broneer bas a · ocia.ted the cult of the dead with contests apparently held on the racecour e in the "agora" at Corinth. He point to ao early cemetery in the. outbem region of the area, a small anctuary established there in the ixth century (perhap dedicated to the dead when Corinth beg,ao to develop the area), a depo it of terracotta very appropriate to a hero cul t and the tarting lines in the middJe of the agora near which he detects wheel ruts .i ndicating the use of chariots in the area. 11 Such arguments attractively uggest funerary origin for athletics in the Atbenfan Agora with later additions of more civic cults. Since it was a former graveyard, a nd grave seem to have been revered in later ages, the Agora may have been the ite of athletic activity in the eighth. and seventh centurie , perhap related to bonoriag the dead. In the classicaJ age the Agora definitely

had a trong a odation with hero cuJts of an increasingly civic na.ture. 1 Since cult of civic benefactors and founder predominated in the later Agora, u Burials continued there untiJ lbe end of the eventh c~ntury ; see Agom XIV, · -9 and pl. 2 ; Rodney . Yo ung, ' 'Late Geometric Graves and a Seventh-Century WeJl in the Agora," He:sp. Suppl. l (l9J9) : 6--57, 218. On di turbcd graves treated witb piety and reverence, ineJudiog. \'Otive deposits wiili terracotca chariot groups, see H. A. l'b.ompson, " A Favissa io the ortb Cemral Part of the Agora," He.rp. 27 (1958) : 148-53; D. Burr, ' 'A Geometric H.ouse and a Pro t.o -Attic otive Deposit," Hesp. 2 ( 1933) : 614-21. 636-40. 16 Thompson and Wyche.rley, Agoro XIV, 1 l9·21, reinforce the argument witb furtJ1er examples of reverence of the ites of early groves in tbe Agora involving votive depo its and the covering over again ofdisturbed graves. For furtber examples, C. K. Willfams, He 'P· · (l 969) : 49, 51 a nd HeS'p. 9 ( 1970) : 1-2. For further uggestions of minor herooo in the Agorn, sec Agoro XIV, 120. and the discuss:ion by Gerald V. Lalonde, " A Hero Shrine in t11e Atheuia.n Agora: · Hesp. 49 (l 9 0) : 98-105. ., Oscar Broneer, "Hero~CuJts in the Corfothia n Agora," I/esp. 11 (1942) : 128-61; Agora XIV, 12L u See A~ora XIV, 124-26; Agora 111, 3 9-62. Acc.o rding 10 Psausania (1.17.2) and Plutarch (Thes. 36.2) the Thescioo, home a founder-cult of increa ing popularity in the inb and fifth centuries, wa in the middle of Athens near the Agora and the Ptolemai.oo, but the location is uncertain ; cf. Tra"Ylo , PDA, 518·19. The Altar of the Eponymou: Heroes, re:lal'ed to the ancestor cuHs artiftciaUy created for t.he Athenian tribes, stood in the Agora.; see Agora XIV, 38 41 and Agora Ill, 229.45. Statues of the Tyran.nicides (sec Arist. Rh. 1.9.38 (1368a) ; ~ora

or

xrv, 155-60 and Agora

f/1~ no 256-80) and Solon (see Paus. 1.16.1; Agora XIV, 159, Agoro Ill, nos. 80, 709- I 0) rcpreiscnt benefactor cult

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funeral games perhaps followed the graves to the outer Kerarneikos, but apparently athletics and hero cults had an early and continuing relationship with the Agora. In the Agora the Panathenaic Way, being level and wide, was suitable for processions and athletics. 19 The route of the Panathenaic procession along the Way from the Dipyloo to the Acropolis was traditionally known as the "dromos", and the agonistic connotations of such a designation provide a linguistic clue to the presence of athletics in the Agora. 20 J. Travlos argues that the Panathenaic dromos was the scene of athletics on the basis of the three archaic inscriptions from the Acropolis discussed earlier. 21 He concludes that these refer to the early Panathenaea, and that a board of men had charge of the construction and repair of a racecourse in the Agora. Unfortunately dromos is a general term and even if it refers to Travlos' racetrack (rather than Raubitscnek's race) no topographical reference is made. Nevertheless, a racecourse on the early Panatheoaic Way is quite likely for the sixth century. Torch-racers ran along the Way en route to the Acropolis from altars in the Academy. Later, Aristophanes pictures a Panathenaic torch-racer abused by spectators as he ran near the Dipylon. 22 Definite physical proof of athletics in the Agora- and significantly the earliest physical remains of any Athenian athletic facility-came to light in 1974 from the section of the Panathenaic Way at the northwest corner of the Agora. A row of five square limestone bases spaced at even intervals was found in situ across the line of the street. 23 Evidently the bases were placed so that their tops rose slightly above the surface of the road, and in the centre of each was an unleaded, square socket in which an upright post could be anchored as a non-permanent fixture. At the west end of the row is a circular pit from which a round base obviously had been removed. These bases date roughly to the mid-fifth century ; they remained in use through i9 On the Panatbenaic Way, sec Agoro XIV, 192; Boersma, ABP, no. 15 ; and Travlos, PDA , 422-28, 579-80, figs. 29-31. A late fourth-century inscription confirms the name and route : Agoro Ill. no. 729. Thompson and Wycherley, Agoro XI V, 194, comment that the unusual width

of the Way was appropriate to its arterial importance, and it was also needed for special occasions such as the Pana thenaca. 1 For the dromos reference : Himerios Oratio 3.12, Agoro Ill, no. I. Similarly, at Sparta one of the streets from the agora was called Aphetais or the Street of the Starting-Post (Pa us. 3. 12.1), and in Elis the agora was called the Hippodrome (Paus. 6.24.2). R. Martin, Recherches sur /'ogoro, 220-21, suggests that equestrian games at Elis began as a funeral cult, and later the equestrian nature of the agora was taken over by training for the Olympic Games. 21 Sec above, p. 26 rr. 11 Ar. Ran. 1093. 13 T. Leslie Shear, Jr., "The Panatbenaic Way," Hesp. 44 ( 1975) : 362-65 ; for the location. see Map A ( = Hesp. 53 (1984) fig. 2). The bases measure ea. 47 m. square by .38 m. deep with sockets . 12 m. square and ·. 12 m. deep ; they arc spaced regularly at a distance of 1.85 m. from centre to centre. leaving 1.38 m. between bases-quite sufficient room for a runner. as I noted upon exami.natioo.

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two resurfacings of the street until they were covered and put out of use in the late fifth century. 24 Apparently these bases were spaced with relation to the neighbouring Altar of the Twelve Gods, and there is room for five more bases between the altar and the pit. Hence the line had spaces for ten runners, perhaps one for each Attic tribe. This "... ingle line of bases supporting a temporary barrier which extended about 20 metres across the Panathenaic Way ... " reminds T. Leslie Shear Jr. of the starting line of a racetrack with its characteristic sockets for insertion of the light wooden apparatus for the starting gate. He suggests that in the second half of the fifth century the running events of the Panathenaea began at thjs line and continued south across the very centre of the market square. 25 Although the commonest Greek starting line, of which post-classical examples have been found at each site of the Periodos, was a long stone sill with spaced sockets for posts and with rows of grooves for the toes of the runners, 26 a close parallel in form to the Athenian line does exist. In the earlier (fourth century) of the two lines in the stadium at Priene a simple row of eight isolated, square stone slabs are set into the ground, each with a square hole in its centre evidently intended to hold a post. 27 Although later in date and found in the stadium rather than the agora, this discovery from Priene confirms the use of isolated bases as a starting line.28 Furthermore, 2

• Ibid., 363 n. 66. StraLigrnphic evidence suggests that the bases were probably set down in layer 14 (Br 677) of the second ha lf of the fifth century, remained in use through two resurfacings of the street , and were covered and put o ut of use by layer 11 (lot er 673) of the late fifth century. Since Athens was sacked by the Persians in 480, the e bases may have replaced some earlier arrangement. is Shear, Ibid., 362-63, point out that excavations have shown that wheeled traffic was debarred from entry into the Agora throughout the fifth century at its no rthwest corner. Only later in the fourth century did the dromos in 1he Agora become and remain a n importanl tho roughfare. The line of 1he bases is oriented almost exactly east to west a nd is not at right angles to the diagonal course of the processional road, as would seem natural if its purpose were si mply to prohibit traffic. Ho wever, the original Panathenak Way ran slightly further to the west of its Hellenistic position as usually resto red on maps; cf. H. A . Thompson, " Activity in the Athenian Agora, 1960-65," Hesp. 35 ( 1966) : 45-46. The raceway from the bases, on a slightly different orientation, would cross the natural middle of the Agora stopping roughly 600 feet to the south in front of the South Stoa. 26 On starting lines. see H. A. Harris, " Stadia and Starting Grooves," G&.R 7 (1960) : 25-35 ; S. G . Miller, " Tums and Lanes in the Ancient Stadium," AlArch. 84 (1980) ; 159-66; 0 . Broncer, lsthmia II (Princeton, 1974), 46-66, App. II , " BA/\BII:, 'YI:nAH~. KAMnTEP," 137-42. 17 T . L. Wiegand and H. Schrader, Priene Ergebnisse (Berlin, 1904), 261-62, figs. 262, 264 ; Ha rris. SGR, 28-29, pl. 21 ; G . E. Bean, Aegean Turkey (New Yo rk a nd Washington, 1966), 207-09; cf. M. Schede, Die Ruinen von Priene (Berlin, 1934), 85. 28 Noting that running tracks a t Didyma and Miletus (as well as Athens and Priene), in their original phases, had separate stone bases rather than continuous stone sills, S. G . Miller, Preface to the American Edition of Gardiner's A AW, 1978, pp. x-xi, wonder if these may represent an ethnic (Ionic here) variation in athletic practice or whether they were ritual in character. Sec A. von Gcrkan, M i/et II, ed. T. Wiegand ( Berlin, 1922), 6-9; T. Wiegand, Didyma I ( Berlin. 1941 ), 140-41 ; Bean, Al!'gnm Turkey, 229, 242-43; Miller, "Turns and Lanes," 163.

