Table of Contents
PART II
HISTORY OF PHYSICAL CULTURE AND SPORT
SOTERIA YIANNAKI, THOMAS YIANNAKIS
Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Correspondence should be addressed to: Thomas Yiannakis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 41 Ethnikis Antistaseos, 17237, Daphne – Athens, Greece, tel.-fax: 2109760291, E-mail:
Table of Contents
Key words: social, political, soldiering being, Olympic champion.
A normal human being by nature appears to be a social and political being. This is a characteristic that puts him atop all other creatures. Man’s sociability is enhanced by proper education and culture provided by his “Republic”. Gods appeared to be patterns to that specific way of living. The most sociable god of Olympus seemed to be Hermes, the ultimate “god of the contest” who led the way to athletic facilities and games. In ancient Greece, democracy was promoted and supported by athletics. The athletes – Olympic champions were distinguished among their fellow citizens and were worshiped as equal to Gods. Moreover, athletics was the key for progress and good life in Greek culture, because the only athletic “nation” in ancient times was Greece.
It is understandable that when people live together in groups, their behaviour is substantially influenced by the rules and values they share. For society is an accumulation of people connected to one another, of both sexes and of all ages. It consists of a group that perpetuates itself in time, with its own very distinctive institutions and culture.[ 1]
According to Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), when a person is born he is equipped by nature with wisdom and virtue. Without virtue man is the most impious and fierce being. For this reason “man is a political being by nature …”.[ 2] , because “he who is unable to live in a society with this other fellow men, or who needs nobody because he is self-sufficient, is a man that has no place in the city-state, for he is either a beast or a god.”[ 3]
According to the philosopher of “kalligeneia”, this will not happen because man, in comparison with animals that lack the ability to reason, has the advantage of speech,[ 4] a quality that constitutes the foundation of this sociability. Thus, man is inclined by nature to live in a society, otherwise he would be an unworthy, vicious man, or he would belong to a species superior to ordinary human beings.[ 5]
Man’s tendency to be a social being results in his co-existence with religion, namely with the twelve gods of Olympus. This becomes apparent in his religious festivities, an integral part of which were contests, i.e. various forms of competitions.[ 6]
As Greek legislators viewed the fertile relationship between religion and the contests, they began to implement programs of proper education,[ 7]because they argued that when the youth became educated and virtuous, they would contribute to the prosperity of the state.[ 8]
In Ancient Greece the separation between body and soul was incomprehensible and it was believed that man should strive to bring the powers within him into a state of harmony and equilibrium. Upbringing and education,[ 9]rather than stressing the practical[ 10] for one’s personal benefit, was expected to prepare a citizen for his active role in society and the strife of life.[ 11]This notion prevails and encompasses an appreciation of the greatness of human body, an admiration of physical power and a love for all things manly. To this effect, the legislator skillfully incorporated physical exercises of gymnastics and contests, in order to help man improve his quality of life and rejuvenate his creativity. Early on, legislator Solon (6th century B.C.) tried to lead the masses in the gymnasiums by means of athletic gymnic contests, because in such a way “the champions of the contests become models that the youth can imitate … we view them as perfect amongst the citizens and love them as semi-gods.”[ 12]
According to the prevalent religious sentiment in antiquity, and despite Aristotle’s opposing view that gods would be aloof or lonesome, the sociability of the gods can be discerned through the qualities attributed to them by human beings. The goddess Athena becomes a herald inviting the youth to participate in the games to honour the castaway Odysseus.[ 13] During the athletic contests held to honour the dead Patroclus, the god Apollo makes his appearance and interferes with the effort of the athlete Diomedes.[ 14] The god Hermes was trained by Prometheus, who in turn became a gymnast and taught human beings how to train with physical exercises.[ 15]The twelve gods of the “dodekatheo” prevailed on everything.