Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Pleasure and Leisure 263
extremely expensive, the victor was almost invariably a wealthy
aristocrat or tyrant.
The remaining events took place in the Olympic stadium. The
stadium was named for the stade, a unit of measurement approximately
210 yards in length. The stadium consisted of a level piece
of ground covered with sand. Spectators watched from a raised
bank of earth on either side. Only the judges were provided with
seating. The first event was the pentathlon, which took place on
the afternoon of the second day. This consisted of five events: discus,
long jump, javelin, footrace, and wrestling. The javelin was
thrown with the aid of a thong to give it more momentum. For the
long jump, athletes carried weights, enabling them to lengthen
their jump. On the morning of the third day, more religious celebrations
took place, culminating in the sacrifice of 100 oxen on the
great altar of Zeus. In the afternoon, competitions between boys
aged between 12 and 18 took place. These consisted of a footrace,
wrestling, and boxing. On the morning of the fourth day, adult
footraces were held over various distances, the longest being
12 laps. (There was no equivalent of a modern marathon.) The
afternoon was given over to body-contact sports, including wrestling,
boxing, and pankration. The pankration, which can be best
translated as all-in combat, was a combination of wrestling and
boxing. There were no rules, and serious injuries, even deaths,
were not uncommon. On one occasion, the prize was awarded to
a pankratiast named Arrachion, even though he had been strangled
to death. His opponent conceded the match just as Arrachion
was expiring on account of the latter having broken his toe. The
final event was a race over two laps by competitors dressed in
full hoplite armor (hoplitodromos). Proficiency in this event may
have contributed to the Athenian victory at the battle of Marathon,
in which the heavily armed hoplites unnerved the Persians
by charging from a distance.
The only competition for unmarried girls was a footrace in honor
of Hera. It is described by Pausanias as follows:
The competitors are divided into three age groups, and they run in this
way: their hair hangs down, a tunic reaches a little way above the knee,
and they bare the right shoulder down to the bosom. They have the Olympic
stadium reserved for the games, but the course is shortened to about
one sixth of its length. The winning girls are presented with crowns of
olive and a portion of the cow that is sacrificed to Hera. (5.16.2–3)