Religion in the Olympics

The Olympics: Do they Unite or Divide Us?

Dear Classical Wisdom Reader,

I’m not always averse to controversy. Occasionally I have poked the bear, ruffled feathers, played the gadfly and other animal themed sayings to essentially annoy and agitate. 

But today, that is not my mission... You see, I didn’t actually watch the full opening ceremony of the Olympics. All I caught were the snips and clips of it playing in the backdrop of a fun and chaotic family reunion... and so I’m certainly not qualified to comment.

However, I did see the very varied responses on my social media. Having friends of every race and creed, from the middle east, the far east, Africa, Europe and the Americas, the comments have been so diverse, one wonders whether they watched the same show! 

My overall take away was that the debate was more or less about whether or not the imagery was drawing on Greek mythology… or Christianity (though of course astute readers will know the latter was influenced by the former). Either way, it alludes to an aspect of the ancient Olympics that many don’t immediately associate with the great sporting event: that of religion. 

Indeed, it was a critical aspect to the games, and as such, worth our investigation. So, please enjoy today’s look at the role of religion in the ancient Olympics.

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

P.S. Whether you are cheering or booing or perhaps ignoring the spectacle all together, it’s always worthwhile to question the value of the things in which we are participating... or not. To that end, I ask you:

Do the Olympics Unite or Divide Us? Do they have meaning and value in our modern world? 

As always, you can write to me directly at anya@classicalwisdom.com or reply to this email. 

Religion and the Olympics

By Ben Potter

When pondering the Ancient Olympics, the religious aspect is momentarily puzzling... and then glaringly apparent.

The site of Olympia in the Western Peloponnese was, together with Delphi, the most important Panhellenic sanctuary site in the Greek world.

The area was also sacred to the Queen of the Gods, Hera. In fact, the first games at the site were held in her honor and consisted of solely female competitors. The (with a capital 't') Olympics, however, were dedicated to Zeus, and designed to curry the King of the Gods’ favor.

This was done through religious observance, sacrifice (100 oxen were put to the sword at the games’ opening and consumed in a giant feast at their conclusion), and competition – both athletic and artistic. Moreover, there are, in addition, records of beauty, drinking and even wool-carding contests.

Indeed, the Olympics became a cultural pilgrimage where poets, orators, musicians, writers (including auspicious figures such as Herodotus), and artists would come to promote their talents and sell their wares.

The most famous of these was probably the sculptor of the Parthenon, Phidias. His fame and skill was such that he had a permanent workshop at the site.

From this vantage he oversaw the construction of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the 43 foot high chryselephantine statue of Zeus built in 435 BC. Incidentally, the little finger of which was engraved with a love message to his boyfriend.

While this wonder sprung up in the 5th century BC, the first recorded Games date to 776 BC, but it is widely thought that competitions had been going on long before that. The Olympics were only one of four quadrennial athletic festivals (the other three being the Nemean, Isthmian and Pythian games at Nemea, Corinth and Delphi respectively).

There were also games going on at Athens, but despite being the hub of art, culture, philosophy, academia, science and intellectualism, the Attics failed to dominate in the arena of sport. Thus, it may be dispiriting to consider that at every documented point in the history of mankind the smart kids have been picked last for gym!

But, at the end of the day, true sporting prestige lay in one place and one place only, the Olympiad. This is possibly why the word 'olympiad' went into the common parlance to mean any event that occurred on a quadrennial basis.

But what of the genesis of the games? Well, these too have a quasi-religious (or at least mythological) feel to them.

As tradition goes, they were either founded by Heracles after the completion of his twelve labors (depicted on the metopes of the temple of Zeus), or by the ancestor of Agamemnon, Pelops, upon his famous victory in the chariot race over Oenomaus. The reference to Heracles is particularly apt, as the prefix 'athl' (from where we derive 'athletics') has connotations of competition, struggle and even misery!

Additionally, the political aspect of the games either emanated from (or perhaps toward) the religious. Not only did the contestants have to swear an oath to Zeus, but during the build-up to the tournament, a sacred, Panhellenic armistice was put in place in order to ensure safe passage to and from Olympia. As war amongst the Greek states was ubiquitous, this was an extremely significant edict indeed. Thucydides tells us that Sparta's violation of the decree resulted in a suspension and heavy fine.

When all was said and done, when all the sacred pomp and ceremony and diplomatic hoo-hah had been put to bed, the real business at hand was, of course, sport.

Of the events recorded in the funeral games of Patroclus, the chariot-racing, boxing, wrestling, running, and javelin survived to the Olympics proper. However, javelin was not a discipline in itself, but part of the pentathlon (along with wrestling, running, long-jump, and discus).

Chariot-racing was unique in that the stable owner was the 'competitor' and the jockey merely a facilitator. Thus, we have the incongruous fact that the women known to have won the Olympic crown in the event probably were not permitted to witness their moment of triumph.

Though the most famous winner was probably that narcissus-incarnate, the Roman Emperor, Nero. Despite not managing to finish the race, the judges reasoned that he probably would have won if he hadn't fallen and he was thus awarded the crown.

The boxing was without timing, without rounds and only ended with a submission, knock-out or fatality. Though it did at least have rules, unlike the pankration (literally 'all power') – the only stipulations for which were no biting and no eye-gouging.

The Olympic running track was supposedly 600 foot lengths of Heracles (i.e. 190 meters). This was more or less the distance of the shortest sprint of the games (the stadion). A longer sprint, the diaulos, was a double stadion, and the dolichos a long-distance run taking in the entire sanctuary site.

While all of these survived in one form or another to our modern day Olympics, there is a sport that hasn’t been carried on - and that is the hoplitodromos. This was truly the ultimate mixture of agility, speed and strength as it was a sprint conducted in partial battle armor and shield, weighing up to a hefty 27kgs (59 lbs).

It is, to us at least, a great loss that this event did not span the 1500 years when the Olympics were denied to us, before it was reinstated by the noble efforts of Pierre de Coubertin.

You might be wondering why this much-loved festival was ever shut down in the first place. Well... that was thanks to the efforts of Theodosius I, the man on whose watch the Roman Empire was irrevocably rented in twain. In 393 AD he decided, as head of the new church, that the millennium-old festival of sport, comradeship, peace and glory would be offensive to the new God of the Empire.

The true spirit of the Olympics is a far from unambiguous one. It involves political wheeling and dealing, personal and state glory, supplication before the almighty Zeus, avarice, arrogance, armistice, beauty, brilliance, might, mythology and misogyny. In short, almost everything...

P.S.S. Whether or not the Olympics unite or divide us, one thing we love here at Classical Wisdom is the international presence we have. Indeed, these humble pages are read in all 50 states and in 184 countries around the globe. Goes to show the love of philosophy, history, mythology and literature can have a truly uniting quality. Join our growing community and enjoy the wisdom from the ancient world today: