A look at the ancient and mythological history of Olympics, featuring some songs written for the ancient games' victors.
CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.
Sources: Pindar, the Odes, translated by Andrew M. Miller; readings from the Ernest Myers translation; Pausanias' Description of Greece translated by WHS Jones.
Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.
The Olympic Games are traced back to a time earlier than the human race, the story being that Kronos and Zeus wrestled there and that the courtes were the first to race at Olympia. Hi, Hello, welcome, this is let's talk about MIT's baby Olympic edition. I'm your host, Live, a woman who doesn't particularly care about the modern Olympics, but absolutely cares about the ancient ones. And so this week I've made a little last minute change to our schedule. This week was meant to be this year's summer Q and A episodes, but then it was pointed out to me that the Olympics are happening, and they're ancient is shit, and I should probably talk about them. That's how I took it, at least really, my friend just messaged me a while ago to chat about the ancient Olympics, and I said, oh my god, that's such a good idea. And then I just forgot that I'd planned to air that episode this week, And so here we are. On Friday's episode, I will be speaking with returning guest Alexandra Sills, who you should absolutely remember from the Gladiators of Greece episode. We did last year, oh and this time, Oh my god, she joins me to share all the sweaty oily naked with a bow on details of the ancient Olympics and ancient Greek games broadly, and so today to accompany them, I'm going to share with you one of the places where myth and athletic games collide, lyric poetry and sometimes Pausanias and his description of ancient Greece, which is the quote that I read at the top of the episode. See in ancient Greece, two of the coolest things that you could be were poets and athletes, and there were a hell of a lot of poems written for athletes. But what is an athlete without a little help from the gods? Next week the answers to your questions. But now the very ancient and mythological and far more nude than they are now Olympics. This is episode two sixty eight, sing Mus of Gods and Wrestlers, Origins and odes of the Ancient Olympics. Did you know there's a Greek dessert that is about twenty eight hundred years old. The dessert itself is likely as old as the Mesopotamian period of ancient Iraq. But we know with certainty that the Greek form which are now called lucumades and our tastiest shit appeared at the first recorded date for the Olympics seven seventy six BCE little balls of fried dough coated with honey. Yes, please highly recommend, which leads me to yes, the first recorded Olympics of ancient Greece were in seven seventy six BCEE. This is the very early Archaic age, so early in the grand scheme of Greek history. But I'm going to leave the history to Alexander's episode that's coming this Friday, and instead we are going to just look at the mythology of it all. Surprise Suppress, I know, see, just like most wonderful things from ancient Greece, the Olympics have mythological origins, like how could they not. Unfortunately, you know, there isn't much that survives in terms of any actual story of the Olympics founding, but we know the basics, again in large part because of the wonder that is Pausanius. Remember, Pausanius was the Greek travel writer of the Roman period. He traveled the Greek world and wrote down what he saw and heard from locals. We are eternally grateful to him for it too, because it's through Pausanius that we learn about countless stories and sites which are otherwise completely lost, and we would have never known they existed, let alone what they looked to like. And in the case of Pausanius's visit to Ellis, where the city of ancient Olympia is located, it is through him that we get a sense of what things were like during his time at least, and the stories and myths that were told by the locals. I'm going to read you just a little bit of slightly abridged Pausanias now, where he talks about the mythological founding of the Olympic Games, something that was believed to be older even than the humans of the Greek world, older even than Zeus himself. The most learned antiquarians of Ellis say that Kronos was the first king of heaven, and that in his honor a temple was built in Olympia by the men of that age, who were called the Golden Race. When Zeus was born, Rhea entrusted the guardianship of her son to the Dactyloi of Ida, they came from cretan Ida Heracles, Paionius, Epimides, Iasios and Ibas. Heracles, being the eldest, matched his brothers as a game in a running race, and crowned the winner with a branch of wild olive, of which they had such copious supply that they slept on heaps of