[ 16] The most sociable god of Olympus seems to be Hermes, the ultimate “god of the contests”,[ 17] the protector of athletes, athletic contests and facilities and the messenger of Zeus. Hermes’s daughter, Paleastra, establishes the first athletic facility.[ 18] In general, gods and goddesses are portrayed with human attributes and shortcomings because this was how they were created by human beings in order to communicate with them.[ 19] The god Pan, a divinity associated with herding, was a musician, dancer and trickster;[ 20] Hercules was an ideal athlete that fought for justice;[ 21] Apollo, the god of spiritual and intellectual light strongly associated with athletics, was an Olympic champion in boxing and running[ 22]. The sociability of Apollo is prevalent in the Ionian people’s custom to gather every four years, along with women and children on the island of Delos – the birthplace of the god. There, they would honour Apollo and try to please him with contests and dances, expressing their religious as well as social and political experience during the gathering.[ 23]
In the Minoan period (3200-100 B.C.)[ 24] during the performance of bull-fights (Tavrokathapsia) the religious character of the games was also directly socio-political.[ 25] According to the archaeologist Evans, the acrobatic athletic events were witnessed by both men and women[ 26] who would also express their opinion about the performance. The decline of the Minoan civilization was followed by the ascent of the Mycenaean one. Its social type of man should be athletic, the “athleter”,[ 27] should be distinguished and superior to his fellowmen[ 28] “because there is no greater glory in a man’s life than to distinguish himself in athletic achievements, but in the spiritual and intellectual domain as well, in the art of speaking.”[ 29] The same socio-political notion prevailed in classical antiquity. Characteristically, Thucydides said that Pericles was “the first of the Athenians, distinguished by the ability to speak and to act.”[ 30]
The main characteristic of the Greek civilization was the market-place and the theatre where people gathered to exchange discourse, opinions and other knowledge.[ 31] During the Minoan period, the contests became an opportunity for Minoans of both sexes to socialize. Men and women would meet to witness the games at the theatre or market-place where the contests took place.[ 32]
In Mycenean times, people would gather at the market place to hold their athletic contests. The goddess Athena, the religious conscience of the Phaecians, invited them to participate.[ 33] The market place was a meeting place where the idea of fair play and democratic convictions was expressed.[ 34]
The effort of the educated clergy to cultivate the religious conscience of humans and to support the physical exercise and athletic contests played an important part in development of the contesting spirit in all social classes.
To this effect, there was no sanctuary without athletic facilities and without gymnastic contests held along religious festivities.[ 35] The clergy’s effort to promote physical exercise was fostered by tradition and the various historic, social and religious legends that ensured the preservation of the contesting spirit in society as a whole.
Ancient Greek athletics would have never developed into an institution that would influence religion, philosophy, education and aesthetics, if Greek society did not promote its popularity with so many different means. The unanimous acceptance of athletics, expressed by the participation of Greeks from all social levels of society in the athletic contests, was one of the strongest foundations of its success.[ 36]
The Megarian general Orsippus, as a youth became an Olympic champion in the stadium race in the 15th Olympiad or 720 B.C., and he first introduced nudity for the contesting athletes.[ 37] Demaratus, king of the Laecedemonians, became an Olympic champion at the hippodrome of Olympia during the 69th Olympiad in 504 B.C.[ 38] Phillip, king of Macedonia, became an Olympic champion in chariot races during the 106th, 107th, 108th Olympiad in 356, 352 and 348 B.C.[ 39] The Athenian generals Euryvates, Kylon and Frynon also became Olympic champions: Euryvates in the stadium race, Kylon in the diavlos race and Frynon in the Pangration, during the Olympiads of 672, 640 and 636 B.C. respectively.[ 40] Alciviades, the renowned politician and general of Athens, became an Olympic champion as well and, according to his own confession, from his participation and victory at the chariot races at Olympia not only did he benefit on a personal level, but also contributed to the glory of Athens “due to my conspicuous presence at Olympia …. because I entered to the Olympic games seven chariots, more than any private citizen has done before, and I won a first, second and fourth Olympic Victory …”[ 41] Hionis the Laecedemonian, Olympic champion in the stadium race on the 29th, 30th and 31st Olympiad or in 664, 660, 656 B.C., later became the leader of a colony that was established at Kyrene in Africa.[ 42] Fayllos from Kroton of Magna Grecia, became an excellent pentathlete and a champion at the Pythian Games. Furthermore, during the naval battle at Salamis in 490 B.C., he commissioned his own battle ship (a trieris) and partook in the battle to the benefit of his city.[ 43] The boxer Nikodoros became a great legislator and benefited his city Mantineia with his wise legislation.[ 44]
