Historically, Nations Have, Through Human Endeavour, Developed
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istorically, nations have, through human It is fitting that the archery competitions at the Hendeavour, developed those elements and 2004 Olympic Games in Athens were staged at the personalities that have affected the world. In the Panathinaiko Stadium. One of the world's oldest western world, for example, Italy gave us VERDI, sports had held its Olympic competitions at the site MICHELANGELO and Leonardo Da VINCI; France of one of the most ancient sports stadia. spawned NAPOLEON, the Curies and the Eiffel A cave-like tunnel leads from outside, high on Tower; Great Britain produced the Magna Carta and the hill behind the stadium, down to the track - the the first great parliament. In ancient times, Egypt route that served as the entry for those Panathenian produced the pyramids and an advanced society. athletes. And, as the archers walked through the Most of these societies, except for the Egyptians, tunnel, they walked with the spirits of the ancient were preceded by the Hellenes and the Greeks, whose athletes, sensing the pageantry and the competi- city-states established the precedent for our democ- tive nervousness athletes universally experience as racies. SOCRATES and ARISTOTLE still influence modern they walk onto the track or into the arena before philosophy, as do their playwrights; and Greek archi- they race, wrestle and compete for glory. This sense tecture to this day serves as the model for many of the of time and place has special meaning within the world's symphony halls, courthouses, museums and spirit of those in the Olympic family. porticos with their fluted Doric, Ionic and Corinthian Tens of thousands of years ago, early man de- columns supporting the triangular facade above pended upon foot speed to bare-handedly catch his them. Therefore, in its way, the world still embraces food. He also threw rocks to stun his prey and de- ancient Greece, including the Greek value of sport. veloped an efficient spear to hurl. As his develop- The Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens has roots that ing intelligence made him more shrewd, he created date back 2300 years into antiquity, to the time of the traps and slings as he strove to create more efficient ancient Olympic Games. However, the Stadium nev- and safer methods to hunt ever larger animals and er held an ancient Olympics, all of which were held means that could harvest animals at a distance, si- in Olympia in western Greece. Instead, this was the lently, even while hidden. He needed the meat for place of the Panathenean Games, honouring Athena, protein, the pelt for clothing and shelter, the bone the goddess of wisdom within this city that bears her and sinew to make tools. name. (Panathinaiko is translated as Panathenean in He discovered the power stored within a sapling English.) These more local contests were held annu- or bough bent into an arc or bow, held to that arc ally as compared to the Olympic Games, which were by a bowstring - therefore archery. The bowstring held every fourth year. However, upon the revival of could be drawn, creating even more tension in the the Olympic Games in 1896, the Panathinaiko Stadium bow limbs and transferring that power upon release became the site of the first modern Olympics. of the drawn bowstring to a pointed arrow. The ar- 56 JOURNAL OF OLYMPIC HISTORY 14(AUGUST 2006)NUMBER 2 row would be hurled forward, accurately guided by Sagittarius, the archer and centaur, half-human half- feathers placed near the carved nock that initially horse, is found within astrology and astronomy as held it to the bowstring. Thereby the archer used the one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac and as an arc- then unknown principles of physics to bring down shaped constellation in our night sky avenging Orion, his prey at a greater, and thereby safer distance. the hunter, with a drawn bow whose arrow is aimed We assume certain archers were more efficient, at the star Antares, the Scorpion who slew Orion. whose skills found them gathering more prey, or Legends about archers include the Swiss hero who were more accurate against targets or whose William TELL, compelled to shoot an arrow through strength drew stronger bows allowing them to an apple upon his son's head; and Robin HOOD, whose shoot over longer distances. Therefore, within band of archers took from the rich to give to the poor in Homo sapiens' instinct to compete, a "sport" was oppressed old England. SHAKESPEARE'S kingly armies born, its origins lost in pre-history. had phalanxes of bowmen, and the Normans defeated Various concepts of the bow and arrow have been the English with longbows at Hastings in 1066. used on all the populated continents for purposes of Within our own experience, we saw the