its leaves while still green. Heracles Zevda therefore has the reputation of being the first to have held on the occasion I mentioned the games and to have called them Olympiakos. So he established the custom of holding them every fifth year, because he and his brothers were five in number. Now some say that Zeus wrestled here with Cronos himself for the throne, while others say that he held the games in honor of his victory over Cronos. The record of victors include Apollo, who outran Hermes and beat Ares at boxing. It is for this reason they say that the Pythian fi lute song is played while the competitors in the pentathlon are jumping for The flute song is sacred to Apollo, and Apollo won Olympic victories. That's what Pausaneas has to say about the founding of the Olympics, or the first founding. And yes it features Heracles, because of course it features Heracles everything does. He's being connected here with the Dactyls, the Dactyloi also called the Chorutes, who are some of the deities said to have helped raise Zeus in secret on Mount Ida so that he could overthrow Chronos. But like so many things in myth, you know, that's just a matter of needing to connect or wanting to connect the most important cultural characters. Heracles Zeus into one of the most culturally important events. If anyone was going to help found the Olympics, it was going to be Heracles. I won't pretend the story of it being this. Heracles was the consensus, though in the ancient world two slightly earlier writers are a bit less certain. There's a bit of debate as to whether the Heracles of the Deck de Loy was the same Heracles of heroic Greek fame, but the story otherwise seems to remain pretty much the same. And honestly, it just sounds like so much fucking Heracles to me. You got to slot him in everywhere. The point really is to establish the Olympic Games as being older than humanity, as being something invented by gods, where gods competed, and which is therefore one of the most sacred events in the ancient Greek world, because like everything in that world, the Olympics were as much about honoring the gods as they were about competing athletically. That's why we have even stories of at least Apollo, Hermes and Ares competing in the games. And the heroes too were said to have competed in the games and founded different versions of the games as time goes on, but we'll look at those later First.
An Ode.
Pindar is one of the most famous lyric poets of ancient Greece. I don't talk about them all that often because well, he wrote almost entirely odes to victors of athletic events, which makes him not the most interesting when it comes to relaying mythical stories, but particularly interesting when it comes to well athletic games. His work was often commissioned by the winners of these events. They wanted the famed Pindar to write an ode to them honoring their victory. He became super famous. He's still very famous, fortunately for us. Like I said, mythology is still inherently tied not only to the athletic games, Olympic and otherwise, but also to poetry itself, so we're still going to get some nice myth content in these odes to epic ancient athletes, like this young man from or a city in Biotia to the west of Thebes. The city had a particular connection with the goddesses called the Graces or sometimes the Charities. These are three women who usually feature in myth as attendance to Aphrodite. They don't really have much in the way of stories around them, but they were worshiped more broadly too. Like in Ocomenos, we think this kid his name was Asopokos, won a race and this song was written for him by Pindar, who's also from Okomenos, to be sung by a chorus once he returned home. Asopokos's father, it seems, had died and Pindar found a way of incorporating him into his son's victory song, even from his place in the underworld. It's really nice and it's not too long, so I'm just gonna read it all to you, oh you who haunt the land of goodly Steeds. That drink of Kephisos's waters. Lustyo Komenos, queens renowned in song, Oh graces, guardians of the Minie eyes ancient race, Listen, for to you I pray for by your gift come unto men all pleasant things and sweet and the wisdom of a man and his beauty and the splendor of his fame. Yes, even gods without the Grace's aid rule never at feast or dance. But these have charge of all things done in heaven, and beside Pythian Apollo of the Golden Beau, they have set their thrones and worship the eternal majesty of the Olympian Father. O, Lady Aglaya, and you Euphrosne, lover of song, children of the mightiest of the gods, listen and hear, and you Thalia, delighting in sweet sounds, and look down upon this triumphal company moving with light step under happy fate in Lydian mood of melody, concerning asopichos am, I come here to sing for that through