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parallels in location (dromos in agora) can be noted at Corinth and Argos. 29 The bases thu provide ound and suitable evidence for the u e of the fifthcentury Agora as an occasional athletic facility. 30 Overall the simplici ty of the arrangement suited early Greek athletic faci lities, and it would have been ideal for this particular racecour e ince it was situated in the heart of Athens and used only periodically. Moreover, this early athletic site, found in downtown Athens near a n altar. represents a characteristic blend of civic and religious aspects in Athenian athletics. 31 For the fourth century there is evidence of agonistic, military-flavored events in the Agora often involving the " Herms." The e dedicatory statue many of them housed in the Stoa of the Herms built in the northwestern section of the Agora, seem to have played an important part in the exercises and ceremonial rides of the Athenian cavalry. 32 Earlier vase scenes link the Herms in the Agora with cavalry and hor eriding a nd how that there was a herm, an altar and a pillared building in the Agora perhaps by the end of the sixth century. 33 The Herms are associated with the cavalry by a fourth-century comic fragment : "Go to the Agora, to the Herms, the place frequented by Phylarchus, a nd to their handsome pupil , whom Pheidon trains in mounting and dismounting." 3 4 References to " the Herms,,. "the Stoa of the Herms," and Hermes Agoraios can be confu ing, but these all were located in the northwestern Agora strikingly close to the fifth-century starting line. 3 s 29

Corinlh (from ea. 500 on) : C. K. Williams II and Pamela Russell. "Corinth : Excavations of 1980, the Sports Complex:· Hesp. 50 ( 1981) : 1-19. Argos (from Hellenistic or early Roman time ) : M . Pierart and Jean-P..iul Thalmann. "Agora : zone du portique," BCH 102 ( 1978) : 77683 and fig. 26. Also see David G. Romano, "Stadia of the Peloponnesos," (Ph. D . dissertat ion, University of Pennsylva nia, 198 I), I 50-69 (Corinth) and 188 (Argo ). 3 Fo r comparisons with other Greek starting lines, and for a discussion of terminology (probably bolhis or kamprer-Jine rather than husple:c) and operation (probably no obstacles, auditory starl ignal), see D .G. Kyle, " A1hleLics in Athens," App. D , "The Starting Line in Lhe Agora," 362-68. Ji Most early Greek stadia existed in a close topographical relationship wi th a temple or altar: David G . Romano. " The Ancient Stadium : ALhleLics and Arete," At1cW 7 ( 1983): 9. lsthmia provides a good example ; 0 . Bronecr, /srl1mia II, 46-66. O n the significance of the Altar of the Twelve Gods established by the younger Pisistratus in 521, Wycherley, Stones. 133 comments: The establishment of the a ltar marked tllis precise spot as t.he very center of Athens : it served as a central milestone from which distancO were mca ured. and it was almo t certainly what Pindar called in his d ithyramb [frag. 75 Snell) in honor of the Athenians 'the omphalos (navel) of the city, much-trodden, fragrant with incense.' 12 Agoro XIV, 94-96; Agoro Ill, nos. 296-313: Evelyn 8 . Harrison. Archaic and Arcl1aisric Sculpture, The Athenian Agoro X I ( Princeton. 1965), 108-76. Recent field work has not found the Stoa; T . Leslie Shear Jr., "The Athenia n Agora : Excavations of 1980-82,'. Hesp. 53 (1984) : 40-43, comments : "The Stoa of the Herms remains as elusive a structure as ever, although now it is likely that the building should be sought further to the northwcst." u Webster, Potter at1d Parron, 137-38. 3 " Mnesimachos (Edmonds FAC 2: frag. 4), Agoro Ill, no. 303, Bue; civo.1Jo.ivc1v Citi toix; i1t1fouc; µ&A.&t~ Cl>&l&i>v icai icatal}alvc1v. n See Map A . On Herms elsewhere : Francis Cairns, " A Henn from Histiaia with an Ago nistic Epigram of the Fifih Century B.C.,'' Phoe11. 37 (1983) : 16-37.

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Jn the H ippar chicus of around 365 Xeno phon mentio n the Herms and equestrian performances in the Agora as be sugge t that proces ions during fe tival. hould indud.e a proce ionaJ circuit of the Agora. followed by a fa t gallop by regiment from the Herm to the Eleusinion. 36 Although Xenophon recommend a new manner of riding to increase the pectacle here, eque trian event apparently were an accepted occurrence in the fourtbcentury Agora. It i unlikely that the start and finish points of the gallop are innovations. A di tinction mu t be made between procession a nd cavalry parade and eque: tr ian conte ts in the Agora. The manreuvres discus ed by Xenopbon may not have been agonistic, and Demosthene is referring to military prooession when he charge an opponent with being " unable to lead a procession through the Agora. " 31 However. an association of certain agonistic events with the Agora gains suppor t from severaJ t:arue bases. The mo t famous of the e i a base of 380, signed by the sculptor Bryaxi ., found in situ at tbe nord1western entrance to the Agora. It commemorates victories by a father and two o n in the anthippasia at the Panathenaea. 3 An ju criptioo of ea. 365 recording the victory of the tribe Leontis in ome equestrian contest was found reu ed in a late foundation to the west of the Royal Stoa close to the ite o f the .Bryaxi base. 39 A dedication of around 325 from the nortbwest corner of the Agorn was made by a phylarch and commemorates a victory, probably in the anrhippasia o f the Panatheoaea where pbylarchs commanded their tribal cavalry."° Furthermore, some bases which specifica.Uy mention the amhippasia may originalJy have come from the Agora.41 The apobates race also is attested for the Agora A m onument from early

in the fourth century depicting an apobates was found in a tower of the Po t-Herulian Wall o uth of the Stoa o f Attalos and a Uttle below the Eleusillion. 4 2 An association of the E leusinion with thjs event recur in two econd-century inscriptions. These catalogue of Panatnenaic victor · refer 36 Xen. Hipp. 3.1-5, Agoro Ill. oo. 203, pp. 78, 10 ; M .A. Martin, Les c11l'aliers 0J/1eniem (Paris, I 87), 14 . Xenophon may refer to che 0111Mpp0'3la or simply LO a military review sfot".C be peci:ficaJJy mention the OO)(; tjyam;0T)aav, ticall.©n1ae to dO"tu, tT)v µtv dyopav JtMtavo~ Katacpu-reoo~, Tiiv 5' 'AKaST)µ&tav £xµT)pdc; KO.tappu-rov ano&U;m; c; m1t6 yevta&n.

The Lyceum is one of t11e gymnasia at Athens. Theopompus in hi . tweoty-ftr t book says that Pi i tratu built it, but :Philochorus in his fourth book say that it came into being while Pericle wa in cbarge. 1• 1

He: ychius agrees with Philochorus and presents the Lyceum as the work of Pericles without mentioning Pi istratus.1' ·3 Perhap Theopompos is reconcilable if a simple sixth-century gymnasium was destroyed in the Persian sack and then rebuilt by Pericles. 144 Probably the suggested Pisi tratid gym11asium would have been unpretentious, and the establishment of a gymnasium .io any major architectural ense seems more acceptable as part of the Periclean publ.ic buiJdi11g program.

137

Lynch. Adstotle's School, 19· 2 1. The remain ani unpubli hed, buc see Travlo , PDA, l45, fig. 379, no. 204. Lynch, Arisrotle 's Sclwol, 23 and ns. 23-24. Travlo , Polee ., 134, once uggesled that 1h is wa a Hadrianic gymnasium but in PDA., 345 and fig. 379, no. 201 , he prflSCnts it as tlll 1l 9

a ··Roman Building." 1 ~0

T he Lyceum was devastnted by Philip V of Macedon (livy 31.24.17-18) and damaged

in the iege by Sulla (Plut. Sult. 12.3 . l ' t Lynch, Aristotle's Sclwol, 14, i o~o to the idea of Solonian gymnasia, rn an elemen.r..a.ry ense, as irople p[ace for exercising bnt not as elaborate t:ructurcs. Lucian's Anacharslr is set in an archaic Lyceum gymnasium bat the dialogue is fictional and anacbrooistic. t-'i Harp. .v. Aoicstov (FGrH 1J B, .11 5 Fl36; Ill B, 328 F37). 143 Hscb. .v. Au1mov {ed. K . Latte), t61t0!; Oepor}.eo0frt&l.)(jt K(ll TJ'\V JtaAa{o-tpa.V (j)K006µfla&) . t 6 Subsequently Pseudo-Plutarch say that Lycurgu had a record of hi public act on tablet set up "in front of the palaestra that he buiJt," thu apparently a.t the Lyceum. 169 i6i Ps. Galen Historia Phi/()S(}phfa 4 (Diel Dox. Groec. 602J. ee K.O. Brin.k, •. PeripatO . PW Suppl. VU (l 94-0), 899-904 : Delorme. Gym., 334 ; Wycberlcy, Stones, 227. Possibly the name was derived from Ari totl.e' practice of walldng up a nd down with his tudents before it was time to oil up fot exe.rcising; see Diog. t.aer. S. J.2. H>) Wyehcdey, St.ones, 227 ; Lynch, Aristotle's chool, 90-9 l. 16 •

Dig. La.er. 5.2.51. Sec Lynch, Ari.s1ode's School. 106-34; ao.d A. H. Chroust. " Did

Ari t otle Own a School at Athens?"' .Rh. Mus. 115 (1972) : l0.1 lU Strab. lJ.1.54; d . Atb. 5.214AA 318 was found on the Ac:ropotl: a.nd lht tone wa reused. 191 T ravlo , PDA.,, fig. 379. no. 193, oo tb.e bath , see p. ISOF. l9J c. Smith, BSA 2 (1895/96) ; 22-25, 50; BSA 3 (1%96/97) : 232· 33 ; W. Dorpfeld , AM 2 1 ( 1896) : 463~64. 19 ' C. Smith, BSA 2 (1895/96) : 2.4. 19

Uvy 31.24.17 ; l)lod. Sic. 2 .7; Oio Cbry . Or. IS.

