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The ancient Greeks
considered the Olympic games
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to be the most important
of all cultural events.
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For the athletes
who competed, it
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was a chance to
represent their hometown,
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pay respect to the
king of the gods,
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and win fame and fortune
beyond their wildest dreams.
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So today we're going to
take a look at what it was
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like to be an ancient Olympian.
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But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe
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to the Weird History channel.
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After that, leave
a comment and let
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us know what other parts
of ancient history you
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would like to hear about.
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OK, time to grab that ancient
Wheaties box and let the games
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begin.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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The Olympic games date all
the way back to 776 BCE--
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probably.
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That date was provided
to us by Aristotle.
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And although there's no absolute
proof of its correctness,
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there's evidence suggesting
some form of the games
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might actually go as far back as
the ninth or 10th century BCE.
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Modern historians
and archaeologists
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generally accept this 776 date.
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Also, Aristotle wouldn't
get that date wrong.
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He had Olympic posters
all over his bedroom.
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Held at a rural
sanctuary in Olympia,
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which was located in the
Western part of the Peloponnese
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Peninsula, the games were
part of a religious festival
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that honored Zeus, the big
cheese of the Greek pantheon.
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No one knows exactly
what went down
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at the first Olympic games,
but several literary traditions
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hold that the only event was
a single 600 foot race, known
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as the stadion race.
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That sounds less
of an Olympic event
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and more of a dare between five
drunk friends in a parking lot.
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That race was won by a cook
from the nearby city of Elis,
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named Koroibos.
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Good job, buddy.
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It must have been a
big hit with the crowd
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because the first 13
Olympic festivals consisted
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of just this single event.
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They eventually added
additional, more exciting
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competitions, and
the games continue
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to be held in Olympia every
four years between August 6
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and September 19 for roughly
the next 12 centuries.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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While the modern Olympic
games are open to everyone,
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the ancient Olympic games
were only open to men--
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free Greek men to
be more specific.
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But this policy still
drew a pretty eclectic mix
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of participants, including
everything from soldiers
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to shepherds to philosophers.
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Even Alexander the first,
the future King of Macedonia,
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was allowed to participate.
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Despite the fact that
women were forbidden
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from competing in the games a
few, like Kyniska of Sparta,
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still managed to eke
out some victories
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by owning the stable of
horses who won chariot races.
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This was possible because
the rules were sort of
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like the rules of
the Kentucky Derby,
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when the winner of
the race as considered
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to be the horse and its owner,
rather than the jockey, which
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seems fair.
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It's not like the jockey
is running anywhere.
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Other women would
follow in her footsteps,
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and by the first
century CE women
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were even starting
to compete directly
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against men in foot races.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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When it came to the
ancient Olympics,
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wealthy citizens had
a hefty advantage.
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Although a public
training facility
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called the [INAUDIBLE] did
emerge around the sixth century
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BCE, the playing field
was still heavily slanted
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toward the rich.
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Wealthy athletes spent their
lives eating better foods,
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had more time to train, and
could hire better trainers.
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It takes a lot of time and money
to look like an Olympic statue.
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Moreover, participating in the
Olympics could be expensive.
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Olympia wasn't easy to reach,
so travel could be pricey.
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Athletes also had to arrive
a month early to train
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and would have no income
throughout the whole training
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and competition period
unless they participated
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in local competitions.
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Poor athletes could always
try to find a sponsor,
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like their hometown, a king
or wealthy individual--
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or Gatorade, probably.
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But it's unclear how common
these arrangements were.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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The ancient Olympians were
competing in front of a crowd
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and that crowd was typically
buzzing with excitement.
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Spectators came from the
Greek mainland, as well as
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the island's Ionia
and Magna Graecia.
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They lived in
makeshift campsites
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buzzing with food vendors,
poets, musician, craftsmen,
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and philosophers.
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So kind of like Burning Man,
especially with all the Togas.
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No one knows exactly how
many people showed up
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to watch the games, but
we do know the stadium
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held approximately 45,000.
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Interestingly, married
women were strictly
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forbidden from watching.
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In fact, the penalty
for a married woman
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caught on the grounds
of the Olympic sanctuary
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during the festival was death.
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The modern Olympics
maintains that level
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of severity for anyone caught
sharing videos of the games
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on social media.
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To kick off the festivities,
the athletes entered a temple
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and stood before
a statue of Zeus
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so grand it was considered
one of the seven
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wonders of the ancient world.
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A sliced piece of
bore flesh would then
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be offered to them,
upon which they
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would have to swear
an oath promising
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to obey the rules of the games.
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They pledge allegiance to
a pork chop, essentially.
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Then on the third
day, 100 bulls would
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be marched up to the
great altar of Zeus
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and offered up to the gods.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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The daily diet of an
ancient Greek consisted
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of things like bread
or corn porridge,
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served with vegetables, dried
figs, cheese, or olives.
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Since meat was rarely eaten,
the chief source of protein
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was fish.
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So we guess they just threw
those 100 bulls away Olympic.
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Athletes, who were
typically wealthy,
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tended to eat more meat
than the average Greek
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because they needed
the extra protein
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to facilitate muscle growth.
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Beyond eating habits,
athletes were also
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expected to show
great discipline
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in how they live their lives,
especially when it came
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to things like sexual activity.
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Having sex before a competition
was considered a major no-no.
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Why?
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Well, athletes believed
having sex prior to competing
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made them weaker.