you a Goliah in the Olympic Games. The Minie's home is winner. Fly echo to Persephone's dark walled home and to his father Bear the noble tidings that seeing him, you may speak to him of his son, saying that for his father's honor, in PISA's famous valley, he has crowned his boyish hair with garlands from the glorious Games. Beyond its origins before humanity even existed, the mythological history of the Olympics continues on through the generations. They account not only for the original invention during the Golden Age, this mythological time period before the race of humans that we know now, but also origins in the line of mortals and heroes that we know very well. The story goes that the Golden Age race was wiped out by the flood, so the Olympics needed to be founded again by the next race of humans. So here's some more Paustanius, again slightly abridged, so I'm not rambling too long, but let's be honest, it's all really interesting. Later on there came they say, from Crete Clymenus, the son of Cardis, about fifty years after the flood came upon the Greeks in the time of Ducalion. He was descended from Heracles of Ida. He held the Games at Olympia and set up an altar in honor of Heracles, his ancestor, and the other curates, giving to Heracles the surname of Peristtes, and Endymion, the son of Ethlius, deposed Clymenus and set his sons a race in Olympia with the kingdom as the prize, And about a generation later than Endymion, Pelops held the games in honor of Olympian Zeus, in a more splendid manner than any of his predecessors. When the sons of Pelops were scattered from Ellis, over all the rest of the Peloponnessus Amathion, the son of Crithius and cousin of Endymion on his father's side, for they say that Ethlius, too was the son of Eolus, though supposed to be a son of Zeus, held the Olympian Games, and after him Pelias and Nelius in common August two, who held them, and likewise Heracles, the son of Emphytrion. After the conquest of Ellis. The victors crowned by Heracles include Iolaus, who won with the mayors of Heracles. So of old a competitor was permitted to compete with mayors which were not his own Homer at any rate. In the games held in honor of Patroclus has told how Menelaus drove a pair of which one was Ethna, a mayor of Agamemnon, while the other was his own horse. Moreover, Iolaus used to be the charioteer to Heracles. So Iolaus won the chariot race, an Easeus Narcadian the horse race, while of the sons of Tyndarius one won the foot race, and Polyducees the boxing match. Of Heracles himself, it is said that he won victories at wrestling and the pancratition. So down the generations, kings and heroes keep holding competitions in Olympia. Pausanias also gives an incredibly detailed historical account of the games, but frankly, it's not something I want to go into detail because it's just not that exciting. And I'm fairly certain Alexandra shared a ton of it, but in a really fun way, so we're just gonna wait for her episode on Friday. We think of the Olympics now as like the most important athletic competition. I guess at the world like I feel like that's a valid thing. But again, I don't like sports, so you know, if I'm wrong, ignore it. But in the ancient world, there were a number of competitions like the Olympics, held in different cities. Again, Alexandra goes into a lot of detail on this and like which were which and what was going on and what it all meant to win one, multiple, all of them. But as Pausanias says, like this tradition of competition is found as far back as Homer too. You know where the games are held at Patrick Less's funeral as a way of honoring the fallen and the gods. Because again, these athletic games are just as much about honoring God's people culture life as they are about competing in a wrestling match. I haven't gone into detail on, you know, the events themselves, because that's something we're going to look at in detail on Friday, but a quick list would include things like wrestling and boxing, races of various lengths, chariot racing, and more. And yes I've said it once, I'll say it again, like they did this all naked. There's also this wild little sport called pancration, which basically means like all powerful and which was kind of like mma, only there were fewer rules. You couldn't bite people or gouge their eyes. Everything else was fair game. And again you'd be naked save for a little accessory that I will leave for Alexander to share with you all, because when I say that that conversation was the hardest I've ever laughed in the history of this podcast. Like, I don't think I'd be lying, But for now another ode. Theron was a tyrant leader of one of the many Greek colonies of southern Italy, Akragas on Sicily, and in four seventy six BCE he won a chariot race. This type of race wasn't one where the winner