Yi\tKo µc npooraata nvcuµar.Kwv bLKOLluµarwv

THE F CILITIES

87

date for the tructure, wbjch Travlos prefers to caJJ a palaestra, but the archaeologicaJ detail are imply too inco ndusive. 1 96 The same early excavations found, "in an adjoining field .. a large Roman buildjng uggested at tha t time to be the gymnasium built by H adrian and noted by Pausanias.1 97 Fortunately this structure was rediscovered in the course of excavations in 1969 a bout 180 metres east of the Church of St. Panteleimon. The identification as the gymnasium built by Hadri.an appear to be confirmed. 198 However, the earlier " gymnasium" has not been redi covered a nd may not be since the area is heavily built. over. Po ibly the destruction by Phi)jp V left no remain any more definite than tho e indicated by Smith. 199 In um, archaeology gives some support for Travlos' location of the gymnasium of Kynosarges, but the larger sanctuary could have extended ome di tance to the soutbwest. Hi torically very little i known a bo ut Kynosarges as an atWetic facility i.n pre-Helleni tic Athens. No contemporary reference specifically to the " gymna ium" ha appeared prior to Demosthenes' unreliable attribution to Solon of a law concerniog theft from gymnasja . 200 A relationship between the tyranny a nd the popularity of Herakles at Athens might imply Pisistratid interest in Kyno. arges, but proof is lacking. 20 1 Herodotus mentions Kynosarge • but onJy a a Herakleion, concerning a tomb site a nd the encampment after the battle of Ma ra thon. 102 An encampment implies a la rge a rea and a water upply, b ut Herodotu does not mention a thletics or a gymnasium. Pindar does menlion games at the other well-known Herakleioo at Mara.thon . 20 3 but the exi tence of Kyuo arges as an archaic athletic facility remains no more tha n a reasonable a umption.

196

ley.

T ravlo

0 •

PDA, J40. Judcich , Topog., 422, wa unconvinced b the remains ; and Wychc:r·

tones, 229-30, sLill feel the original gymnafiluro of Kynosarges lay elsewhere.

10 uppon ed by an inscription with a lett.er of Hadrian ' Paus. 1.18.9. The identifica tion i coocerning a gymna ium ; see JG 111 11 02 a nd T h. Sauciuc, ' 'Eio Hadriansbrief und das Hadriansgymna iurn in A then," AM 31 ( 19 12) : 183- 9. 19' The structu re i a lal'gc peristyle 64 m. north to outh. by over 80 m. ea I to west. The east eod and the entrance have not been found. Colonnades bordered a central court oo three sides and the west end wa closed by a wall and a large room. See J. Travlo , "To ruµvucnov roll Kuvoaupyo~... A AA 3 (1970) : 6-14. plan 2 ; 0 . AJuxa odti, De/1. 27 (1 972) : C hron. 65, 100-102; Travlo, PDA, fig. 379, no. 194. 199 Livy 31.24.J , perhaps exaggerating fo r effect, claims that Philip, in his fury, Lurned and d.eroolished Kynosarg,es utterly . 200 Dem. 24. 114; C. Smith, BSA 2 ( 1895/96) : 22-25, questionably support hi early d3ti ng of remains by reference to this law. 10 1 J. Boardman, " Hetaklc, Peisi tratoe a nd Sons," RA fasc. I (1912) : 60,. feels that it may well be that I.he Herak.les sanctuaries at Athens a,od M arathon were fo unded during 1:be tyranny. Dcl9rme, Gym., 46, favors both an archaic gymnasium at Kyn:osarges and the role of the tyrant . 2 02 Hdt. 5.63, 6.11 6. lO-' Pind. 0 1. 9. 9.

Yi\tKo µc npooraata nvcuµar.Kwv bLKOLluµarwv

88

THE FACILITIES

A slight digression is needed here to deal with Plutarch's famous anecdote about Kynosarges. St6'tl KCll tv v6&>v Elv yuµvamov ' HpaKA.touc;, bt£i Kl'.itcdvo.-!Cl~jtdoT}t; and h&pa)KM:tov T[O t v K ovoaflpye1- - ] but only by exten ive restora tion. :1L 2 Anti tbenes, lhe son oi a Thra. ian mother (Diog. Laer. 6. 1), would have beeo a conspicuous exainple of n hnJf-breed notlros in the fourth eem:ucy. Could hi a ociation with

Kynosarges (see below) hn.ve been influenced by an earlier experic:oce as a parasltos there? 2 u fro t, PlutarcJi's Themistodes, 62-63, raiher a brupU y comes to thi conclusion without coo idcring the po ibi]jty that Plutarch mi interpreted ome account based oo fact. W • Dem. 24. 114, 23.2 1.4.

Yi\u.;o µc npoaTaata nvcuµar.Kwv OLKOLwµarwv

90

THE F Cl.LITIES

tradition, Plutarch regarded Themi tocles a trongly pro-democratic a man who would oppose ociaJ discrintination aod eek it demise. 21 .s Hence an anecdote of a cunning Tbemistode exercis.ing with well-born. youth at Kynosarges would complement Plutarch's cooception (and enliven his .Life)

of Tbemistocles. On the other hand, the anecdote ma imperfectly pre erve ome historical content. Themi tocle wa of mixed parentage and Kynosargei ' ties with athletic and nothoi may be quite early. Other incidents in T hemi tode life

as ociate him with games and athletic facilitie , and Athenian politicians were aware of the political value of such associatfons.2 16 lf Themistocle frequented Kynosarges or brought well-born youth tbere hi concern would not have been social discrimfoation. Rather Themistocles may have been acting a an ambitiou young politician recruiting political upporl in thi. or any uitable setting. Thus the story may say more about Themi tock as a politician-or Plutarch as a biographer- than abo ut Kynosarges a an athletic facility. The scattered and indefinite sources about Kyoo arges a.nd nothoi in fa.e t reveal little abou.t the history of the athletic facility. Kynosarge included a Herakleioo and perhaps functioned a a pre-architectural gymna ium in archaic times, but then and later there is no sound evidence of the segregation of half-brood Athenians in this or other athletic facilities. Certainly the cult of the notho Herakles added to the fame of Kyoosarges, and a thiasos, a voluntary association of men gathering to worship and exercise, could have included half-breeds drawn by the suitability of Herakles; but no social stigma should be assumed. Although Pericles' Jaw affected their con titutionaJ status,. rwthoi as non~ci tizens still would not be ex.eluded from, or re tricted to, Kynosarges. Foreigners definitely visited other gymnasia, and well-born Athenians could visit Kynosarges: 2 17 only slaves were legally excluded from the public gymnasia. 218 Plutarch's acoount may have some bas.is but it cannot be taken at face value; Kynosarges• association with the nothoi need not have affected the functioning of the gymnasium a an athletic facility. Kynosarges was the least prestigious and least elaborate major iu Fran k J. Fro t. "Tbc.misux::les' Place in Athenian Politics," in T . S. Brown a n.d W. K. Pritcllctt, eds.., Califoniill Studies In Classical A.tttiqufty (Berkeley and Lo Angeles, 1968), vol. I, I 05-24, dtsoussing the development of Them:Lst.o des' Image as a noruJ homo, democrat and radical, suggest P!.utarch wa fn11uenood by Ari to tle who reduced po t- KJei theofo Athenia n politics 1·0 two faction with Themi toele a the leader o f the pro-democcatic party (Ath. Pol.

28.2). 216

See P91 and below, p. 162ff. n ' Pl . .Euthyd, ; Andoc. 1.61 ; P·. Pl. Axiodtus 364a. Plutareb himself must have believed

that Kyn.osa:r~ was open to all since The.mi tocles was able to take the young nobl.es rhcre

to exercise. 2 11

Aescllln. In T°(J1f. l. 138.

