Ill HhIIiIAIVit'IIIIIIMllll IIIUIItlI or over a thousand years, from 776 B.C. until A.D. 395, citizens came from all over the Greek world to view the festival and athletic competitions held in Olympia every four years. Unlike the Olympics today, the Greek games were always celebrated under the patronage of a deity, who, it was believed, bestowed athletic prowess. 2 Athletes prayed to the god for victory and offered thanks by erecting statues in the god's sanctuary. At Olympia, the games were held in honor of Zeus, whose sacred grove was situated near the rivers Alpheios and Kladeos and at the foot of the Elian Mountains. In the earliest years, people honored Zeus at simple altars open to the sky, leav- ing behind offerings of terracotta and bronze fig- urines that they hung on the nearby trees. By the sixth century B.C., temples, treasuries, altars, and hundreds of marble and bronze statues adorned the sanctuary. These sculptures, often life-size or small- er, were set up in honor of patrons financing the games and festivities, or as dedications to Zeus for athletic and military achievements. Greek athletic games and festivals most likely originated as funeral games held in honor of local heroes. Pelops was the hero venerated at Olympia, and he was associated primarily with chariot racing-a skill that he acquired from Poseidon, patron deity of horses. The east pedi- ment of the fifth-century Temple of Zeus at Olympia was decorated with monumental sculp- tures featuring the oath of Pelops and Oinomaos, the king of Pisa, before their chariot race for the hand of his daughter, Hippodameia.3 The figure of Zeus stood between the two legendary figures. Olympia was also the site of an impressive, 13- meter-high, chryselephantine statue of Zeus, con- sidered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.4 The statue, a masterpiece of the sculptor Pheidias, was destroyed many centuries ago. Its

Opposite: Zeus or Poseidon, from the Artemisium at Cape Sounion (460 13.c(.), bronze, National ArchaeologicalMuseum, Athens, Greece.

On this page: The Charioteer of Delphi, a votiue offering from Polyzalos, prince of Syracuse, Archaeological Museum, Delphi, Greece.

SCULPTURE REVIEW F7 17 general appearance, however, is known from representations The Olympic athletic festival lasted for five days and took in small-scale copies, on ancient coins, and from contempo- place every four years in accordance with the Greek lunar cal- rary descriptions, such as the following account by the second- endar-twelve months based on the cycle of the moon. In fact, century A.D. Greek traveler, Pausanias: the most important day of the festivities always coincided with The god is seated on a throne. He is made of gold and ivory, the second or third full moon after the summer solstice.7 That and on his head is a wreath representingsprays of olive. In his the timing coincided with the end of harvest season may point right hand stands a figure of victory, also of gold and to some early association with fertility rites. Having harvested ivory... in his left hand is a scepter, skillfully wrought from a the crops, more men would have been available to celebrate the variety of metals. The bird perched on the scepter is an eagle. festivals. The Olympic games were so important and so regular The sandals of the god are of gold, and so is his robe, which that they were used as a means of marking the passage of time. is decorated with animals and lilies. The throne is adorned The best surviving representations of Greek athletics appear with gold, precious stones, ebony and ivory; it is painted and on Attic vases, although there are also a number of Roman carved with figures... I know that the measurements of height copies of Greek statues of athletes. As mentioned above, it was and breadth of Zeus at Olympia have been recorded, but I customary for a benefactor or athlete to erect a statue as an cannot commend the men who took the measurements, for act of thanks to the god for victory in the games. information falls far short of the impression which the image Unfortunately, many of these victory statues were made of makes on the spectator.5 How fitting that the cult statue of Zeus at Olympia held in On this page: The quadriga of Oinomaos with his charioteer his right hand a figure of victory, the personification of defeat Myrtilos, Sterope and Oinomaos, from the Preparationsfor the of an opponent! chariot race between Pelops and Oinomaos; East pediment of The games at Olympia are the oldest and were considered the Temple of Zeus in Olympia (ca. 460 B.C.), Archaeological the most important and sacred of the four Panhellenic athlet- Museum, Olympia, Greece. ic festivals in ancient Greece.6 There were the Pythian games Opposite: The Discobolus (Discus Thrower), Roman copy of at Delphi held in honor of the god Apollo, the Isthmian games Greek original (c. 450 B.c.), Museo Nazionale Romano near Corinth organized in honor of Poseidon, and the Nemean (Palazzo Massimo alle Terme), Museo Nazionale Romano, games, which like those at Olympia, paid homage to Zeus. Rome, Italy.