actually competed themselves. I think the chariots are the only competitions where this is the case. Instead, it's their charioteer and it's their chariot who did the work. But the man with all the money gets the credit and also doesn't have to do anything dangerous. Unfortunately, the charioteers were also probably enslaved. It's not the best competition, but this is a lovely ode, and you know, men with power holding all the guards. Something new and different for humanity through Pindar's Ode Fern traces his family line back to the Royal House of Thebes, which you will not be surprised to hear. Is why I picked this one to read. He's looking at at fortune, wealth, how these things intertwine. You'll remember the Royal House of Thebes had an awful lot of bad luck in their family line, and yet their stories remained some of the most culturally important in all of Greek myth. This ode is longer than the first one I read, but it's really interesting to see how Pindar looks at the tragedies of the House of Thebes, like Cadmus, his daughters, Oedipus and his children, and connects them with this man's story of victory. He looks at death, the achievements of heroes, and I'm just gonna read it to you, Lords of the lute my songs, What God, what hero or what man are we to celebrate? Verily of Zeus is Pisa, the abode of Heracles. The Olympian feast was founded from the chief spoils of war, and Theheron's name must we proclaim for his victory with the four horse car a righteous and god fearing host, the stay of Acragas of famous sires, the flower a savior of the state. They, after long toils, bravely born, took by a river's side a sacred dwelling place, and became the eye of Sicily, and a life of good luck clave to them, bringing them wealth and honor to crown their inborn worth. O son of Cronos and of Reya, lord of Olympus's seat and of the chief of Games and of Alpheus's ford. For joy in these my songs guard ever graciously their native fields, for their sons that shall come after them. Now of deeds done, whether they be right or wrong, not even time the father of all can undo the accomplishment. Yet with happy fortune forgetfulness may come, for by high delights, an alien pain is quelled and dies when the decree of God sends happiness to grow aloft and widely. And this word is true concerning Cadmus's fair throned daughters, whose calamities were great, yet their sore grief fell before greater good amid the Olympians. Long haired Semele still lies, albeit she perished in the thunderer's roar, and Pallas cherishes her ever, and father Zeus exceedingly, and her son the ivy bearing God. And in the see too they say that to Ino, among the sea maids of Nereus, life incorruptible has been ordained forevermore. Yes, but to mortals the day of death is certain, never neither at what time we shall see in calm the end of one of the son's children. The days with good thereto unfailing. Now this way and now that run currents bringing joys or toils to men. Thus destiny, which from their fathers holds the happy fortune of this race, together with prosperity heaven scent brings, ever, at some other time better reverse from the day when Lias was slain by his destined son Oedipus, who met him on the road and made fulfillment of the oracle spoken of old at Pytho. Then swift Irnuaes, when she saw it, slew by each other's hand his warlike sons. After that Polinikees fell, Thersander lived after him and won honor in the second strife, and in the fights of war a savior scion to the addrasted house. From him they have beginning of their race meet. It is that Isodamos, receive our hymn of triumph on the lyre for an olympia. He himself received a prize, and at Pitho and at the Isthmus to his brother of no less a lot did kindred graces bring crowns for the twelve rounds of the four horse chariot race. Victory sets free the essay or from the struggles griefs. Yes, and the wealth that a noble nature has made glorious brings power for this and that, putting into the heart of man a deep and eager mood a star far seen, a light wherein a man shall trust, if but the holder thereof knows the things that shall be. How that of all who die, the guilty souls pay penalty for all the sins sinned. In this realm of Zeus, one judges under earth, pronouncing sentence by unloved constraint. But evenly, ever, in sunlight, night and day, and unlaborious life, the good receive. Neither with violent hand vex they the earth nor the waters of the sea in that new world, but with the honored of the gods, whosoever had pleasure in keeping of oaths they possess a tearless life, but the other parts suffer pain too dire to look upon. Then, whosoever have been of good courage to the abiding, steadfast thrice on either side of death, and have refrained their souls from all iniquity, travel the road of Zeus unto the tower of Kronos. There, round