Olympic glory: how the classical world celebrated sporting prowess through art

In the summer of 776 B.C., a group of Greeks gathered at Olympia, a sanctuary in the north-west Peloponnese peninsula dedicated to Zeus, to run a race in his honour.

After dedicating sacrifices on an altar and pledging an oath to obey the rules, the men lined up at a row of stone starting blocks, then sprinted down a 630ft (192-metre) compacted clay track — an ancient version of which still exists there today. The fastest was a cook named Coroebus, from the nearby city-state of Elis — the first recorded champion of the ancient Olympic Games.

This foot race was subsequently held in late summer every four years. Over the decades, more sports were added, and rival events sprang up at Delphi, Nemea and the Isthmus of Corinth. But the games honouring Zeus remained the ancient world’s most important, becoming such an essential part of Greek culture that wars were paused to allow them to take place.

After Greece came under Roman control in the middle of the 2nd century B.C., the Olympics continued, although their popularity waned. Romans preferred games that were organised to entertain, rather than contests held for the competitors. The Olympics were finally abolished in 393 by the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius, because of their pagan associations. Just over 1,500 years later, in 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were inaugurated in Athens.

A Greek gold olive wreath, circa 4th century B.C.

Unlike the modern games, at the ancient Olympics there were no runners-up. If you didn’t win, you lost. For the victorious, however, there was a lifetime of pride and honour, as well as a wreath made of branches from the wild olive trees that grew at Olympia. It was awarded by judges at the Temple of Zeus — home to a 40ft-high gold and ivory statue of the god made by the sculptor Phidias, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Victors at the other important games won similar wreaths: the Pythian Games at Delphi awarded laurel wreaths; the winner of the Nemean Games received a wreath made from celery; and a pine wreath was the symbol of victory at the Isthmian Games.

While no wooden wreaths have survived, solid gold recreations have been found in graves and temples. Some of the leaves on the front of this example have melted, which might have been caused by the flames of a funeral pyre for an Olympic winner.

A Roman marble torso of an athlete, circa 1st-2nd century A.D.

Greek athletes always competed naked. For them, a healthy body represented an unsullied mind, which benefited the greater good of society.

This sculpture is a copy of a long-lost Greek bronze statue known as The Oil Pourer. It depicts a young naked man in quiet repose, pouring olive oil over his muscles — part of a ritual that took place in the gymnasium before each event.

The original statue was created in the 5th century B.C. by one of the most renowned Greek sculptors, Polykleitos. Between 450 and 420 B.C., he produced a series of works that set out the geometrical proportions for the perfect male nude. His works are remarkable not only for their artistic prowess, but also for having a subtle sense of free and relaxed flexibility. None survive, but they are known through Roman marble copies like this one.

An Attic red-figured kylix, circa 430-425 B.C.

The painted decoration on ancient Greek vases helps us to picture what the original Olympic Games would have looked like. In the centre of this vessel — a type of wide, shallow cup called a kylix — are a pair of javelin throwers.

The two competitors are both young men, and each holds a wooden spear slightly shorter than the modern javelin (which for the men’s event is between 2.6 and 2.7 metres long). One stands on a plinth, suggesting that he is the winner.

Javelin was one of the five events in the pentathlon, alongside long jump, discus, a foot race and wrestling. It was first contested in Olympia in 708 B.C. The throw took place on the running track, and athletes were allowed a short run-up before flinging their spear from a leather loop.

The theme of men partaking in the pentathlon ­— Greek for ‘five competitions’ — was a common one in vase-painting: because of the event’s demanding nature, pentathletes were considered the best of the best. ‘A body capable of enduring all efforts, either of the racecourse or of bodily strength… this is why the athletes in the pentathlon are the most beautiful,’ wrote Aristotle.

A Greek carnelian scarab with an athlete holding a discus, circa early 5th century B.C.

While athletes commonly appeared in the decoration of vessels used at all-male drinking parties, they also featured on scarabs — small gems carved on the top in relief to resemble a beetle, and underneath in intaglio with a motif of the owner’s choosing. Worn as rings, they were used to stamp insignia in hot wax to seal and authorise documents.

