50 Fun Facts About Ancient Olympics

The ancient Olympic Games were held in honour of which god?

On the middle day of the festival 100 oxen were sacrificed to him.

What is the traditional date of the first ancient Olympic Games?

One ancient philosopher reckoned the date; archaeology suggests major games at Olympia began around 700 BC.

The four-year interval between games became a unit of time called what?

Historians dated events by the sprint winner: 'the third year of the eighteenth Olympiad when Ladas of Argos won'.

What was the prize for an ancient Olympic victor?

The kotinos was cut from the sacred wild olive near the temple of Zeus by a boy whose parents were both alive, using golden scissors.

What was the Greek name for the Olympic truce announced before each games?

Three runners called spondophoroi carried news of it; it guaranteed safe passage but did not stop wars.

The last recorded ancient games were held in AD 393 under which Roman emperor?

Archaeology shows some games continued afterwards; they probably ended under Theodosius II when the temple of Zeus burned.

According to Pausanias, the only event at the first games was a foot race of about 190 metres called what?

It gave us the word 'stadium' and remained the sole event for the first thirteen games.

Who is traditionally named as the first Olympic champion, winning the foot race in 776 BC?

He was a cook and baker by trade; other ancient writers say he was merely the first recorded winner.

The two-stade race with a turn around a post, added in 724 BC, was called what?

Its name means 'double pipe'; runners turned around separate posts called kampteres.

The long-distance race of twenty or more laps, roughly 7.5 to 9 km, was called what?

There was no marathon at the ancient games; that event was invented for the 1896 revival.

In which race, added in 520 BC and run last, did competitors sprint in full military armour?

Helmet, greaves and heavy shield added at least 6 kg; it was based on soldiers charging in armour to surprise an enemy.

What was the all-in ancient Olympic combat sport of punches, holds, kicks and chokes, introduced in 648 BC?

Only biting and gouging were banned; oddly, the Greeks considered it less dangerous than boxing.

Which pankratiast famously won posthumously, dying at the very moment his opponent submitted?

He died defending his title in 564 BC and was called 'the most famous of all pankratiasts'.

Which wrestler from Croton won six Olympic titles and reputedly trained by carrying a calf until it was a cow?

A follower of Pythagoras, he reportedly led Croton's army into battle wearing his Olympic wreaths and a lion skin.

Which sprinter from Rhodes won three races at four straight Olympiads, a record twelve wreaths?

His 164-152 BC streak was unmatched until Michael Phelps in the modern era.

What did the five events of the ancient pentathlon always finish with?

The others were running, long jump, discus and javelin; how the winner was decided remains unknown.

Ancient long jumpers swung a pair of hand-held weights called what?

Recorded jumps of up to 50 feet suggest the event was more like a multiple hop than a single leap.

Ancient boxers wrapped their hands in long leather strips called what?

Boxing was first listed in 688 BC; the Spartans, who claimed to have invented it, soon abandoned the event.

Which 720 BC runner is said to have been the first to compete naked, shedding his loincloth?

Nudity became the norm; Thucydides credited the Spartans with the custom of stripping and oiling for exercise.

What was the loincloth worn by early Olympic athletes, before nudity became standard, called?

Sixth-century BC vase paintings show athletes still wearing it.

Which was the first equestrian event added to the games, in 680 BC?

Two horses were yoked in the middle and two outer horses attached by rope; riders used neither saddles nor stirrups.

Which Spartan princess became the first female Olympic victor in 396 BC as a chariot owner?

Owners, not drivers, were credited as winners, and she had trained the horses herself.

Which Athenian, according to Plutarch, entered a record seven chariots in a single Olympic race?

He took first, second and either third or fourth place at once.

Which Roman emperor was thrown from his chariot at Olympia in AD 67 yet was declared the winner anyway?

He had the games postponed two years to fit his tour and won every music contest too; after his death the 'Neronian Olympiad' was voided.

Which Roman general looted Olympia in 86 BC and staged the 175th games in Rome?

