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thirty or more each day, just like ancient times - from the 5 th century onwards in
any case - nowadays too professional athletes will take part in the competitions.
Today still events are staged in different categories, the only difference being that
the main classification is no longer by age, but by gender, i.e. men and women.
However, younger athletes are also given the opportunity to show their skills by
competing in the so-called second series. Winners are still rewarded with prizes
of higher or lesser material value.
In my view, there are two major differences when you compare antiquity
to our times. The first concerns the sports specialisation of even the smallest
competitions. This was something, which could also be seen sometimes in antiquity.
For example, at the Munychia festival in celebration of the victory at Salamis, only
rowing races were organised; however, this was a rather rare phenomenon. As
a rule, the games were not just a means of showing outstanding physical skills, as
is the case today, but they included a large number of elements which formed the
model which the citizen of an ancient Greek city wanted to imitate. This was the
image that the contests wanted to impress on the spectator. At the Theseia he
would be watching citizens who were strong and fast, who could handle a sword,
a spear and a shield efficiently, so as to protect, if need be, their city's interests,
even during the war, citizens who could mobilise and encourage their fellowcitizens
with a trumpet, who could maintain and skilfully ride a good horse, the
most effective war instrument at that time. He would not only see full-fledge
soldiers, but also mature citizens; educated citizens who were able to recite poems
in public, citizens of culture, fully conscious of the image they projected.
A second difference in my view would be the level of the spectators' participation.
The amounts spent for the games, which were by no means small when
we think that the costs of a small festival like the Theseia could be higher than
that of the lesser Panathenaea, did not cover only the athletes'needs. The opening
procession of the festival ended with a large sacrifice of many animals, offered by
wealthy families of the city. The sale of the animals' hides covered part of the costs
of the games, while the meat was distributed among all citizens present during
a rich open banquet. This shows that spectators were not simply passive viewers,
as is unfortunately the case nowadays, and the main source of direct or indirect
funding, but an active actor in the whole event, whose main purpose was to
satisfy their own needs and desires.
Let us now verify what we have just established by means of another example.
On the small, but highly sacred island of Délos, a festival in honour of the god
Apollo, the Delia, was celebrated every five years. Like the Theseia, this festival
was originally celebrated each year, before becoming a quinquennial event from
the fifth century onwards, probably along the model of Olympia, although the
annual celebration persisted under the name of Apollonia. In its older version, the
festival mainly included musical contests, i.e. song and dance, and only one sports
event, wrestling. In the 5 th century, the programme of the gymnic games was
significantly expanded to include the stadion, diaulos and dolichos foot races for
beardless men and boys, as well as the hoplite race, wrestling, the pancration, the
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