DOI: 10.18468/estcien.2019v9n2.p33-44 Review article The study of the influence of ancient Greek rituals and sports and the formation of the architecture of its sports spaces Nima Deimary1* Mahsa Azizi2 Mohammad Mohammadi3 1 Department of Architecture, Faculty of Civil and Architecture, Malayer University ,Malayer, Iran. (*) Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7998-0395 2 MA Student of Architecture Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7998-0568 3 Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran. E-mail: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4180-3921 ABSTRACT: To get a better understanding of why variety of sports buildings are this massive in ancient Greece, a proper understanding of the history of sports as well as Greece itself must start at the beginning. Greece is a country that is enclosed with hills and mountains alongside short riv- ers and fertile va lleys. Even though Greek people were living in separate city-states, they were unit- ed under national pride, common temples, same rituals and games like Olympic. Sports were the most important parts of most Greek men. Gym and music alongside each other, fed the body and the soul of the athletes. They admired the beauty of well-trained men. They believed in multiple gods who were living in Holy mount of Olympus under the reign of greater god, Zeus and they held many rituals to satisfy them and Olympic was the most famous rituals amongst others. A cer- emony in honor of Zeus was held in Olympia. Keywords: Ancient Greece. Sports. Stadium. Gymnasium. Palaestra. Olympic INTRODUCTION obey the rules before the statue of Zeus. Olympic Games originally treated sporting To begin talking about sports in Greece, competitions as a form of religious ritual. we need to start with Aegean sea civilizations Greek people used the games to communicate such as Crete. We can trace sports and games with their gods. to about 2500 years B.C. in Crete, where there Olympia was well known to the ancient is a picture of three acrobats playing with a world for its sanctuary of Zeus. According to large cow, who might be a symbol of Zeus in tradition, Iphitus, king of Elis, wishing to end Knossos. Also in Acroteria, we saw a wall the calamities that had befallen his kingdom, painting of two young boxers wearing gloves. asked the Oracle at Delphi for advice. The Regretfully we do not know much about prophetess Pythia commanded Iphitus and Aegean civilizations, so we need to continue the people of Elis to establish the Olympic with the most famous sports event in Greece, Games. In 776 BCE, the ancient Greeks be- the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games gan travelling to Olympia every four years to were held every four years since 776 B.C in take part in sporting competitions. According honor of Zeus. This is the official date that to the poet Pindar, Heracles ran a race here in the Olympic Games was founded, but its un- celebration of one of his labors, and decreed official beginning dates back farther. Sacrifices that it should be repeated every four years. and gifts were offered, and athletes swear to The games were announced by heralds Estação Científica (UNIFAP) https://periodicos.unifap.br/index.php/estacao ISSN 2179-1902 Macapá, v. 9, n. 2, p. 33-44, abr./jun. 2019 34 Deimary, Azizi and Mohammadi travelling to the Greek cities, and hostilities Fig 1. Bull leaping in Knossos were banned during the period around the games to safeguard those travelling to Olym- pia. In the spring of an Olympic year, three sacred heralds would set out from Olympia to visit every corner of the Greek world and an- nounce the forthcoming games. Each Greek city-state sent its best men to Olympia, determined by local elimination tri- als. The games lasted three days, and nude athletes started the competitions. The winner would be awarded with a branch of wild olive, but the rewards were great in other ways. The THE GAMES crowds idolized the great athletes, poets wrote odes to their triumphs, and sculptors immor- Pentathlon talized them in bronze and marble. From the fifth century onward, monetary rewards also The most important Greek Olympic games became associated with an Olympic champi- was called Pentathlon or Five Races. The onship. Greek pentathlon featured discus, javelin, The Olympic Games ended when the jumping, running and wrestling and the indi- games were banned by Emperor Theodosius vidual who would win these five games be- 1st in 393-4 A.D. And finally, the town of came a super hero. Olympia disappeared soon after it was de- The pentathlon was held during the after- stroyed