The records of what is considered to be the first Olympiad in 776 B.C. reveal the Elian athlete Koryvos[ 45] as the Olympic champion in the single running event, the stadium race (192.27m), who later appeared to have become a cook. It seems that cooking was not considered a negligible profession since it was valued as an important priestly position.[ 46] The Olympic boxing champion in the children’s division, during the 65th Olympiad or in 520 B.C., was proclaimed the Karystian Glaukus who was a farmer from a lower social class.[ 47] Accordingly, the Milesian Polymnestor, who became an Olympic champion in the stadium race at the 46th Olympiad or 596 B.C., was a goatherd; it was said that Polymnestor was so fast that he could outrun a rabbit.[ 48] The wrestler Amesinas from the Greek colony of Varki in northern Africa, who was proclaimed Olympic champion at the 80th Olympiad, or in 460 B.C. was a shepherd. The legend has it that Amesinas would wrestle with a bull for exercise.[ 49] In his “Rhetoric” Aristotle mentions a fisherman who became an Olympic champion and who would carry his merchandise from Argos to Tegea in order to sell it.[ 50]
However, not all athletes and champions were models of morale and virtue. There were athletes like boxer Kleomedes from Astipalea, an Olympic champion from the 71st Olympiad or 496 B.C. who, in a state of madness, murdered children in a school,[ 51] or the athlete Timokreon the Rhodian who brought a lot of evil upon men, as it was inscribed on his tombstone.[ 52]
The ancient Olympic gods, especially Zeus, served as a social and political carrier that fostered the idea of Greece as a united and peaceful unit[ 53] and for this reason, Greek religious and athletic centers gradually attained a social and political character.[ 54]
It was Greece that first introduced the identity of the social role of the Olympic champion, as the triumphant contester of the games in Olympia, who is praised in the Epinikia to have “a sweet and easy life, due to his victory”.[ 55] Plato in his “Politia” (City) also agrees with this notion when he writes that “from all hardships they will be free and they will live a life even more blissful than the one the Olympic champions live”.[ 56]
The entrance of Dioxippus, the Athenian Olympic pankration champion at the 111th Olympiad or in 336 B.C. in the city of Athens, reflects the beliefs of Pindar and Plato; according to the “athlete’s law” the masses would glorify the athlete upon his entrance into the city.[ 57] The athletes, by competing and winning Olympic victories brought glory to their home and contributed to the glory of their city-state. The Olympic Games may have been an individual contest, but this did not allow for arrogance or selfishness to prevail; when the contest is pure, clean and noble, it unites people and nations.[ 58]
The name of the Olympic champion was remembered through the ages by all Greeks. The chronology of important historical events were calculated based on the victories achieved by the champions at Olympia. An Olympic champion was not only honoured by his countrymen, but by all Greeks, even by citizens of hostile city-states. This is demonstrated in a story that Pausanias relates to us about the Rhodian Olympic Champion Diagoras. Diagoras, who was fanatically opposed to Athens, when caught as a prisoner of war by the Athenians, was released after a vote in the people’s assembly.[ 59]
But even the representatives of the ancient Greek intellectual world were actively involved in exercise. Although Euripides (480-406 B.C.) in his “Autolykos” appears to be hostile to athletes, he himself was an athlete who trained extensively in wrestling events and not only won in the Eleusinian and Thesian Games but also participated in the Olympic Games.[ 60] Plato (428-347 B.C.) who trained in wrestling took part in the Pythian and Isthmian Games and was a spectator at the games in Olympia.[ 61] Socrates also admired the athletic activities and advised the youth to be spectators in the Olympic Games.[ 62] Accordingly, the teachings of Hippokratis (460 B.C.) and Galenos (131 B.C.) were influenced by the beneficial results of exercise.