Yi\tKo µc npooraata nvcuµar.Kwv bLKOLluµarwv

91

T HE FACI LITIES

Athenian gymna ium but Lhis may in olve many factor a a oc1ation with nothoi.

well a

it

Even in the cla ical era mo t reference are to Kynosarges as a sanctuary and not necessarily an athletic facility. 2 1 9 Ari, to pba nes mentions a festival of Herakle held in the deme of Diomeia, probably at Kynosarge , but it i uncertain if athJetics were involved.220 The fourth-century in cription concerning tripods doe mention Kynosarges, 22 1 and tripods would be appropriate athletic dedfoation . However, it i not until Demosthenes that Kynosarge is explicitly designated a a "gymnasium." Since Demo thenes contend that Solon Jegi Jated concerning Kynosarges as a gymnasium, it seems likely that a gymoa ium had been in exi tence for ome time and was probably mentioned in the Law code of Nikomachos. When Kynosarges actually became a gymna ium (rudimentary or architectural) as well a a sanctuary must remain imprecise. Although the Herakleion was famous and housed rite involving notlroi, very little can be said about t he elements or architectural nature of the gymnasium of Kynosarges. o sound case can be made for recurrent miJitary use of Kynosarges. The encampment in Herodotu was an i olated incident engendered by fear of a Per ian attack from Phaleron. 222 Andocides mentions an injury received while ridjng at Kynosarges, but this ingle incident should not be overused to suggest equestrian training at Kynosarges. 223 Xenophon 's treatment of cavaJry exercises con picuou ly omits Kynosarge . One encampment and one hor erider compare poorly with the evidence for the military and equestrian use of the Academy and Lyceum. In the fourth century Kynosarges apparently became associated with developments in philosophy, but the relationship between this gymna ium a nd sophistry or higher education is less pronounced. Antisthenes frequented Kynosarges, and Diogene Laertius connects the gymnasium with the follower of Diogene the Cynic :

s·tv rQ> Kuvooapyel yoµvna iq> µucpov futo0ev t&v ·nui..v· 50ev ical rltv 1CUvtK"'11v tvuro0ev ovo~Laaeflvat. o.bt61; 't' btsicnA.eirn 'AnA.olC\xnv.

Str;My~o

'tlV~

He [Antisthene J used to converse in the gymnasium of Kynosarges a little away from the gate , wherefore some think the Cynic school was named from that place. H e himself was njcJcnam ed a imple dog. 1 H 219 For example, IG 11 1 3 10. 135-37,239-40,308 (of 429 ) and 324.65,92 (Meiggs and Lewis, Jnsaiptions, no. n ) (of 426 and 422) both refer to accounts of a Hcra kleion. 120 Ar. Ran. 651 and Scbol. ; oe Parke, Festfralr, 5()..51. 221 JG IJ 1 1665.3. 2 n Hdt. 6. 11 6. m Andoc. Myst. 6 1 t'kncpov ~· ~w µcv Av KuVO[i]ou Kai tOU 0c reoogniu competition as a motive be.hind public WQrk: or the tyrnnts, be describes f'if!b-centu.ry buHding activity cooccrning bath , p.aloes1roe and lbe Lyceum as secular and ttt;Jlitatiao (80..S l). Sueb projects were not all im.ply part: of the routine building aolivhy of the oity. 161

:&11

Y;\LKO µc npocnama nvsuµanKWV bLKOLt0µarwv

THE FACJLITIES

101

rival Pericles directed civic initiative and public funds toward the Lyceum.no Although the ambitious AJcibiades referred to Kynosarges in the Athenian assembly, thi later and lesser gymna ium apparently lacked a major benefactor.27 1 Perhaps the aristocratic air of equestrian events made the hippodrome unsuitable for politically minded benefactors. Lycurgus, perhaps more altruistic than his precursor Pericles, used privately subsidized, public program to enhance tbe Lyceum and Stadium in an effort to revive th.e vitality and greatness of Athens. Although the state itself was to weaken.• Athens ' athletic facilities long remained famous. 27 0 In discu ing the financial resources of Athens in 431, Pericles (Thoe. 2. 13.3·5) told tbe Assembly that some 3700 talents bad been spent on the Ptopylaia, the other public buildin~ and lbc Porjdaea campaign. It l po :ible tha1 " the other public buildings" included lbe Ly«um. 111 Ath. 6.23Jk (Polemon, frog. 18, Preller) ; po ib!y JG P 129.

Yi\tKo µc npooraata nvcuµar.Kwv bLKOLluµarwv

CHAPTER FOUR

ATHENIAN ATHLETES The following discu sion of the ocfal background of Athenian athletes presents the re uJts of a search for all known Athenian athletes, both gymna ~ti and eque trian. No other p.rosopographical examination of Athenian athletes exi ts, but Moretti's Olympionikai and Pleket' e amination of Olympic victors provide model a.nd show lbe value of uch studjes. As the Greek city-state with the greatest wealth of hi torical ources, and a a city whose genealogical history ha- received study. Athens i very uitable for a pro opo-

graphicaJ case tudy of athletes. Supplementing Kirc.bner Prosopographia Attica, Davies' A the;nian Propertied Families provides invaluable ser ices for thiS study. He ha collected all known member of the Athenian " upper 1 clas ' a indicated by objective economic criteria ofweaJth ; 1 and he elucidates the nistory of the Athenian "aristocracy" of birth,2 whose interoonne.ctions are illustrated exten ive.ty in bi geneatogical chart, Table I. Unfortunately and admittedly, the identitie of the majority of Athenian athlete will never be known. hut insights can be gained from those for whom evidence bas survi.ved.

Sources for such a study are varied and difficult ranging from in cribed works of art co oratorical as ertioos. Of course, one mu t :realize th at tbe evidence is often Umited~ Jacunary, or weighted to the upper clas es. 3 Victor 1

Davies, A PF, xx· xxvii, explains that hi major cri terion for member hip io the ·•upper

cl

.• is th:e performance of Jnilitary or restival liturgie • requiring roughly a rniriimum leveJ of wealth of four taJents. For the period prio r to t,be liturgical ystern esta bli bed by tbe

480s, Davie also aceep.ts hip.potrophy a od literary reference to wealth o r property a indiel ; Themistocles; ea. 475 horseracc (?) A.24; Epicbarioos ; ea. 475 hoplitodromos; .Plataea (?) Al9 ; Kalljas ; 472 panJcratioo; Periodos, Panath. P87 ; Euripides; ea. 470 panl:ration, boxing; Tbcseia, Eleusinia A41; Lyk}ophron ; 468 boys' st.adion : 01. A76; [... Jlo ; 468 hoplitodromo ; 01. P92; Tbucydide ; ea. 460

x

x

x

wrestler A64; Timodemos; ea. 460 (?) pankration ; Nem., 0 1. A67; Pbrynkhos; 456 boys' wrestling; OJ.

PJJJ; Timotheo ;. pn:-450 athlete (?) P99; Kleophanto.s; ea. 450s horscrace

x x

Yi\tKo µc npooraata nvcuµar.Kwv bLKOLluµarwv

106

ATHENI AN ATHLETES

Format : Catalogue Reference : Name ; Date Event ; Festival

in APF?

Al; Aglaos ; ea. 450 stadion ; lsth., Nern. A4l ; Lysis I ; ea. 450 chariot, horseracc ; Pyth., lsth., Nern. A~ ; Pythodelos; ea. 450 heavy athlete ; Pyth., Nem. P102 ; Melesias II ; ea. 450

WTC!tler PltO ; Stephanos ; ea. 450 wrestler ASI ; Xanlhias; ea. 450 wrestler Al6; Eudoros; ea. 450 wrestler PIGS ; Xamhippos II ; ea. 430s horseman P l06; Paralos; ea. 430s horseman A44 ; Megakles V; 436 chariot ; 01. Al7 ; Diophanes I ; ea. 430 youths' pankration ; lslh. P88 ; Eupheros ; pre ea. 428-426 athlete ( ?) P79; Hagnias; ea. 425 pentathlon A57 ; Pronapes; ea. 425 chariot ; lstb., Ncm., Panath. Pl04 ; Miltiadcs VI ; ea. 425 alhletc (?) AIS ; Demok:ratcs I ; ea. 425 chariot, horseracc ; Pyth.. lsth., Nern. A74; (- ]s ; ea. 425 alhlete (?) : lsth., Nern. A78; ( ) ; ea. 425 horserace; lsth., Nern. Al2 ; Autolykos ; 421 youths' pankration ; Panath. P98 ; lsocrates ; ea. 420 horseraoe All ; Atrometos; ea. 420-410 gymnastic athlete (?) A4; Alcibiades Ill ; 4 16 chariot, horserace; 0 1., Nem., Pytb., Panath. ( ?) A63 ; Teisias; 416 chariot ; 01. P107; Plato; ea. 410 wrestler; lsth., Pyth. (?) Pill ; Timesithoos; ea. 410 runner

P85; Antiphon U; ea. 405

in Table I?

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x x x

x x

x

x x x

x

x

x

horserace (?)

poo aa a nv

.J 01 K

v o KO

a

v

107

ATHENI AN ATH LETES

Forma t : Catalogue Reference; Name : Date Event ; Festival

in APF?

in Table I ?

Period Four (404-355) A47 ; Minos ; 400 stadion ; OJ. A23 ; Epichares ; 396 (?) boys· stadion ; 0 1. P89 ; Hegestratos ; ea. 395 athlete (?) ; Nern. P90 ; Theaitetos ; ea. 395 a thlete (?) PIH ; Socrates the Younger ; ea. 395 a thlete (?) A77 ; [- J; 394 boys' stadion ; 01. A37 ; K.rates ; ea. 390s apobates; Panath. A62 ; Sosippos; 388 stadion ; OJ. P80 ; Aeschines ; ea. 380

heavy athlete Pll4 ; Philippos ; ea. 375 athlete (?) Pll5 ; Philochares; ea. 375 athlete AJ9 ; K}ydeides ; ea. 375 wrestler ; Eleusinia A71 ; Chabrias : 374 chario t ; Pyth. Al8 ; Diophanes IJ ; ea. 370-360

x

x

x x

x

youths' panlcration AS9 : Pythostratos: 368 stadion ; 01. A69 ; Pbokides ; 364 stadion : 01. A66 ; Philammon; 360 boxing; 01.