by the Goths. noon of the second Olympic day. The athletes There were many more games like Olympic had to participate in five events. All events which would gather athletes from across all except the final event, wrestling, were held in Greece. Games such as Isthmian, Pythian and the stadium, while the wrestling took place in Nemean –alongside Olympic, were called an open area near the altar of Zeus. Panhellenic Games. According to Burns, the Program of Isthmian games were held every two years, Events in Olympic are as follows: and athletes, horse riders and musicians would Day One: Morning: Swearing-in ceremo- participate in them. These games were held in ny. Contests for heralds and trumpeters. Boys’ honor of Poseidon –the god of seas- in Isth- running, wrestling and boxing contests. Pray- mia, Sicyon. Yachting was an important part ers and sacrifices in the sanctuary of Zeus; of Isthmian games because of Poseidon. The consultation of oracles. very first record of Isthmian games was back Afternoon: Speeches by philosophers, po- in 581 B.C. ets and historians. Tours of the sanctuary of Pythian games were held every four years Zeus. Reunions with old friends. and included chariot race, horse race and mu- Day Two: Morning: Procession in the sic and lasted for 15 days. Pythian games were hippodrome of competitors in the equestrian held in honor of python goddess who was events. Chariot and horse-races. killed by Apollo in the sacred city of Delphi Afternoon: The pentathlon. Evening: Fu- way back in 582 B.C. neral rites in honor of the hero, Pelops. Pa- rade of visitors around the sanctuary of Zeus. Singing of victory hymns. Feasting and revel- Estação Científica (UNIFAP) https://periodicos.unifap.br/index.php/estacao ISSN 2179-1902 Macapá, v. 9, n. 2, p. 33-44, abr./jun. 2019 The study of the influence of ancient Greek rituals and sports and the formation of the architecture of its sports spaces 35 ry. ered more suitable for children in the prox- Day Three: Morning: Procession of the imity of a bout to prevent them from hearing judges, ambassadors, competitors, and sacrifi- the bad language that frequently accompanied cial animals to the Great Altar. the sport. The soft thongs were ultimately Afternoon: Running races. replaced by the 'sharp thongs'. These com- Evening: Public banquet in the Prytaneion. prised a thin inner glove to which a pad of Day Four: Wrestling event. Midday: Box- hard leather was intricately bound. The ing and the pankration (all-in-wrestling). thronging carried up the forearm over a sepa- Day Five: Procession of victors to the rate piece of sheepskin which was used, like Temple of Zeus, to be crowned by the judges the wrist-bandage some tennis players wear with garlands of wild olive. today as a device to wipe sweat quickly away from the brows. Boxing Pankration Boxing was considered the most violent sport. Violent activity was what attracted the Arrichion of Phigaleia was the most fa- spectators and that was what they want to see. mous of the 6th century pankratiasts. He won There were no separate rounds in a match three times at Olympia in 572, 568 and 564 and the contestants fought until one of them BC. He mentions: “Pankration is the most gave in, knocked out or raised his hand as a sublime game of the Olympic and also the sign of defeat. most important and effective way of getting In the early competitions, boxers wore soft the army forces prepared. A Pankration ath- leather thongs designed not to inflict injury lete must be a great wrestler and a giant boxer but to protect the fingers. Leather thongs at once. were wound tightly around the hands and Pankration means “all power/all force”. It wrists, leaving the fingers free. Blows were has been described as a mixture of boxing, allowed with the fist and hand. wrestling and judo, a kind of scientific un- armed combat. Almost any tactic was permit- Fig 2. Detail of a pottery showing two Pankration players ted. Only biting and going for an opponent’s eyes were illegal. Its objective was to bring an opponent to a point where he was compelled to admit de- feat, which he signified by holding up his arm. Locks and strangleholds were therefore per- mitted, but biting and gouging were forbid- den. Pankration was practiced in the Palaestra. Running Running was the dominant discipline in the games. The official history of the Olympic During training, they wore large soft pads Games started with a race at a distance of one called sphairai (spheres) to allow vigorous “stadium” (192.27 m). It was called the stadion combat but avoid damage. To this end, they race - a sprint of one stade (roughly 192 m).