18 SCULPTURE REVIEW

bronze and were melted down for other uses in later years. In most likely to strike terror into the hearts of sinners. He is sur- some cases, the inscriptions on surviving marble bases for named Horkios [Oath god] and in each hand he holds a thun- these statues tell us something about the commemorated ath- derbolt. Beside this image it is the custom for athletes, their lete. Following their conquest of Greece, the Romans plun- fathers and their brothers, as well as their trainers,to swear an dered thousands of statues from Greek sanctuaries, and made oath upon slices of boar's flesh that in nothing will they sin copies of them in marble. These marble copies are another against the Olympic games.9 valuable source of information on Greek athletic sculpture. The athletes had to swear that they would compete with The Discophoros, together with the Doryphoros and the honor, and the judges had to swear that they would judge fair- Diadoumenos, are three of the most famous statues by ly. Dishonor was penalized: competitors and trainers could be Polykleitos, and they are important sources of information on publicly whipped or heavily fined. Following the oaths of Greek athletic competitions during the Olympic games. honor, athletes, trainers, judges, and others offered sacrifices As strength and stamina were of utmost importance to the in the Altis. In the afternoon, there were orations by philoso- ancient Greeks, the Olympic festival presented an ideal venue phers and recitations by poets and historians. The second day for a young man to demonstrate his enduring physical and of events began with a procession into the hippodrome, the mental strength. Although the Olympic festival lasted for five open-air stadium for horse and chariot races. days, the preparation for the games consumed the preceding Perhaps nothing was more t hrilling than the chariot races, years. Athletes trained in the palaestra-acourtyard surround- described by Sophokles in the fifth century B.C.: ed by four colonnades, and with indoor facilities for use dur- The clatter of the rattling chariots filled the whole arena, ing foul weather. In the second century A.D., the sophist and the dust flew up as they sped along in a dense mass, each Philostratus the Elder wrote of training for the Olympic games: driver goading his team unmercifully in his efforts to draw If you have worked hard enough to render yourself worthy clear of the rival axles and panting steeds, whose steaming of going to Olympia, if you have not been idle or ill-disci- breath and sweat drenched every bending back and flying plined, then go with confidence; but those who have not wheel together.1o trained in this fashion, let them go where they will.8 The Olympic chariot races were of two types-those with During the Olympic festival, the actual athletic competi- four horses and those with two horses. In both events, the tions took place outdoors, in the hippodrome, and, in later years, the stadium. As rhythm and grace were of vital impor- tance in ancient Greek athletics, some events may have been Opposite: The Pugilist at Rest, bronze, Museo Nazionale accompanied by music. The five days of festivities commenced Romano (Terme di Diocleziano), Museo Nazionalc Romanw , with a swearing-in of all competitors and judges before the Rome, Italy. altar and statue of Zeus Horkios (of the oath). Pausanias On this page: Six youths iti a Palaestra (S10i3.(.), marble basc describes the statue in the following passage: of a Kouros statue With reliefs, attic, National Artbaeological But the Zeus of the Bouleuterion is of all the images of Zeus Museum, Athens, Greece. most dangerous part of the race was the turn, at which point there stood the taraxippos, the one who terrorized the horses. It was his duty to strike panic in the horses, which might lead to disaster and add to the excitement. Such was not the case in the horse-racing events, in which the jockeys rode bareback and without stirrups. Nonetheless, these races followed the chariot competitions on a track that was already uneven and rutted. Again, Pausanias provides a vivid description of the event, in his account of a statue at Olympia: The mare of Pheidolas the Corinthian was called ... Aura and, although her rider was thrown at the beginning of the race, she ran