Period Five (355-322) A6S ; T imokrates II ; 352

x

synoris ; 0 1. A73 ; [ ... ... )los; pre-350 syno ris ; Panath., Elcusinia

x

A5l ; Xenoklcs; ea. 350 boys' wrestling; Panath. P l l6 ; [-);ea. 350 athlete (?); Pyth.. lsth., Nern., Panath.

P86 ; Ari[st·J ; ea. 350 athlete ( ?); lst h. Al ; Akama.n ; ea. 350 youths' s1adion ; Amph.

poo ao a nv J

01 K

v o KO

a

v

108

ATHENIAN ATHLETES

Format :

Catalogue Reference ; Name; Date

inAPF?

in Table I?

Event ; Festival A7 ; Antibios ; ea. 350 boys' staction ; Amph. A9 ; Antiphaoes ; ea. 350 boys' panic.ration ; Amph. Al6 ; Demo[sthen)e[s ; ea. 350 war team ; Amph. Al9 ; [Diochahs ; ea. 350 colt team ; Amph. A33; Ki(k)on ; ea. 350 processional team ; Amph. AJ5; {Klca]ndro[s ; ea. 350 straight synoris ; Amph. A36; KJlearchos; ea. 350 processional team ; Amph. A48 ; Mncsarchides; ea. 350 boys' dolfohos and bjppios ; Amph. A49; Mn[e]s{ipp}o[s ; ea. 350 team ctiauJos ; Amph. A!O ; Nikodcmos ; ea. 350 boys' boxing; Amph. AS4 ; Pausias ; ea. 350 boys' boiting; Amph. A56 ; ProkJeid(e)s ; ea. 350 synoris diaulos ; Amph. A61; Stratoldcs; ea. 350 boys' pentathlon ; Amph. A72; Charisandros; ea. 350 boys' wrestling ; Amph. A75; [...}as; ea. 350 boys' panic.ratio n ; Amph. P8.3 ; Antidorides II; ea. 340s

?

?

staction AIO; Aristolochos ; 344 stadion ; 01. A8 ; Antikles ; 340 stadion ; 01. AlO ; Dioxippos; 336 panlcration ; OI. A28 ; Euphraios; ea. 330s pankration A32; Kallippos; 332 pentathlon ; 01. AJJ ; Demadcs I ; 328 horseracc ; 01. P8l ; Antigcoes ; ea. 325 runner (7)

x

P81 ; Ant(- J; ea. 325 runner(?)

P94 ; .ldomcncus ; ea. 325 runner(?)

poo oo a nv

.J 01 K

v li KO

a

ATHENIA

Format : Catalogue Reference ; Name; Date Event ; Festival

A70 ; Phokos ; ea. 320s apobates ; Panath. Al4 ; Dcmetrios ; ea. 320 chariot ; Panath.

109

ATHLETES

in APF"!

in Table I?

x

x

To the extent to which answers are possible, this socio-economic examination of Athenian athletes addresses itself to several questions. We know that the social and political predominance of the Athenian aristocracy decreased in the late fift h century. 7 How did their role in athletics change : were they " never absent" or were they " forced out"?8 Athens came to possess a radical democracy along with public athletic facilities and festivals. Are there indications of popularization or social mobility-or of social stratification- among athletes? 9 As awards and training became more prevalent, did financially dependent " professional" athletes appear? 10 What do the family histories 7 P. L. MacKendrick, The AtheniOJ1 Aristocracy 399 10 JI 8 .C. (Cambridge, Mass., 1969), 3-5, notes that between 429 and 399 the Athenian aristocracy, weakened by pl:igue a nd elbowed aside by the nou1•eau riche ruling class, largely withdrew from politics. He describes the fou rthoentury propertied class as a haute bourgeoisie lacking the sense of tradition of the old aristocracy. V. Ehrenberg, People of Aristophanes, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1943; reprint ed., London, 1974), 95-11 2, discusses the decreasing prestige and involvement of the aristocrats in the late fifth century as other classes acquired wealth appropriate to uppcr·class status. • Bilinski, Agonistica, 25-74, argues that the rise of a commercial class and the itrowth of democracy-both undermining :iristocratic privilege--led to a social inversion in sport with aristocrats being forced o ut by lower--class professionals. Cf. Picket, " Zur Soziologie," 57-87, who asserts the persistence of the upper classes in athletics from ea . 600 to A.O. 200. In " Athletes and Ideology," 73, be claims that even after 400 " ... there is no question of lower class athletes monopolizing the athletic scene and of upper class athletes withdrawing from athletics and restricting themselves to the equestrian games.'' For a criticism of Picket's views. charging tha t he "almost" told the truth but that be accepts an unproven assumption that all archaic athletes were nobles, that be accepts G:irdiner's chronology (post Pindar) for the advent of full professionalism at the major games, and that his model Greek athlete is an idealized nineteenth-century aristocrat (an a mateur who makes but does not need money), sec Young, Olympic My th, 89-103. 9 Gardiner , AA W, 42, feels that the rise of public gymnasia and a thletic prizes " ... made it possible for even the poorest to compete. Athletics were in sympathy with the growing spirit of democracy.... At the close of the sixth century the Greeks were literally a nation of athJetes." Again Picket, ..Athletes and Ideology," 72-73, challenges the conventional picture, pointing to training requirements, travel costs a nd lost income as obstacles to the poor. He feels that non-noble participation in Panhellenic athletics was unlikely before the rise of the gymnasium (which he dates post 650), and also that it was unlikely that the rise of the gymnasium was followed immediately by non-noble participation. He suggests that it was probably in the locaJ contests that the " hoplite middle class" got its first chanoe to compete. 10 Harris. SGR, 39, feels that the emergence of a class of ''high paid professional performers" drove the: lruc: amateurs out of competition. Bilinski, Agon l.stlca , 76-77, clajms that, from the time of the Peloponnesian War onward, athletes were nearly aJI professionaJs recruited increasingly from the rural and least civili ted districts.

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ATHE IAN ATHLETES

and extra-athletic careers of individuals suggest? What groups were involved with h.ippotrophy, and did its popularity or the background of its practioners change over time ? 11 Are there quantitative or social indications that Athens was becoming an unathJetic nation of spectators? Were proportio nally fewer Athenians competing and more watching as time passed? 1 2 Answers are limited by the data available, but with.in each of the fi ve periods the known individuals can be examined and di scussed in terms o f certain issues. Were they aristoi (by birth) of gentilician families, notably those outlined in Davies' Table I ? D o many of these persons appear in Davies' registry of the the Athenian u,pper class (of wealth)? Was there anything significant about the number of individuals or the festivals competed in during the periods ? Was there any significance to the events popular in a period, or the events chosen by particular individuals ? Comments will be made on the socio-economic status of athletes, their prosopographical ties a nd their careers. Concluding remarks will suggest trends or developments in the social background and status of the men examined over the whole preHellenistic period of Athenian history.

Period One (776-594) Historical sources for this era are very limited, the Olympic Games were still quite local, and the Periodos and Panathenaic Games had no t yet been organized, so it is not surprising that only five Athenian athletes are known from these two centuries. Pa ntakles, Eurybates and Stomas are known o nly for their victories as runners. Kylon became infamous for his attempted tyranny, whjcb- by the anecdote about the oracle at least-may have been related to his athletic success. His tie to Theagenes proves his high status and demonstrates the international, aristocratic aspects of the archaic athletic wo rld. Phrynon 's career spans athletics and pul;>lic life since the pancratiast became a general and oikistes later in his life, thus showing that he was of high social status. Suggestions are restricted by the lack of evidence here. For insta nce, no patronymic can be given for any of these men, and yet it is safe to assume

11 Gardiner, GA S F, 132 a nd Marrou, Education, 66-67, suggest that as athletics were pas.sing into the hands of the pro fessionals the richer classes devoted themselves to hippotrophy more and more. ii Steven G. Miller, Preface to the American Edition of AA W . viii-ix, suggeslS that athletics in the classical era were less of a spectator sport than later. He argues 1ha1 the development of elaborate seating arrangemenlS in the Hellen.istic age reveals ''. .. the evolution of the relationship o f athletics and society away from one of relatively full participation 10 one of specialization and professionalism.'" Although Lycurgus did build the Panathenaic Stadium during Period Five, elaborate seating arrangements were a Hellenistic developmen1 and may reflect the evolution of an arc.bitectural form as well as tendencies in social practice.