The anthropologic individuality of the Greeks, planted in the soil of sociability, produced the ideal of the contest, the rare flower of the state. From the union and the dialectics of the individualistic and sociable elements of the Greek psyche, Agon, the deity of the contest, was born; it denotes sociability and a mindset that derives from the athletic contests held in the Minoan or Mycenean times.[ 63] The synthesis of these two opposing elements in the contest, i.e. of individuality and sociability, should not appear as a paradox. The essence of the Greek world and its civilization, in an ironic way is of the same nature. Greece has survived for more than three millennia due to the dialectic nature of these forces.[ 64] The binding characteristics in the nature of the Greek man are variety and differentiation as well as qualities of comparison and challenge, expressed in the Homeric saying “always excel”.[ 65]
According to R. Flaceliere, the gymnic games of the Greeks held in memory of the dead cultivated sociability and peace by igniting religious sentiments and expressed the faith of man and his adoration of the gods.[ 66]
To conclude, the Greeks were the creators of a higher civilization, one that the entire humanity admires, in which, as Gardiner finds more specifically “the key to the progress and prosperity of the Greek civilization was the rivalry and competition at the athletic festivities, since the only athletic and only true “nation” of antiquity was Greece”.[ 67] The Greek “nation”, through the gymnic contests did not strive exclusively for the attainment of the Olympic wreath, the Kotinow, but through competing and living according to the Olympic ideology, intended to create balanced social beings,[ 68] filled with virtue, strength, nobility, greatness and harmony; these were exemplified by the athletic body, the model for the city-state youth.[ 69]
The athlete and Olympic champion should be distinguished for his “modesty”, shyness, a sure sign of other virtues such as nobility, respect, moderation and honesty. Without modesty, the athlete would have lost the favor of the gods, since as a human being he had overcome his human barriers that were set by the gods.[ 70] Modesty made the Olympic champion dear to humans and gods alike and prevented him from using his power for an unreasonable goal or to pursue victory with unjust means.[ 71] The sacred Panhellenic games, like the Pythian Games, with the enactment of the Ampiktyonia of Delphi,[ 72] the renaming of the Athenian Games into Panathenian Games[ 73] and the re-institution of the ancient Olympic Games in 884 B.C., besides the cultivation of a religious sentiment and a health-related mentality, aimed to create a wholesome social and political citizen in the state, the athlete Olympic champion, a model in the city-state.[ 74] The absence of the gymnic contests would have been a serious disadvantage for the civilization of ancient Greeks.
[ 1] Parcons T., Society, article in the Encyclopedia of the Social Science, vol. 14, N. York 1934, 225. Eleftheropoulos A., Social life of people, Beginning, evolution and nature, Publication of the University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki (xx), 216, see Julius Gould and Wulliam. Dictionary of Social Sciences, Unesco Hellenic Education Inc. publication, vol. 3, Athens 1972, 406.
[ 2] Aristotle Politics 1253a2, see 1278b 1287b. For “political”: Plato Politia 411e, and Politics 1238a-b.
[ 3] As above Politics 1253a 30-40.
[ 4] Aristotle Politics 1253a 10-11. For the meaning of reason: Sophocles Electra 466, Plato Laws 647d, Demosthenis 1090. 12.
[ 5] Aristotle as above 1253a.
[ 6] Philostratos Gymnastic Paragraph 5-6, see also Plato Cratylos 23c: “Playful gods”, also Orphic Hymns 51, 14 11, 6 24,2.