Olympic hunting, sport and warfare, ranging from the most movement create its own legend on the night of primitive to advanced societies: from the aborigines the 1992 Opening Ceremonies in Barcelona, where of those continents on to the Egyptians of five-thou- archer Antonio REBOLLO shot a flaming arrow in sand years ago, then the Assyrians, Chinese, Goths, blazing trajectory over the cauldron atop Montjuic Picts, Huns, and the armies of Genghis KHAN and Stadium to spectacularly light the Olympic Flame. the Mongol hordes, among others. Even today, na- The Panathinaiko Stadium itself is placed close to tives of the Kalahari Desert and Southeast Asian is- mythology. Upon a high hilltop, less than a kilome- lands and the Yamonani and other tribes of Brazil ter to its northwest we see in clear and contempla- still hunt with bow and arrow. The exception may tive view the Acropolis, which holds the Parthenon, be the Australian Aborigine where archaeological the massive Doric-columned temple dedicated to digs found small bows indicating they were prob- the virgin goddess of wisdom, Athena. ably used only for ceremonial purposes. Stories of archers abound in mythology, his- tory and literature. Within Roman mythology, the winged Cupid is an archer whose arrows bear love. Within HOMER'S Iliad, the leader Pandarus is renowned as an archer though he is treacherous, and within that Greek poem, Paris kills Achilles by shooting an arrow guided by Apollo into Achilles' heel, the only point at which he is vulnerable. Apollo's twin sister Artemis is the goddess of hunt- ing and wild animals. Diana is the Roman coun- terpart of Artemis and in paintings and statuary is typically posed holding a bow. Within The Odyssey (again HOMER), Odysseus (Ulysses) proves and identifies himself to his wife, Penelope, dispelling her suitors with an archer's feat of power and accuracy. Penelope sets the challenge: "Here is my Lord Odysseus' hunting bow. Bend and string it if you can Who sends an arrow through iron axe-helve sockets? Twelve in line, I join my life with his. Odysseus in one motion strung the bow, Slid his right hand down the cord and Plucked it so the taut gut Vibrated, hummed and sang Now flashed arrow from twanging bow Clean as a whistle, through every socket ring And grazed not one." JOURNAL OF OLYMPIC HISTORY 14(AUGUST 2006)NUMBER 2 57 So much for history and mythology and into mo- dernity — for in 2004, the Olympic Games returned to the country of their ancient birth and into Athens, the city of their modern revival more than a century ago. The ancient Olympic Games took place from 776 B.C., until 393 A.D., in Olympia, Greece whose hills were home to the senior gods including Zeus. They originated as a peaceful festival celebrating and concluding the four-year segments of their cal- endar, called Olympiads. The Games were instru- ments of peace as, during the Games, athletes from warring armies laid down their arms to come to Olympia to compete without hostility. (The concept of the "Olympic Truce" still exists - today, the United Nations implores nations to desist from conflict dur- ing for spectators, was built in 329 B.C., so ordered ing the tenure of each Olympic Games.) Then, as by Licourgas, Athens' governor. There were only a the Games descended into paganism, violence and few wooden structures to accommodate royalty and bloodshed, recently-Christianized Roman Emperor, religious leaders. It was renovated three quarters of THEODOSIUS I, ended them. a century later (250 B.C.) and reconstructed again During the early 1890s, the young French Baron almost four centuries after that (139 A.D.), this time Pierre de COUBERTIN campaigned to revive the in tiered white marble covering the hillsides. To the Olympic Games and the 14-member International south, a semi-circle of construction was added to Olympic Committee was established in 1894. They connect the hillsides, giving the stadium its elon- set to work organizing the first Olympic Games gated horseshoe appearance. of the modern era, which took place in Athens in The wealthy benefactor for this reconstruction 1896. And, how appropriate it was in 1896 for the was HERODES ATTICUS, whose sarcophagus honorably new Olympics to come home to Greece, though in rests on the hillside just above the east side of the sta- their modern form it was more efficient to come dium with the Greek inscription translated as: to the population centre of metropolitan Athens instead of to the rural township of Olympia al- "Here lies Herodes of Marathon, son of Atticus, most 200 kilometers to the west. They had come worthy home to Greece, if not to Olympia, the coming of all praise; all that surrounds him is his works" Olympics were an inspiration for the reconstruc- tion of Athens' Panathinaiko Stadium as the cen- In 1893, more than seventeen centuries after terpiece of the Games.