Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Pleasure and Leisure 261
of Zeus; the Pythian Games, held in honor of Apollo; and the Isthmian
Games, held in honor of Poseidon. The most prestigious of
these were the Olympic Games, which were held every four years
from 776 b.c.e. to c.e. 261. It is a remarkable testimony to the Greek
ability to rise above politics at least on a temporary basis that, in
the course of this thousand-year period, never once, so far as we
know, were they canceled. By contrast, our modern series, which
was first held in 1896, has already been canceled three times, quite
aside from being regularly exploited for propagandist or commercial
advantage.
There were several reasons why the ancient Olympic Games were
successful in promoting the spirit of Panhellenism. In the first place,
Olympia, due to its location in a politically unimportant region of
Greece, never fell prey to the ambitions of any neighboring power.
For most of its history, the sanctuary was controlled by the neighboring
city of Elis. Consequently, the games were never used for
self-promotion by the host country in the way that the Nazis used
the Munich games in 1936 to promote an image of racial superiority.
The ancient Olympics did, however, occasionally serve the
propagandist aims of individuals—notably in c.e. 69, when they
were postponed for two years to enable the Roman emperor Nero
to compete. To the credit of the Olympic authorities, his victories in
the chariot race and musical contest were later expunged from the
records.
Another reason why the Olympic Games genuinely embodied
the Olympic ideal is that they formed part of a religious festival held
in honor of Zeus Olympios. Olympia was the chief sanctuary of
Zeus on the mainland. The religious component, which accounted
for two and a half of the five days devoted to the festival, was never
overshadowed by the kind of hoopla that characterizes the modern
series. A sacred truce, known as the ekecheiria or “restraining of
hands,” which remained in effect for one month, was observed to
allow spectators and competitors to travel to and from Olympia in
safety. In later times, this was extended to two months, and finally
to three months. Only once was the truce broken—by Sparta in
420 b.c.e. As a punishment, Spartan athletes were prohibited from
participation in the games that year.
All Greek speakers were eligible to participate, and there was virtually
no distinction between professionals and amateurs. Most cities
subsidized the training of their athletes. Participants had to spend
the entire month preceding the games training at Olympia under
the supervision of the Hellênodikai or “judges of the Greeks.”