straighton and turned at the pillar; when she heard the sound of the trumpet, she ran on all the faster and beat the other horses. The Eleans proclaimed Pheidolas the victor, and allowed him to dedicate this statue of the mare." In the afternoon of the second day was the pentathlon, which con- sisted of the discus, the javelin, jumping, running, and wrestling. The best-known representation of a discus-thrower is the statue of the Discobolos by the Greek sculptor, Myron, known from numerous Roman copies. The throwing of the javelin, more than any other ath- letic event, had the strongest connections with warfare.12 An impor- tant weapon in combat, it was lighter than the spear, and was thrown rather than thrust. Thus, one was able to attack from a greater dis- tance, and could do so on horseback or while standing. In the Olympic games, javelin-throwers usually competed on foot, although some contests included mounted javelin-throwing at a target.13 Unlike modern-day Olympic competitions, the only type of jump- ing in Greek athletics was the long jump, accomplished with weights that were swung forward on takeoff and swung backwards on land- ing. As timing and rhythm were critical in this event, practice sessions were often accompanied by music. Following the afternoon events of the pentathlon, funeral rituals were conducted in honor of Pelops, and the athletic victors walked in a procession around the sacred grove of Zeus. In the morning after much feasting and revelry, there was the great sacrifice to Zeus. One hundred oxen were sacrificed on the great altar on the NOTES: morning of the middle day of the festival, in other words, immedi- 1. Lucian, Anacharsis, IV, trans. A. M. Harmon (London: Loeb Classical Library, 1925). the Greeks calculated their days ately after the full moon. Since 2. Judith Swaddling, The Ancient Olympic Games (London: British from sunset to sunset, the full moon and the great sacrifice took Museum Press, 1992), p. 12. place on the same day. 3. According to Greek mythology, an oracle told the king that his future son-in-law would murder him. Thus, he challenged each of his daugh- On day four of the Olympic festivities, there were wrestling and ter's suitors to a chariot race to the death. Pelops succeeded with boxing events, followed by racing in armor. This day, like the pro- Poseidon's horses pulling his chariot. ceeding, ended in great feasting and revelry. And on the fifth and 4. The colossal statue stood in the Temple of Zeus, which was complet- final day, the victors from all athletic events went in a procession to ed in 456 B.C. In the fourth century A.D., the chryselephantine sculpture was hauled to Istanbul and eventually destroyed in a fire a century later. the great temple of Zeus, where they were crowned with wreaths of 5. Pausanias, Description of Greece, V, 11.1-2, trans. W. H. S. Jones olive branches and then showered with leaves and flowers. 3 and H. A. Ormerod (London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Loeb Classical Library, 1960).

22 SCULPTURE REVIEW 6. Swaddling, The Ancient Olympic Games, p. 12. 7. Ibid. 8. Philostratus:The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, V, trans. E C. Conybeare (London and New York: Loeb Classical Studies, 1912). 9. Pausanias, Description of Greece, V, 24. C7 10. Sophokles, Elektra, 698-760 trans. H. Lloyd-Jones (London and Cambridge, z Massachusetts: Loeb Classical Library, 1994). 11. Pausanias, Description of Greece, VI, 13.9. For the most complete and up-to-date description of horse-racing in antiquity, see SeAn Hemingway, The Horse and Jockey from Artemision, A Bronze Equestrian Monument of the Hellenistic Period (Berkeley, C. Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2004). 12. Swaddling, The Ancient Olympic Games, p. 52. 13. Ibid, p. 52. On this page, above: Horse and Jockey, found off Cape Artemision, Greece, late Hellenistic (ca. Colette C. Hemingway received her Ph.D. from Harvard University, and is a 150-125 B.C.), bronze, National Archaeological writer and editor for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City. Museum, Athens, Greece.

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TITLE: In the Company of the Discophoros SOURCE: Sculpt Rev 57 no3 Fall 2008

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