Whether the owner of this scarab was a discus competitor or a spectator, the object indicates the high regard in which such athletes were held.

The sport was introduced to the Olympics in 708 B.C. as part of the pentathlon. The first victor was the Spartan athlete Lampis. The discs — originally made from stone, then later, bronze, iron or lead — were flat, and between 17 and 31 centimetres in diameter. Their weight varied between cities, but to make the sport fair, each athlete threw the same disc.

An Attic black-figured pseudo-Panathenaic amphora, circa 490-480 B.C.

This vase is based on a type awarded to the winner of the Panathenaic Games, a minor sporting festival held every four years in Athens. The original would have been filled with more than 45 litres of olive oil. About half the size of the prize vase, this example might have been a souvenir from the games.

One side of a Panathenaic vase always depicts Athena between a pair of columns, usually surmounted by cockerels, which were symbols of virility. The other shows the sport for which the vase was an award — in this case, boxing.

It depicts a pair of boxers in combat. One fighter staggers backwards, arms raised in a failed attempt to block a blow from his opponent, which makes contact with his nose. The falling boxer’s right index finger is raised in a sign of submission.

On the left of the image is another youth, who prepares to fight the victor by tying ox-leather wraps around his knuckles. On the right is an older, bearded referee, whose raised forked rod points to the bout’s winner.

Boxing was made an official Olympic event in 688 B.C. Athletes trained using bags filled with sand or flour, in the palaestra — an ancient form of fighting gym that included arenas, plunge pools and saunas. Unlike modern boxing, there was no ring or time limit, weight classes were unknown, and judges encouraged the fighters with whips.

A Greek gold finger ring with an athlete, circa late 4th century B.C.

This gold ring shows a young athlete in profile holding an essential tool of his trade: a strigil. Usually made of bronze, but sometimes glass or silver, these curved blades were used to scrape off the dust, sweat and oil that clung to athletes’ bodies from competition.

The greasy mixture thus collected, called gloios, was transferred to jars and sold as a medicinal treatment, with buyers hoping to attain an athlete’s health and vitality by applying the balm to their ailing bodies. This business was an important revenue stream for gymnasiums.

Images idolising naked athletes using strigils were hugely popular in the ancient world, found on rings, vases and funerary markers. The Roman emperor Tiberius was so infatuated with a Greek bronze statue of the subject, made around 330 B.C. by Lysippus, court sculptor to Alexander the Great, that he placed it in his bedroom.

An Attic red-figured column krater, circa 440-420 B.C.

In 680 B.C., chariot-racing was added to the roster of Olympic sports. Between four and 10 chariots — each pulled by four horses — competed, hurtling 12 times around a hippodrome with hairpin turns at either end. The inside lane provided the shortest route to victory, and disastrous collisions were frequent. The start of every race was signalled by the sounding of a trumpet and the elevation of a bronze eagle, the symbol of Zeus. At the end of each lap, a bronze dolphin representing Poseidon was lowered.

Drivers were hired professionals, and it was the owner of the chariot who was considered the competitor. As a result, this was the only event in which women could participate. In 396 B.C., a Spartan princess called Kyniska marked her victory with a bronze statue placed in the temple of Zeus at Olympia, which was inscribed: ‘I declare myself the only woman in all Greece to have won this crown.’

Two-horse chariot races, as well as single horse-and-rider races, were added to the Olympic line-up, but the four-horse race remained the most popular — larger teams allowing for more ostentatious displays of wealth and spectacle.

This vase is of a type known as a krater, which was used for mixing wine and water. It shows a charioteer — the only athlete permitted to wear clothes — in a long, pleated chiton, grasping his chariot’s reins and a crop. The goddess of victory, Nike, offers him a wool ribbon, a taenia, as a symbol of triumph. In front of the charioteer, his four horses rear up, their heads and legs overlapped to create a dramatic sense of perspective.

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