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that all five could afford the expense of travelling to Olympia. One can note that all but one of the victories were in running and that none was in an equestrian event. 1 3 Only victors, not " possible athletes," are remembered from this age when athletics had not yet attained their full popularity. Period Two (594-490)

In the sixth century the Pa natbenaic Games were organized, rudimentary athletic facilities improved, a nd art and vase-paintings bore witness to the increasing popularity o f athletics at Athens. In this aristocratic age rival clans were influential and competitive even during the Pisistratid tyranny. Greater numbers of victors are known because of the increase in historical sources, especially dedications. ''Possible athletes" now appear as well, largely by association with families of known victors. Victories by Athenians in this era reveal a preoccupation with hippotrophy. This aristocratic pastime of breeding and racing horses required land and wealth but rewarded the victor with fa me and contacts in high circles. Some nobles, such as Leagros a nd Hippokleides, seem to have practised for gymnastic events in their youth, but no victories in running are recorded. l 4 To these aristocrats equestrian a nd also gymnastic victories were important matters of status a nd honor, and they had the wealth and family traditions to ensure that their wins a nd events were remembered. Clearly this period was dominated by the aristocratic gennetai, especially the prominent families outlined in Davies' genealogical Table I. 1 s These families were rivals for power but by the fifth century they also became interconnected by marriage. Renowned for hippotrophy, the family of Kirnon of the genos of the Philaidai included H ippok.leides, the unsuccessful but possibly athJetic suitor o f Agariste of Sikyon and later the archon of 566. His cousin Miltiades III was famous both for the family's first chariot win a t Olympia and for his career as tyrant of the Chersonese. Miltiades' half-brother Kirnon I won two Olympic chariot victories while in exile, relinquishing the second to Pisistratus. Kirnon 's famous team woo a third victory before the death of this grandfather of the politically famous Kirnon of the fifth

13

Equestrian events were h&ld at Olympia by the mid-seventh century (Paus. 5.8.7-8). Earlier, more obscure men like Stomas may have been credited with wins in the stadion rather than some other event by later writers because of the later cuslOm of making lhe Olympic victor in the stadion eponymous for the year ; sec Gardiner, GAS F, 272-73. ' s For possible expanded stemmata using ka/o.r-names (ofien in athletic contexts) crossrefereoced with ostraca, workshops and genealogies, see H. A. Shapiro, " Epilykos Kalos," Hesp. 52 ( 1983) : 305-10 ; " Kallias Kratiou AJopekethen," Hesp. 51 (1982) ; 69-73 ; and " Hippocrates 1

•

Son of Anaxileos," Hesp. 49 (1980) : 289-93. Shapiro associates the AJkmconids, Pisistratids,

Philaids. and the fami ly of Kallias with kalos-names and fine pottery. but many of these early identifications remain highly conjectural.

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THLETES

ceotury. With tie to the Kypselid of Corinth, Kimon' family was urpassed in fame and wealth only by the Alkmeonida i. F rotn the geno of the Kerykes, the fami ly of KalJia i credited with the fir t Athenian horse race victory at Olympia, that of Kallia l. His grandson Kama., II, aided by his legendary weal th, carried on the family tradition. by adding three Olympi.c char iot win . As Davies expJains, the rise in the family's power and position wa largely post-Solonian : their early, Landed wealth wa enhanced by mining profits and al o by cuJ tic income from the Dadouchia, an Bleusinian prie thood. 16 Kallia 111, the notorious pendthrift, may have inherited a t least some interest in horse • for Xeoophon places bim as a pectator a.ta Pa.n athenaic hor e race ; but by the fourth century

the family's wealth was gone. 1 7 Although i.t j debated whether the family con tituted an oikos or a geno • the famou Alkmeonid family was de.finitely of Eupatrid status. 1 The first AJkmeonid- and the fir t Athenian---w; and the Greek a.t hletlc scene thereafter exhibits 1he same abuse eh.at are becomi.ng only 100 familiar to us in

our big bu in ess world of so-called "sport ." F orbes. GPE, 262, feel that a lhleticism wa "i.msjdious a nd d_cadJy" and that physical education and professional. athletics were "irreconcila ble foe: ... 9 A well a Lhe early Ol ympi m detailed by Y oung, Olympic ,.\ .fy1.h, Pa rt One, 7- 103. the conventional picture reOeets late nineteen th..century bist.o tiog.raphic concern, with the problem of the decline of civilization ; see A. Momigllano, " Dee)jnes and Falls," Arner fMn -clmtar 49 no. I ( J.979-80) : 37-50. 10 The troogest evidence for 'decline' concern historiw even taJler and the alhJete to be.come more heroic or Hcrcurean. EJCte.nsive, pedtic discussions of a thletics are rare in ancient literature, so there has been a tendency to gcoe:raliz.e from !ale sources, uch as Galen' ProlTt ptlo u 9·14. Far from be:ing representative, uch cases mny ltave been exceptional and l"C:mcmbtred a uch. ' ' On t he literary and ideological a pects of ucll. critici ms in general, see Finley a nd Plckcl , Olympic Games, 11 3-27 ; Robinson, " G reek Criiics," 167-76 ; R. Muth, UDer Sieg w Olympia .

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CR IT ICS AND C RI rt C IS MS l~b

. Athenia n a thle tics which have been seen as sign Thus de\'elopmbeent ~~ed objectively and thoroughly from the available s of decline are to stu 1 PreHelleni ti Athenian ource . . hletics a t Athens ranged from a no nymous graffiti t Comment on a t . h o . .. d' cussion . 12 A variety o f Atheman a ut ors (and thence modern 1 1 phtlo op)1h1ca ttended to depict developments in Athenian athletics negatively scholar ave .. . . · . . . n Athenian criticisms by Tyt taeus and Xenophanes conven With ear1ier, no . ' tiona1 literary elements (top01) had an sen : the . value of the athlete as .. honors for athletes c1t1zen and oldi'er was deprecated ' and disproportionate . . - rather than intellectuals- were condemned . MaJOr Athenian criticisms of the state of athletic appear in the last third of the fifth century in the context of the Peloponne ian War and Sophism. Earlier criticism s of the popular evaluation of athletes now were supplemented by criticisms of excessive training (e pecially eating habits) and over-specialization as well as criticisms of the decline of physical education. Literary complaints in works by Euripide~ and Aristophanes were followed in the fourth century by philosophical references and statements by orators, but with little variation on the earlier critical themes. The following first examines the critical passages and their critical motifs (what they subjectively or ideologically opposed and why) following roughly the order of their appearance with some grouping by genre. 13 The testimonia are examined critically as evidence for developments in athletics and attitudes at Athens. Literary sources should not be used casually or in isolation, so a second discussion looks at independent or neutral evidence on the issues F~~nation und Kritik," Schriftum aus Tirol 15 (1976): 7-39; P. A. Berna rdini, " Esaltazione e cnuca dell'atletismo nella poesia greca dal VII a l V sec. a. C.-Storia di un'ideologia," Stadion 6 0 98~) : 81-1.12. Bilinski, Agonistica, 5-11 , offers a literary a nd social study of the themes ?f praise and mtelJectual criticism of sport, and of t he a ntagonism between the physical and mtellectual realms. 12

La

ng, A~ora XXJ, 12, 21, discusses a graffito (CS o f ea 520-480· Hesp. 25 (1956): ro":1 a plam hydria which she resto res as " T itas the O lympic. victor is ~ lecherous fellow" nuV µupiwv Ka0' .Ellc; 14>0Uo1c; attq>ro&1, xli>cmc; fiytitat n641 KciU.tO'tQ oci>ai td yuµvti.o'ta. 8 " Comedy depicted pederasty as characteristic of the noble , a practice closely connected with Lhe world of the palaestra; ee Ar. Av. 139-42; Nub. 4 17 , 991. Arl tophaoes dccla.res (Vesp. 1023-25; Pax 762-63) tbaL despite hi own ucres in comedy he did not go about lhc pb/aestra making advn,nces to boys. On the motif iu Ari topbanes, see :Ehrenberg, People of llristophanes, 100--02 ; or more generally Dove.r, Greek HomosexJJ11/:'ty, 1'38. udity and exercise would make the palaestra a n appropriate place fo r homo exuaJ encounters {as depicted on AR V1 1567 and 1698), but not .if the polacs1roe were empty a nd the youths were in the Agora.

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l34

CRfTI

A D CRITlCl

I

Aristophanes bas to be used with caution a evidence for Athenian athleLic and physical education. 49 Venerable but hardly unbiased , the Old Oligarch as well a cen uring the democracy's expao ion and enjoyment of athletic facilities, 50 charges that the demos has destroyed physical education and culture at Atb.e ns. Toi); Se yuµvai:;oµtvouc; ai>t601 Kai 't'1'lv µoom,,.~v bntT)S&oovtcic; .i-atCIACA.uKev 6 6i'jµoc;, voµi~rov toi.>to ou icciAov dva1, yvol>i; 5t1 oo OO\Ut6'; 1aut6. tcmv tlttTT}6&' &w. The denros ha put down the reachers of gymnastics and mu ic. deeming them not to be good, upon perceiving that it wa 001 po ' ble for tbemselv to learn these things.si

He further complain that the ma s upport the festi al and liturgical program of imperial Atben becau e the rich pay the bill while the poor receive money for their popular but les dema nding participation. 6.~1ot oov 0.py\>plov Aa.µf3«vi;1v 6 oi)µoc; l'm i (i&ov mi tpeyrov 1(0.l 6pxo · µcvoc; Kai nAtmv svta((;VQ.ooiv, fVCl al)t~ tt ~l.} KCJ.l ot nA.00101 m:vtpovftO'Et m i TU q>t.A.onov(q n 'tUJ\I XPl')oiµwv d>piCTICOvrac,; .. ..