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One famous athlete
named Kleto Mathos
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refused to even discuss
sex before competing,
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and is alleged to have
averted his eyes when
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he saw two dogs getting it on.
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It's unclear how witnessing
that would have affected
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his performance in
the javelin toss,
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but you take any
advantage you can get.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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Athletes at the
ancient Olympics were
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trained by paidotribes,
who taught wrestling holds,
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or a gymnastes,
who knew the best
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diets, how to develop
muscle, and how much exercise
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the athlete should be getting.
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Many athletes also
had a sort of masseuse
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called an aleiptes, whose job
was to rub the athlete down
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with oil and massage them
before and after workouts.
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Ancient Olympic athletes
also consumed things
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that they believed would
enhance their performance,
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specifically testicles.
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The performance enhancing
drug of the ancient world
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was testicles.
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And for those who didn't have
any testicles, to eat they
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could always opt for a ground
up mix of donkey hooves
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and rose petals.
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Failing that, they could
just eat live bees.
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I do see how that would
make you run faster.
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You've probably noticed that
modern Olympians wear clothes.
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Ancient Olympians
on the other hand
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tended to compete in the buff
while slathered in olive oil.
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This was probably about
freedom of movement,
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but it presumably also
made them very shiny
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and allowed them to
blind their opponents.
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How the tradition
of naked sports
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got started in ancient
Greece is a matter of debate.
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Whatever the case,
many of the athletes
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would scrape the olive oil off
their bodies after competing
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and sell it to fans.
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Nice.
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Going to turn around and
sell that on Epsilon Bay.
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There was one exception to the
whole nude competition thing--
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charioteers.
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You see, every so
often one of them
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would wind up being
dragged by the horses,
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so they were allowed to
wear some protective gear
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over their more tender areas.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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The Olympics may have started
out as a single 600 foot race,
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but more events were
added over time.
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For example, the
competition came
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to feature equestrian events
like chariot and horse racing.
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Chariot racing was
the most popular sport
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in ancient Greece,
and the way they
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did it was as much
like a demolition derby
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as it was a race.
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Up to 40 chariots could
race at a time and crashes
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were extremely common--
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sort of like NASCAR,
only presumably louder
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because of all the horses.
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After the chariot races usually
came more straightforward horse
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racing, which sounds like
it should have been less
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dangerous, but it wasn't.
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The chariot usually left
the track pretty torn up
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and ancient Greek jockeys
had no saddle or spurs,
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so they were prone
to getting thrown.
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Combat sports were also
big in the ancient games,
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including wrestling,
boxing, and the pankration--
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a type of
no-holds-barred wrestling
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that was essentially like
ancient UFC, only in the nude.
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Those who prove themselves in
these types of Olympic combat
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sports became celebrities and
could go on to win fortunes
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in smaller competitions.
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And for those athletes
who could do it all,
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there was the pentathlon,
which included five events--
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discus, javelin, long jump,
running, and wrestling.
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But the award for
most unlikely event
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has to go to the competition
for trumpeters and heralds
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that was added in 396 BCE.
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This genuine event that we
absolutely did not make up
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was held on the first
day of the games,
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and the winners were those who
sound carried the furthest.
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Your prize for
victory was the honor
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of announcing the winners
of the other competitions
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on the final day of
the games and probably
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some type of fancy trumpet.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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Being a champion of the
modern Olympic games
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comes with a lot of perks.
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Winners might get lucrative
endorsement deals,
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become a correspondent
for a sports network,
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or maybe even land an appearance
on Dancing With the Stars.
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But the ancient world had
its own version of prestige.
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Victorious athletes of
the ancient Olympics
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were permitted to erect
statues of themselves
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inside the sanctuary of Zeus in
commemoration of their victory.
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A champion who won three
times could even set up
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a specially commissioned
portrait statue, which let
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us assure you, was not cheap.
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In fact, a statue like that
could cost up to 10 times
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the average yearly wage.
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These statues were typically
made from bronze or marble,
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but the basis for several did,
sort of like your little league
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trophies.
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That little baseball guy on
the top always broke off.
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Winners also received
crowns of wild olive
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and were showered with
leaves and flowers.
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This form of celebration,
known as the phylobollia,
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was the inspiration
for the modern practice
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of throwing of
confetti and tickertape
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at victory celebrations.
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According to some
histories, winners
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would become the subject
of poems and songs,
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be sent home in a chariot,
and receive a pile of money.
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They would also be excused from
ever having to pay taxes again,
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which is a perk modern
Olympians probably
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wish was still a thing.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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Most people associate the
Olympics with the Greeks,
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but the truth is they were still
played even under Roman rule.
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But the Romans had a
decidedly different attitude
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toward the hole thing.
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They saw the primary
value of the Olympics
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as a form of entertainment
for the crowd,
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whereas the Greeks put the
emphasis on the importance
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of the competition itself.
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In other words, the Romans
were into the sizzle,
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but the Greeks were
into the steak.
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But in the end, even
the entertainment value
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wasn't enough.
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Emperor Theodosius--
or possibly his son--
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did away with the Olympic
games around 400 CE.
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It is believed that Theodosius
associated the games
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with the pagan gods,
so he shut them
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down in an effort to help push
Christianity as the religion
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of the Roman Empire.
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The Olympics would
not return until 1896.
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So what do you think?
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Could you have made it as an
Olympian in the ancient world?
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Let us in the comments below.
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And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos
00:11:56
from our Weird History.