the islands of the Blessed, the ocean breezes blow, and golden flowers are glowing, some from the land on trees of splendor, and some the water feeds with wreaths, whereof they entwine their hands. So orders Rhadamanthos's just decree, whom at his own right hand has ever the father Kronos, husband of Rhea, throned above all worlds. Pelias and Cadmus are counted of that company, And the mother of Achilles, when her prayer had moved the heart of Zeus, bore there her son, even him who overthrew Hector Troy's unbending invincible pillar, even him who gave Kiknos the to death, and Memnon, the Ethiopian son of the Morning. Many swift arrows have I beneath my bended arm, within my quiver, arrows that have a voice for the wise but for the multitude they need interpreters. This art is true. Who of his nature has knowledge, They who have but learnt strong in the multitude of words, are but as crows, the chatter, vain things in strife against the divine bird of Zeus. Come bend your bow on the mark o my soul, at whom again are we to launch our shafts of honor from a friendly mind? At Akragas, will I take aim, and will proclaim and swear it with a mind of truth, that for a hundred years no city has brought forth a man of mind more prone to well doing towards friends, or of more liberal mood than Faeron. Yet praise is overtaken of distaste, wherewith is no justice, but from covetous men it comes, and is fain to babble against and darken the good man's noble deeds. The sea sand Nun has numbered, and the joys the Pheron has given to you others who shall declare the tale thereof kind of surprising to remember that that was all for a man who happened to sponsor the winning chariot and Olympic race. Right, The ancient Greeks didn't do anything halfway, and there is a good reason why so much of Pindar's work survives, even if I personally do wish we could like swap out a couple of athletic win poems for some surviving mythological content, but I guess we can't be picky. It wasn't just the usual Olympian gods who were honored and worshiped at the Olympic Games. There are as always a number of minor deities dedicated to specific concepts which were also very important parts of the cult of worship surrounding the Games and the sanctuary of Olympia broadly. Nike, of course was an important one, Goddess of victory, something pretty important at the Games. But there's Ekakia too, goddess of truce. See, when the Olympic Games were being put on, the city states of Greece all came together to peacefully, for the most part, I think, compete and for once they left their local squabbles and major wars at home. So Ekakiria truce was also very vital. An Agon was we think, a god of contest, though he may have been kind of equivalent to Zelos, a god of rivalry. Either way, Pausanias tells us that alongside Asclepius, god of medicine, and Hygiea, his daughter, goddess of health, there was a dedication to agon contest alongside ares. But what about the ladies. As you will learn in Friday's absolutely wonderfully unhinged episode looking at the ancient Olympics, women were expert wrestling forbidden from attending. They could not see the naked men wrestling each other. What would they think their sensibilities? Now, Alexander has a truly incredible story of the lengths that they went to to keep women away, but we will leave that for her to tell. Oh my god, there may have been no women at the Olympics themselves, only endlessly naked dudes. But women did have a games of their own. Was it anywhere near as widespread, celebrated or sacred? No, of course, not their women, but hey, it did exist. So let's see what the ladies were allowed to do. They were allowed to race, that's it. But there are a few details that we can look at in the racing. The games for women were named for Hara, the Hariian games. The games, as I said, were only foot races, but they were separated into age groups, so like there was more than one. And of course it was only for unmarried, childless women. Women don't like to run after they've had sex, you know. Fortunately for us, Pausanius was interested in the games in which women were allowed to compete. Thank you, Pausanias, and it gives us some details about how things went. Men competed naked, they tid loved to be naked, but women, of course could not. So here's what Pausanias says happened during the Harionan Games. They run in the following way. Their hair hangs down, tunic reaches a little above the knee, and they bear the right shoulder as far as the breast. These two have the Olympic stadium reserved for their games, but the course of the stadium is shortened for them by about one sixth of its length. To the winning maidens, they give crowns of olive and a portion of the cow sacrificed to hera. They may also dedicate statues with their names inscribed upon them. Those