I marvel at how many cities deem tho c ucceed.ing in the athletic contests worthy of greater gift than those who by thougbfuloes and iodustry discover something useful . ... 5 -'

Tbe Panegyricu open with a imilar rejection of the popular veneration of a thlete a a bo e men o f the mind 56 yet I ocrate Later in the same piece upporLS atbJelic gam as a reminder of Greek cuJturaJ unity . ... Kai µl')S&Ttpouc; d0Uµroc; S1uyetv, 1A.ottµT)0Wow, ol ~ttv lhuv iooxn 100c; u9J..l')tc'.tc,; a· TG'>v fvt1ea no voOvrru;, ol l>' otav t'v9uµT]9U>ow, 6n rr had. lo be complemented by gymna ties, the education of the body.17 Since a healthy body and a healthy mind went together. Plato was 't t

PI'. Rtsp. 3.407b, 7535d.

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74

Pl. Re.sp. 5.405d. lo the. Myth of Er ( 10.62-0b) Atala.ma chooses the life of a o athlete because of it great honors. n ln gent.ra.I, see M.an:ou, Edt1catic11, 9>11 ; Forbes, GPE, 97- 105 ; Popplow, LelbesJJbllllgm, 132-37; Eckhard Meinberg, " Gymna tisobc Enicbung in der Plato ru he Pai.deia, Versocb eincr zeitgemlis:scn &trachtung," S tadlon 1 (1975) : 228-66 (with bibliography). Daniel A. Dombrowskj, " Phuo and Athletica," Journal of the Philosophy of Spon 6 (Fau l 979) : 20..38, contend that Plato neither lgt!Ored nor denigrated athledcs. For example (31), in Plidr. 248d· e athletics are given intermediate. status amo ng several nobler and b~r activities. 1

6

PL Ti. 881K: say nmther to exercise the soul without the body n-or the body withou.t

the soul so that they mAy be evenly rmncbed and healthy ; c f. Resp. 3.403 ; Leg. 5.728e. While Ari top.hanes wa.nt:ed a retn.rn to a physically-orienled education, Plato and Soo.rates arlvocated moderatio n. As Dombrowski, '''P lalo and Athletics," 30, point out, Plato saw serious inteUectual tudy as much m.orc demanding than serious gymna&ti:cs : R esp. 44le, 535b ; T/11. 162b, 169b; Prm, 135-e. " Pl. Rap. 3.4l1e-412a ; leg. 7.795; G'rg. 464b-465d. The body contained two evil states,

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C RITICS ANO CRITI CISMS

139 "' or of moderate physical education .18 b t . . ' u on prmc·1 I h 1·n ,av . P e e had to be . ·ea) of contemporary athletics as uneducati· o crttl . . . . na1 and imp · d of the individual and the city. 79 ractical for the goAlo though critical, Plato recognized the tradit. - iona1 and popul ics and his utopia was to have athletic f:aci·i·t· . ar appeal of hlet at 1 1es, tramers d h . es so However, all these would be adapted t an at Jet1c gam · . . . o a system of 1T1 nastics for the good of the mdiv1dual and the stat F . ~ . tary b . . e. or the md1v1dual gym to e excessive and it was to be m·i·ta . • . training was not . . 11 n 1Y practical · for were to be a preparation for war 81 The ' the state' athletics . · . · re were to be twelve '"estivals with musical and gymnastic games · but non-m·i·t 11 . . . ' 1 i ary events were to be abohshed, and only warlike events like races in armor sh Id be h 82 1 . h d' . . OU ed. Acknowledging t e tra itton and. importance of prizes, Plato held that pnzes, . and also censure~,' were to ~e given for his contests. 83 The Guardians, the "athletes of war, were to differ from contemporary citizens, and the extent and nature of their athletic activity was a major area of difference.8 4 Beyond criticisms, the Platonic corpus provides valuable historical insights. disease and ugliness, the concerns of medicine and gymnastics respectively; Pl. Soph. 228e229a; Grg. 517e-518a. 78 Pl. Tht. l 53b ; Prt. 326b-c; Jaeger, Paideia, 2: 230-33. The opinions of Socrates as recounted by Xenophon are similar to those credited to him by Plato. Xenophon says Socrates favored the harmony of body and mind, and advised bodily health via exercise to promote mental health. One should develop one's natural bodily strength and beauty (Mem. 3.12.5,8 ; 4.4.23). However, Xenophon's Socrates also condemns excess and over-development (Symp. 2.17-18), disapproving of the life of the athlete in training as incompatible with the cultivation of the soul (Mem. 1.2.4). 79 According to Plato, paideia was "that training in virtue from ~hildhood which make.~ a man eager to become a full-fledged citizen, knowing both how to rule JUstly and how to obey (Leg. I .643e). By contrast "any training (trophe) which aims at wealth or strength or any other accomplishment unattend~d by wisdom and justice is vulgar, illiberal and utterly unworthy to be called paideia" (Leg I 644a) · Morrow Plato's Cretan City, 297. ld h 80 p .. · · ' ' . o7b) b t his ideal state wou ave 4 ' u . ~ . lato was cnl!cal of medical gymnaslics (Resp. 3. teachers of gymnastics. These would be paid experts (Leg. 7.8 13c) and nec:essa~!~b-~;ei~:~~ or ~on-citi~ens (804d), acting under the supervision of the Director of Ed~~a~:r (Plato ~ ideal main function would be to teach military skills such as the use of weapo · at~~tic facilities, see Leg. 6.761c. 4d Even the children's 83 e . Pl. Leg. 7.813d-e, 828-31 , 794c, 796a, 8 14d ; 8.830d-831a, 832d· xe~;•ses were to be warlike ; Lach. 179e- I 80a ; Euthyd. 271c-d. . r an man who prevents another 83 Pl. Leg. 8.828c, 829b. f Pl. Leg. 8.829b-c. He even prescribes pumshments fo Y ro~ competing (Leg. 12.955a-b). .. outh with an untrained body who . Pl. Resp. 3.404b. In Xenophon, Socrates is ~ntical of:,/ . 12. l-8). When th~ younger 3 Pe . is t~us unready to serve his city adequately in war (M th they should aspire to the is critical of Athenian physical fitness and suggestsb d~t e of the Athenians (JI.fem. Phttc.les Ys1ca1 · the o e 1enc h s a 3.S.13 excellence of Sparta, Socrates, however, pr.a1ses . ude to sports and war ; e sa_Y hipp ,l5h). Xenophon himself agrees with a pracu~l atUht e-buying among cavalry recruit arc sh I . . d act1cal ors ·ng for \\ar. (ffipp ou d discourage expensive an unpr . to the cavalry prepan h uld 1 I I 12) · · parat1ons . h he d . · - · Xenophon compares athletic pre th ·0 a boxmg mate , men s o ec1des th . . . war an I Prac· · at, smce it is more glorious to win in .ice the art of war above all (Hipp . 8.5-7).

0

140

CRITI

D CRITIC! M

The dialogues and Socrate are often set in gymnasia or palaesrrae, and these facifaies are not empty.8 5 In fact Socrate retire to a quiet corner of a palaestra which js " newly built," showing that there wa till a demand for places of exercise. 86 The youlh in the a tl1Jetic facilities have wealth, leisure and respectabilJty ; 7 they are not commoner and they acti ely ex.ercise before turning to discussion. 88 Plato writes that the city j, said to ri ng with the praise of the bippotrophic family of Ly is. 89 Given hi theorie o n the human condition and the a lue of citizen to the city, Plato had to criticize athletes both for their training and their rewards. Howe er his critici ms, analogies and his ilialogues overall suggest that a thletic: and phy ical education were not as unpopular, nor in uch a state of decay, a Ari tophane and the Old Oligarch claim. 90 Aristotle also criticized contemporary athletics but he commented only on training and not on rewards.9 1 He favored moderation because • ... the condition of athletes i not useful for the good condition of a citizen, nor for health and breeding children (oGte yap Ti tfilv ti0~ritwv x.p~cnµo~ ~u; 1tp0c; no).tnrl)v 606';ia.v oMe npoinct

.

oI. 8.54,66.

CRITI CS AND C RITICISMS

144

Pindaric ode Melesias is figuratively ref' d 119 In another •errect knowle ge. ( - • viox0r d.iet," but oootcnds that siJesls for victor " .•. meant, i.n eff-eet:, that the athlete wa tate-sirpported for any subsequent victories be m:ight win." A he points out in ·h.is own work, Pryt1111efon, 13·14, the fare in the Prytaneion was modest, not luxuriou - hardly the .. uperior diet" of an athlete in training. Also, even thl was unavailable lo a victor wb.en be was abro11d compe.nng. Site.sis represents. civic appreciation more tbao athletic ubsidizadon. 16 ~ Aeschioes, 2. 14·7, say that bis fa ther (see A ll) was an athlete " before he Jot bis property;~ ef. l:SOC. Areo. 7.53. As ooted earLier, Pl. Pr1. 326c says thal fathers educate their son in gymna.stics "10 the best of their mean " and those bes:t able arc the rich. 61 Tbe cxi tence of formal organization ~ athletic gujjds, i a sound indication of profes· t sionallsm, bot lhis wa ll HdlenJstic developmeot 1;ee H. W. Picket, "Some Aspects of the History of the Athletic Oujld ," Z PE 10 (1973) : 197-227 ; and C. A. Forbes. " Ancient Athletic Guilds," CPhil 50 ( L955) : 238-52. Lu Ebert, Epigram.me, no. 27, pp. ll ·26 ; Gardiner, A.AW, 10 1. Picket, "Zur Soziologie," 63-67, and " Athleles and ldeolog-y," 8 1, says that uch athlete would object to the idea of carniTig their Livelihood from sport; tliey imply aecumulat.ed wealth in a bonorable way. 163 Sec A29.