He is described as the only Roman to commit violence against Olympia.

What were the judges of the ancient games, all drawn from the host city-state, called?

The name means 'Judges of the Greeks'; their number settled at ten in 348 BC.

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders, was made by which sculptor around 435 BC?

He had already made the Athena Parthenos; the Eleans hired him to outdo Athens, and his workshop was excavated in the 1950s.

The Statue of Zeus was made of which materials over a wooden frame?

Strabo wrote that if Zeus stood up he would unroof the temple; the statue was lost by the end of the 6th century AD.

Which hero, who won Hippodamia by sabotaging King Oenomaus's chariot, gave his name to the Peloponnese?

One origin myth says he founded chariot races at Olympia as funeral games for the dead king.

The sacred precinct at Olympia was known by what name, from an Elean word for 'the grove'?

It held the temples of Hera and Zeus, the Pelopion and the great altar; spectators camped in tents outside.

The Olympics were one of four Panhellenic Games. Which of these was NOT one of the other three?

The four were staggered so that at least one set of games took place every year.

Which women's foot-race festival at Olympia, honouring Hera, was run by sixteen women?

Young girls competed, possibly as a pre-nuptial initiation rite.

Kallipateira of Rhodes was caught at the games of 388 BC doing what?

The scandal led to a rule that trainers, like athletes, had to strip before entering the stadium.

Which married women, per Pausanias, were barred from watching the games while maidens might attend?

Married women reportedly had to stay south of the river Alpheios; the evidence remains inconclusive.

Which independent city-state administered the games for most of their history?

Pheidon of Argos once seized the sanctuary for Pisa, but the Eleans took it back the next year.

Which Macedonian king, 'the Philhellene', is listed among the runners of the ancient games?

He ruled Macedonia from 498/497 until his death in 454 BC; the judges had to certify every competitor's Greek identity.

Runner Astylos of Croton caused outrage by switching allegiance to which city, to please Hiero?

One scholar suggests Hiero 'simply bought Astylos' services'.

Diagoras of Rhodes, the great boxer, supposedly died how?

A spectator is said to have shouted 'Die, Diagoras; you will not ascend to Olympus besides'.

The pankratiast Dioxippus won in 336 BC 'akoniti', meaning what?

Literally 'without getting dusted', it is the only such victory ever recorded in that discipline.

Herodorus of Megara was a ten-time Olympic champion in what?

Heralds and trumpeters competed alongside the athletes.

Which historian is credited with fixing 776 BC as the date of the first Olympics?

Most later ancient historians accepted it, though the date cannot be verified.

According to Pausanias, in what year did Pheidon of Argos seize the sanctuary and run the games?

He was hired by the town of Pisa; the usual hosts regained control the following year.

Under which emperor did the games revive, with Agrippa restoring the temple of Zeus and Herod asked to fund them?

A statue of the deified Augustus was later erected within the sacred Altis.

How many events did the ancient programme eventually include, though never more than 20 at one games?

Youth events began in 632 BC; the boys' all-in fighting event was only added in 200 BC.

A bronze plaque found in 1994 proved international games continued until at least which year?

The last securely dated winner before that had been Publius Asclepiades of Corinth, pentathlon champion in 241.

Visitors to ancient Olympia sacrificed to 'Zeus Averter of' what, a summer festival plague?

There were no permanent lodgings; rich and poor alike sweltered in tents, and sanitation was only fixed in the 2nd century AD.

According to Thucydides, what fine did the Spartans face for attacking Lepreum during the truce?

The Spartans disputed it, claiming the truce had not yet taken hold, and were barred from the games.

Which modern founder added an artistic competition to the revived Olympics to imitate the ancient games?

At Olympia poets had been commissioned to write victory odes, or epinicians, for the champions.

The Cretan runner Sotades was banished by his own city for what?

He had won the long race at the 99th festival as a Cretan, then switched cities at the next games.

The trotting race for mares, abolished at the 84th festival, ended how?

A mule-cart race introduced at the same time was scrapped alongside it.