who administer to the sixteen are like the presidents of the games. Married women. Now, I know the bars in the ground, but it's really nice to hear, but women being able to compete in something like this or like it's just nice to have evidence that women were allowed to do stuff. You know, they had something that was by women, and four women which allowed them to accomplish something real and meaningful, like maybe even have a statue made of themselves to honor it. It wasn't just these races they had, I mean it was in terms of actual competition or like athletic competition. It was just these races, but they also had two choral dances, which would have been something the men had also, And Pausadas tells us that the women's games had their own mythological history, even if it's only one short paragraph. The games of the maidens, too, are traced back to ancient times. They say that out of the gratitude to Hera for her marriage with Pelops, Hippodamia assembled the sixteen women and with them inaugurated the Haraian Games. They really two that a victory was won by Chloris, the only surviving daughter of the house of Amphion, though with her they say survived one of her brothers. The ladies' games are very anticlimactic, probably shouldn't have left them for the end, but it's too late now, uh Nerds nrs Nerds, thank you so much for listening. As always, this was quite fun. I've been kind of like vaguely meaning to look at the Olympics for a long time, but as I don't particularly care about modern sports, I kept putting it off. I should have known it would be a thrill though, Like the men wrestled naked, after all the same men. Much of the world likes to pretend we're super duper hetero. But oh, just wait until you hear my conversation with Alexandra. Like the Olympics and other athletic games in ancient Greece were truly delightfully unhinged. Like I've said, naked, but there is more. I cannot wait for you to hear Friday's episode truly, And remember next week I will be answering your questions for the two park Q and A episode I need to record in the next couple of days from the time this airs. So let's make the new deadline to submit your questions July thirtieth, essentially the day this comes out, So if you listen day of get him in. Otherwise wait for next time. But remember you can always submit your questions for whatever is the next Q and A episode. I do them in January and usually July, but this year August mythsbaby dot Com slash questions. I can't wait to see what you guys all want to know. Honestly, I really love these episodes. They always open up so many interesting thought experiments. I don't even know, but they're great. I'm slowly losing my mind. It's fine. And also, well, we have so many new fun things in the works, honestly, like I will be revealing some exciting announcements and merch and add free options and well you'll see lots of stuff mostly Oh your yppanies so much yourypanies, my man, August and September are going to be fun. Here's a five star review from one of you amazing listeners. Please leave me a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge difference and it gives me something nice to read on the show. This one comes from a user called I'm not Real in the States. Genuinely love this fire emoji. I was looking around for Greek mythology podcasts because I wanted to learn more, and you provided the best one. She says everything I think and as a fellow nerd, it's just so fun to hear someone else talking about it with my same mind so that later I could yap about it to my friends. Love it. I also love the way Live points out clear misogyny and wrong things in the funniest ways. It's such a joy to feel bored in the day and realize I can always put your voice in my headphones. I've been listening from all the way down and I think it's good. Absolutely love you, girl, and keep up the amazing work. Thank you. Honestly, like these truly do mean the world to me. Like I get them in an email. I think I get all of them. I don't know. I get an email every day that has sometimes reviews, sometimes not, uh, and they it's like my favorite thing to read them, and I just it really means a lot. So if you haven't and you can, I'd love it if you did. 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I'm really bad at doing new ones, but a try and there's like well over one hundred I think of old ones, So get in there. Support this free podcast. Spitsitpatron dot com, slash Smiths, daviy or Cook the link in this episode's description. I am live and I love this shit, but like, why aren't the modern Olympics naked? It would make for a far more exciting competition if you ask me. As a Canadian though, actually the thought of hockey being played naked sounds both cold and dangerous, so like maybe only the Summer Olympics should return to their nude roots.