Ancient Olympic Fun Fact 12

2012 is significant in that it is a presidential election year, a leap year, and a summer Olympic year! The modern Olympics, of course, were inspired by the ancient Greek Olympics, a subject I’ve been researching for my work in progress. So in these months leading up to the 2012 London Games, I’ll be posting weekly tidbits about the original athletic festival that started it all.

Here’s this week’s fun fact:

A horse could win even without a jockey.

In Book 6 of the Description of Greece, Pausanias writes:

The mare of the Corinthian Pheidolas was called … Aura （breeze）, and at the beginning of the race she chanced to throw her rider. But nevertheless she went on running properly, turned round the post, and, when she heard the trumpet, quickened her pace, reached the umpires first, realized that she had won and stopped running. The Eleans (the Olympic organizers) proclaimed Pheidolas the winner and allowed him to dedicate a statue of this mare.

Apparently weight handicaps weren’t factored in Greek horse racing. Still, it’s impressive she kept going in the race without anyone guiding her.

Tune in next week for more about the ancient Olympics!

Ancient Olympic Fun Fact 5

2012 is significant in that it is a presidential election year, a leap year, and a summer Olympic year! The modern Olympics, of course, were inspired by the ancient Greek Olympics, a subject I’ve been researching for my work in progress. So in these months leading up to the 2012 London Games, I’ll be posting weekly tidbits about the original athletic festival that started it all.

Here’s this week’s fun fact:

Olympic athletes competed in the nude.

The modern Olympics would look a lot different if this custom was still in effect. According to one story, athletes originally competed wearing a garment that resembled shorts, but the shorts occasionally fell mid-race, causing runners to trip. (Wardrobe malfunction!) So to solve the problem, they did away with the clothes. Others state that exercising naked was simply how the Greeks did it so for them to compete in Olympia sans clothes was normal.

Various athletes. Note the charioteer in robes in the top left

A minority of athletes did wear clothes though. For the chariot races, drivers wore traditional long white robes. And some wrestlers wore tight fitting leather caps to keep their hair out of the way so – as my husband insists – they weren’t completely naked. (But I doubt that argument would fly with the local police if you decided to go out wearing a hat and nothing else).

Tune in next week for more about the ancient Olympics!

Ancient Olympic Fun Fact 4

2012 is significant in that it is a presidential election year, a leap year, and a summer Olympic year! The modern Olympics, of course, were inspired by the ancient Greek Olympics, a subject I’ve been researching for my work in progress. So in these months leading up to the 2012 London Games, I’ll be posting weekly tidbits about the original athletic festival that started it all.

Here’s this week’s fun fact:

Only male athletes competed at Olympia, BUT a woman could be declared victor for an Olympic event.

Considering the ban against females mentioned in Fun Fact 3, it’s not all that surprising that there were no events for women. Contests were limited to boys, men, and animals (equestrian events were included in the program). However, even if a woman couldn’t physically attend the Games, she could still win an Olympic crown.

Here’s how: for the equestrian events, the victors were not the animals or the jockeys/charioteers (who were usually slaves or hired men) but the OWNERS of the animals. As such, a horse owner didn’t even have to be at Olympia and could still win the event and all the glory that went with it. Horseracing was, as it is now, a rich man’s sport, and this rule allowed the well-heeled elite a chance at Olympic glory without having to risk their necks on the racetrack. But the consequence was that if a female owned horses, she could also enter and win. This is exactly what Cynisca of Sparta, the main character of my WIP, did.

Granted, it was still difficult for women to participate. Racehorses are expensive, and certain Greek city states didn’t allow women to own property. But Cynisca won the chariot event twice, and a handful of women followed in her footsteps.

Tune in next week for more about the ancient Olympics!