Ancient Olympic Fun Fact 6

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 trainers also had to be nude.

According to Pausanias, the requirement for athletic trainers to be sans clothes was a later development, due to an incident involving Callipateira or (Pherenice), a woman from a famous athletic family. In Book 5 of the Description of Greece, he explains:

She, being a widow, disguised herself exactly like a gymnastic trainer, and brought her son to compete at Olympia. Peisirodus, for so her son was called, was victorious, and Callipateira, as she was jumping over the enclosure in which they keep the trainers shut up, bared her person. So her sex was discovered…

I’m not sure how exactly she was climbing that she’d expose her private parts, but at any rate, she got caught. As mentioned in Fun Fact 3, she should’ve been cast down Mount Typaeum. However,

… they let her go unpunished out of respect for her father, her brothers and her son, all of whom had been victorious at Olympia. But a law was passed that for the future trainers should strip before entering the arena.

So things ended well for Callipateira, but she pretty much ensured that no other woman would repeat her stunt.

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!

Ancient Olympic Fun Fact 3

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 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:

Married women were barred from attending the Games.

At other times of the year, women could enter Olympia, where the Games took place, but during the competition, they had to stay out. The one exception to the rule was the priestess of Demeter Chamyne, whose presence was actually required at the Games. As for the rest, Pausanias writes:

As you go from Scillus along the road to Olympia, before you cross the Alpheius,there is a mountain with high, precipitous cliffs. It is called Mount Typaeum. It is a law of Elis to cast down it any women who are caught present at the Olympic Games, or even on the other side of the Alpheius, on the days prohibited to women. (Book 5, Chapter 6, Section 7 of the Description of Greece)

However, the confusing thing is that in chapter 20 of the same book, Pausanias writes, “Maidens are not debarred from looking on at the Games.”

So it appears there were some females at the Games – at least in Pausanias’ time. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it was always the case. The Games were centuries old at the time of Pausanias, and the dominating Romans may have tweaked the rules when they overran Greece. It’s also not clear whether the term “maidens” meant entry was based off age or marital status.

At any rate, if you were a woman and married, you’d stay well clear of Olympia during the Games.

Tune in next week for more about the ancient Olympics!