[ 7] Aristotle Politics 1323b.
[ 8] Plato Menexenos 19d-e.
[ 9] See Plato Politia 411e and 410c, Timaeus 42.
[ 10] Aristotle Politics Θ 1341a5.
[ 11] Plato Laws Ζ 804d.
[ 12] Lucian Solon-Anaharsis 8, 10, 13-15, 36.
[ 13] Odyssey θ. 7-8, 193.
[ 14] Iliad Ψ. 388, 405, see Chrisafis I. The Gymnastics of the Ancients, Athens 1965, 20.
[ 15] Philostratos Gymnastic 16.
[ 16] Orphic Hymns Fragmentata 28, Pindar Fragmentata Selecta XI 104 (117): “What’s a god? Everything!”
[ 17] Orphic Hymns Fragmentata 28, 2-5, see Pausanias 5 26, 2-3: Deity of the contest (Agon).
[ 18] Philostratos Gymnastic 16.
[ 19] Iliad Ψ. 388, 405, Homeric Hymns 8, see Andronikos M., History of the Olympic Games, Athens Publishing Inc., Athens 1986, 9, Kakridis I., Greek Mythology, vol. 1, Athens publishing Inc., Athens 1986. 50.
[ 20] Orphic Hymns 111, 4-6 24, 2.
[ 21] Orphic Hymns 12, 1.
[ 22] Pausanias 5 7, 10 26, 2-3, Homeric Hymns 3. 56, 131, 178.
[ 23] Homeric Hymns 3. 147-153.
[ 24] Babiniotis G., Dictionary of Modern Greek Language, “NEA” publ., Athens 1998, 1115d.
[ 25] Evans A., The Palace of Minos at Knossos, vol. III London 1930, Religious character: pp. 223-227, see 219, 226-8, 232, 433, 435, Socio-Political: pp. 226, 227, 228, 232.
[ 26] As above, p. 227.
[ 27] Odyssey θ 164, Epigramm. Greek 969.
[ 28] Odyssey θ 147, Iliad Z 208 I 143, Λ 784.
[ 29] Iliad I 443, Θ 147-148 and 135-136, see Yiannaki Soteria, article, The Olympic athlete in the proceedings of the Hellenic Society of sport history and philosophy, Thessaloniki 2002, 139-144.
[ 30] Thucydides I. 139, 4.
[ 31] Plato Gorgias 469c, see Herodotos 7, 223 also 2, 173.
[ 32] Evans A., as above p. 227.
[ 33] Odyssey θ 7-8, ι 112, see Iliad B 51, 93 and Ψ 388, 405.
[ 34] Herodotos 6.43, Antifon 146. 39, Andokidis 12.42.
[ 35] Yialouris N., History of the Olympic Games, Athens Publishing Inc. Athens 1976, 77.
[ 36] Sakellariou T., Greece-Sports, Athens 1947, 144-146.
[ 37] Pausanias Attika (1) 44, 1, see comments Papahantzis N. in “Attika of Pausanias” Athens 1974, 508, note 1.
[ 38] Table of Olympic Champions: Patralogika Migne, vol. 19, Book 1, chapter XXXIII.
[ 39] As above Table of Olympic Champions.
[ 40] As above, see also Andronikos M., Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, Athens Publishing Company, 1982, 54.
[ 41] Thucydides 6. 16, 1-2, see Atheneos Deipnosofistes A. 5e.
[ 42] Table of Olympic Champions, see Paleologos Kl., “Olympic games…” Athens Publishing Company 1982, 183, 266.
[ 43] Antholog. Graec. Appendix. Epigr. Demonstr. 28.
[ 44] Aelianos P.I. book B. chap. 23.
[ 45] Patrologika migne, vol. 19 as above.
[ 46] Moretti L., Olympionikai, I. Vincitori Negli Antichi Olympics, Roma 1957, No. 1, see Young D. The Olympic Myth, p. 99. Patrologika migne, vol. 19 as above.