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CRITICS A D CltlTI CISMS

but his career is late and atypical for classical Athens. 1 6 4 Athletic opportun.ity favored. the few who had the leisure, wealth and inclfoation to compete; and in the fourth a in earlier centuries, the mass of the Athenian population watched aod enjoyed the athletic endeavor of a minority. Gardiner claims that before the end of the fifth century d9l11rftc; bad already begun to denote tbe professional athlete as opposed to the amateur (toita~.

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Ta crWIJ,UTa apun:CI fx0vt672 Other than possibly in the nebulous area of athletic morality, " growth and development.. seem a appropriate for Athenian athletics as "dec~ine and degeneration." 1 73 Crit1cs and other evidence show that training itself, especially of heavy athlete • became an advanced, well-respected discipline at Athens. Note that concerning training criticism generally is directed at the athletes and not at the trainers. Also the tradition of honoring athlel'es for victories was a continuing practice, although not as excessive at Atheo as critics might

sugge t. Exaggeration.of the over-Oeve.lopmentorunhealtby lifestyle of athletes can aJso be suspected. By the fourth century, criticisms of specialization and excess could be applied to mJlitary and political as well as athletic activity. The athletic ideal of pbysica.I arete had lo t some of its aJlu.re, but the

institutionalized practice of athletics was stiU very much in evidence. Probably tb.e Athenian l.ower classes did not participate i.n athletics Lo any significant degree ; yet, judging from the intens.i ty and continuity of critical references to the popularity of games and victors, the demos was in. favor of the Athenian program of athletics and rewards. 1 7 4 Note that concerning rewards criticism is d1rected at the people who offer rather than the athle,r.es who receive rewards. When popular leaders appealed to the wis.hes of the common Athenian, voters supported public spending on athletic festivals, rewards and facilities. i H Although the Old Oligarch and others opposed 172

The history of athletics hould note objective ind:exe of expan foo a weJI a qualltnthte,

subjective evaluation .

n Jt i dangerous lo generalize about the morality of atl1lete , but interstate rivalry seems to bave led to cases ·Of transfer or sale of victories, e peciaJJy in the fourth oeotury. See Paus. 5.21.5 on. the Zanes ; and C. A. Forbe , "Crime and Puni bment in Orcck Athletics.;' CJ 47 (1951/52) : 169-73, 202-03. Concerning Atlleos., the action or AJciblades, in hl di1plays a11d hi r.reatment of Teisias., and the conviction or KaJllppo of bribery at Olympia, may be regarded as ig.ns of .immorality in ports. Yet Alcibiades was motivated by ambition rather than greed, and KaJlippo ' bribery wa surel y not an lnexpen ·!ve way to .Profit from spo;rl. Furthermore, Antilocbu • tactics against Menelaos io l/. 23 (see Matthew W. Dickie, "'Fait· and Foul to t b.c Fune:ral Garne i.o the mad," Journal of Spon HI.story I l no. 2 (1984) : 8-17), and Kim.on• rransfer of a victory lo Pisistranu in the sixth century: bould keep u from as umin.g !hat all early victors were innocent. or aluui tic. 11 • An incident concerning the famous athlete, Dorieu of Rhodes, bows that the Ath.enfan respected foreign as well a Athenian victors. When .Dorieus was captured fJghting agatnst Athen io the Peloponoesian War, the Athenian released him without even a ransom. (Xco. Hell. l.5.l9; Paus. 6.7.4). a . 1be earlier Athenian ex.ecution of Timesitheus of Deiphi, an Olympic pancrat:iast. for hi aooompa.ni-ment of Oeorn.ene again t Ath:en (Hdt. 5.72). Referc:oocs to Pbayllo ofJ used even from exile io seeking leader hip or at leas:t influence at Athens. 14 The power of the family suffered in the fifth century ; Megak.le V (A44) won the Olympic 0

10

Athenian b:i tory to the Peloponnesian War was essentially the hi t.ory of lter tea.cling families, grouped in factions inclurltog philoi aud heralroi; .Bfok.oell, Pclitits w1d Genealogy,

preface. 11

Davie$, APF, itx..

11

See above, p. 21 f.

u A po :ible son of Alkmeonides I was Mippokrates, son of Alkmeonide of Alopeke, a candidate for o traei rn in the 4 Os. Soo APF 9688 m and E. Vanderpool, ··o lraci m at Athens," 220-2l, 232-34, figs. 39-40. 1 • Davie , APF, pp. ~69·70, points to Alk:meo nid use of the .Delphic o:racle1 the prodemocratic shift with KJeislhene . and hot8e- brcedfog as political techniques.

Yi\LKO µc npoaTacrta nvcuµaTLKWV OLKOll..iµarwv

158

ATHLETICS A D POLITIC AL LEADERSlilP

chariot race in 436 but had an undistinguished political career. 15 The history of this family demonstrates direct competition in both athletics and politics, and shows the trend from early to diminishing success by this route as the aristocracy Jost its hold on Athenian affair . 16 Similarly, the family of Kirnon was politically prominent, and Herodotus notes their reputation for four-horse chariots. 17 After his failure as an athletic suitor at Sikyon, Hippokleides (P97) was archon in 566 when the Panathenaea was reorganized. Kirnon I (A34), forced into exile, kept himself in the public eye with an Olympic chariot win in 536. 18 Winning again in 532, he conceded the victory to Pisistratus in exchange for permi sion to return to Athens. Apparently he misjudged the political threat of his chariot-racing -perhaps he was a "booby" (x:ot) .; tbc distin.c tion may simply have been the use of a different type of chariot or cart. 66 These events received much smaller prius than the chariot race-s : whereas the chariot races got 40 and 8 amphorae

for colts and 140 and 40 for full-grown horse , the war horse race got 16 and 4, war chariots got 30 and 6, and the processional chariots got only 4 and one. Presumably, then, these specialized events were held to be Jess prestigious and less expensive.

Javelin on Horseback Although riders with javelins appear on a few fifth-century cups,{avoc;] whfoh Moretti had accepted. Arguing sensibly from homonymity, he suggests that a homonymo us grandfather (D . I) won the youths' pankration at lsthmia. This earlier victory would have taken place ea. 430 (cf. PA 12882). Although Ebert's interpretation cannot be proven, the dedjcation and epigram show that this was an athletic family of some means. Davies excluded D., but there may be a connection with Atoq>aVTtc; rapyi)tnoc; ( APF 4407, see 141 3) owner of a workshop at Maroneia in the mid-fourth century (Hesp. 19 (1950) : no. 14, line 8. Al9. [Atoxu]pt'lc; ... 'AO,,vo.ioc; ea. 366-338 [~£\rye 1 Jt(l)Ancci>t) Amphiaraia Oropos 47.43 A20. Aui>!;unmc; ... 'A911varoc; 336 pankration 01. Pliny HN 35.139 ; Diog. Laer. 6.43; Ael. VH 12.58 ; Plut. De Curiositate 521b Mo retti, Olym. no. 458; PA 4529 ; Harri . GAA, 122-23 ; T.S. Brown, AncW 7 (1983) : 8 1-87 On the date of D .'s win //. 4. 1.40; Plut. Ages. 13.J enophon and Plutarch record that Age .1

.d d

the stadion at Olympia · there wa a probl t a~~-~1 e the entry of this boy in boy wa b'1gger than the o ther boy . There i' no mention of a em. tUCUJU e the . favor for his gue t-friend, the on of Phar:~~~ Age iJau was ~rforming a enamored of the Athenian boy.

' satrap of A ta, who was

The name Eualko_s is. known from the late fourth century (see APF , p. 187,

see 10 07) but nothing is known about the father of this athlete. A78. (?) ... Mupp1vot'x noi; (?) ea. econd half of the fifth century horserace Isth., Nern. Lysias 19.63 APF, pp. 200-201 ; Adams, Lysias, 160-68, 211

I?

Lysias was delivered in 388 or 387 by a on of unknown name, a thirtyyear-old tnerar~ at the time (Lys. 19.63). The speaker's father had been wealthy and kept and trained racehorses, having won victories at Isthmia and emea (19.63): be also had held many liturgies (19.59). The speaker's father had married the daughter of Xenophon son of Euripide (APF 59-1). This Xen phon wa a general at Sa.mos in 441 /0 and Potidaia in the -t20s. The father died as trierarch (Lys. 19.62) in 389 or 388 at the age of 70 (19.5 ,60) and therefore was born ea. 459/8. The speaker's father had three children ( ee APF, temma p. _QJ): l ) the speaker of Lysias 19 who married the daughter of Kritoden10· I of Alopeke : 2) a daughter who married Philomelos II of Paiunia ; 3) a daughter who married twice, first to her cousin Phaidros s n of Pythokleo· -the Phaidr of the Platonic dialogues ( ee APF 13960)---and econd to Arist phanes s n of the Nikophemos who was a ocfated with Euagora in 'Prll'. The name and deme of the father of the speaker are unknown but s:in::-e hi' son-in-Jaw Phaidros of Myrrhinou wns al o hi nephew (L '. 19. l -) there is a fifty per cent chance that the father wa of thi deme. Davie' feel ' that the father and son ma have been c nnected with the ocmtic circle ; this might explain the invi.dia in which they were held and it would u~unt ~or th~ tw . ~ ' made by Lysia on their behalf. The father's long-· tru1ding friendship w1th Kon n accounts for his presence as triernrch on Kon n 's exped.iti n to the Peloponnese in 393 (Lys. 19.12). , . I suggest that the victorious father f the speuker ot . L)'SJ~~ m 3~ btthc (-]