[ 47] Table of Olympic Champions: Migne as above.
[ 48] Philostratos Gymnastic 13, see as above and Moretti L. No 79.
[ 49] As above and Moretti L. No. 26.
[ 50] Aristotle Phetor 1365a: [If indeed someone does things beyond his abilities, his age or his peers, or acts in a certain way or in a certain time or place, then his actions will be important and good, noble, just, or the opposite, as the saying about the Olympic champion goes: earlier, when I held a heavy load on my shoulders, I used to carry fish from Argos to Tegea].
[ 51] Plutarch Romylos 28, Pausania 6.9, 6-8, Eusevios, Evangelic Preparation, E. λ β.
[ 52] Atheneos, Deipnosofistes 10,9.
[ 53] Dion Hrysostomos speech XII 412 RI, 161 AI, and others.
[ 54] Papastavrou I., History of Ancient Greece, Athens 1972, 136, see Sakellaraki G., History of the Olympic Games, Athens Publishing 1982, 36-37.
[ 55] Pindaros Olympionikai1.157-8, Π.1.32.
[ 56] Plato Politia E. 465d.
[ 57] Aelian P.I. book 12, chap. ν η, see Collection of Signs. 2932, 3426.
[ 58] Pausanias 5.4, 5-6 and 8.2,1, see Ploutarch Theseus 24, Apollodoros 3.14, 6.
[ 59] Pausanias 6.7, 4-5.
[ 60] Gellius, Noct. Att. XV. 20, see Sakellariou T. as above p. 146, Aelian P.I. book B chap. 8: winner in Olympia in a drama contest.
[ 61] Aelian. P.I. book Δ;. 9, see Diogenis Laertios C.a: for the etymology of the name Plato, Sakellariou T. as above p. 85.
[ 62] Xenophon Dyas C.13,5 see Sakellariou T. as above 85.
[ 63] Iliad H 298, Ψ 258, Ω1, Odyssey θ 200, see Arthur Evans, The Palace of Minos at Knossos, as above 1930, 226-228, 232, Sakellarakis Yiannis, History of the Olympic Games, chap. Sport in Grete-Mycenae, Athens Publishing Company 1982, 24.
[ 64] See Exarhopoulos Nik., The influence of the surrounding nature on the ancient inhabitants of Attika and Sparta. Athens 1909, Vourveris Kost., The contesting spirit of the Greeks, publ. by the Greek Humanitarian Society, issue 21, Athens 1964, 5-7.
[ 65] Iliad Z. 208.
[ 66] The public and private life of the ancient Greeks, Papadema Publishing Company, Athens 1974, 242, 257, 259-260, Nilsson N., Greek folk religion, Papadema Publishing Company, Athens 1979, 98, see Plutarch Thes. 26, Pausanias 5.4, 5-6.
[ 67] Gardiner N., Greek Athletics of the ancient world, Oxford 1930, 29 and also from the same author 1910, 1.
[ 68] Lucian Solon-Anaharsis paragraph 36.
[ 69] Polydeukis, Onomastikos IV 10-16: virtue see Sakellariou T., Greece – Sports, as above p. 152.
[ 70] Pindarus I.5.20: “Mortal things are for mortals”.
[ 71] Aidos: Iliad Ω 45. Herod. 1.8. Plato Sophistes 217d, Theogonia 1266 Euripides Herakleides 461, Pindarus II 4.388. Iliad E 708: “aidos Argeioi”.
[ 72] I.G., XII5, 444: according to the Parian Chronical established in 1522 B.C., see Herodotus 8.104, 5.62, Pindaros Π.4. 118, Demosthenis 331.29, Pausanias 10.8.
[ 73] Plutatch Theseus 24, Pausanias 8.2,1.
[ 74] Pausanias 5.4.-5.6, see Lysias, Olympic Speech paragraph 2, Papaxatzis N., I.E.E. Γ2, Athens Publishing Inc., 1972, 252.