Sport in Society

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Religiosity as a main element in the ancient

Olympic Games

G. Papantoniou

To cite this article: G. Papantoniou (2008) Religiosity as a main element in the ancient Olympic
Games, Sport in Society, 11:1, 32-43, DOI: 10.1080/17430430701717665

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17430430701717665

Published online: 28 Nov 2007.

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 Sport in Society
Vol. 11, No. 1, January 2008, 3243

Religiosity as a main element in the ancient Olympic Games

G. Papantoniou*

Senior Teaching Fellow, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

The purpose of this essay is to explore the factors which linked the ancient Olympic
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Games with the religious feelings and practices of ancient Greek society. From their
origins in prehistoric times the games celebrated at Olympia were based on the
religious traditions of the community and formed an integral part of the religious
feelings and practices of the individual. At a time when religion was intimately
associated with every aspect of social evolution, it was only natural that religious
feeling should influence competitive activities and that the organization of contests
should be integrated into the ritual systems of religious practice. This intensely
religious element of the ancient games formed the basis underlying their revival in the
historical period (from 776 BC onwards) and helped to ensure their survival for many
centuries.

Introduction
Primitive societies have always been enthralled by the life-giving power of the earth,
manifested in the succession of the seasons and the cycle of growth and decay which
accompanies them. The phenomenon of the regular rebirth and death of nature was only
intelligible to prehistoric man if he attempted to explain it as the work of divine
intervention. The recurrent fertility of the natural world led him to imagine a number of
fertility gods, personifications of natural forces. In his ceaseless struggle to secure
nourishment from Mother Earth he worshipped these fertility gods and established rituals
which he hoped would propitiate them and cause them to unite in bringing him abundance,
wealth and prosperity.
Starting from the simple assumption that any birth must be the result of the union of
two forces, male and female, and viewing the Earth, Mother Nature, as the life-giving
force which bears the fruits on which man lives, it was only natural that primitive man
should also assume the existence of a corresponding male divinity, seen as a symbol of
strength and as a fertilizing force a force on which mankind depended for the fertility of
the earth. This association of the divine force with the annual rebirth and growth of the
crops led to the establishment of a religious cult in which an important role was played by
physical activities designed to demonstrate bodily strength and vigour. Thus physical
activity and the demonstration of physical prowess became a part of the cult ritual and the
organization of competitive games was incorporated into the rituals of religious occasions.
The victor in these games was hailed as a symbol of fertility and his crowning with the
victors wreath involved the symbolism of a divine presence. The ceremony was a form of
epiphany in which the god assumed human form in the person of the victor, who was not
awarded any prize of material value but instead a symbol which endowed him with divine
status as a spirit of fertility. Thus the fertility of nature is associated with a human activity

*Email: gpapanto@phed.auth.gr

ISSN 1743-0437 print/ISSN 1743-0445 online

q 2008 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/17430430701717665
http://www.informaworld.com
 Sport in Society 33

through which a victor will emerge, the first and strongest, the competitor graced with
divine approval since his victory, of course, is seen as the effect of divine will.
The divine couple formed the basis for the cults of fertility, which can be traced
through the course of Cretan-Mycenaean civilization and appear from time to time at
Olympia.1 The devotees would accept these cults and worship their deities in a series of
rituals, among which a leading place was occupied by physical activities, which both
influenced the ritual process and were influenced by it in turn.
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The religious origins of the Olympic Games

As we seek to trace the Olympic Games to their source we are led back in time to the vague
and obscure realm of myth and tradition, where we encounter, on the sacred ground of
Olympia, the first competitive games among the gods themselves.2 As the gods associated
with fertility spread out over the Greek world, there arrived at Olympia the Idaean Dactyloi
or Kouretai, originating from Crete.3 These are five brothers, who, looking for some
recreation to pass the time, are encouraged by the eldest, Heracles, to compete with one
another in running races; the victor is crowned with a branch of wild olive. Thus Idaean
Heracles is regarded as the first organizer of the games at Olympia;4 he also named the
games after the site where they were first held and appointed that henceforth they should be
held every fifth year, five being the number of the band of brothers.5
Simple as the myth may appear, it is worth commenting on a number of points it
contains: first of all, the fact that through the brothers play there emerges the idea
of competitive confrontation, involving the element of rivalry. In other words, the myth
contains the parameter of competition and the striving of each competitor to prevail over the
others. Secondly, the victor in the myth is crowned by the organizer of the games with a
branch of wild olive, the celebrated kotinos, which establishes itself as the standard award
for the victor in all the subsequent Olympic Games down the centuries. Finally, the myth
establishes that the Games are to be held with a certain regularity; henceforth the
spontaneous element of play will yield to the notion of the Games as a regular institution.6
Idaean Heracles, as god of the olive tree, brings the tree from Crete and is thus
established as a rural deity in the region of Olympia. The crowning of the victor with the
olive wreath, therefore, symbolizes the presence of the god. Heracles acts in conjunction
with a female deity, Demeter, the supreme goddess of fertility, who taught mankind the
secrets of agriculture. She too originated from Crete and her cult, which was originally
concentrated in Attica, gradually spread into the interior of the country, reaching the
Peloponnese and, finally, distant Olympia.7
Zeus, however, is from the north, and is a deity of Indo-European provenance,
possessed of a warlike, impulsive nature and anxious to impose himself as the dominant
male religious figure on the female deities of the eastern civilizations of the Aegean
region. Nevertheless, subjected to the powerful influence of the local population, heirs to a
superior civilization based on the stability of a self-sustaining rural society, the character
of Zeus undergoes a transformation; he comes to occupy the position of another fertility
god, consort of Hera, member of the Olympian Pantheon, originating in Argos.8
Originally, then, Zeus and Hera are worshipped as a divine couple, and it is in this guise
that they appear at Olympia as early as the beginnings of the second millennium.
Pelops has his origins in the east and is undoubtedly the most important mythical
personage associated with the Peloponnese.9 His arrival in the Argolid leads to an
association with the local deity, Hera, with whom he is linked as consort under the name
Zeus-Pelops, the two of them worshipped as a pair of divinities bringing fertility.
 34 G. Papantoniou

Pelops is associated with the sanctuary of Olympia through the myth which tells of his
coming to Pisa (where the sanctuary is located), meeting in single combat Oenomaeus, the
ruler of the country, defeating him, seizing power and taking his daughter Hippodameia as
his wife.
The combat between Pelops and Oenomaeus has given rise to a variety of
interpretations associated with the way in which a new ruler succeeded his predecessor.
Cook maintains that in early times the Greek kings were appointed after proving themselves
in some form of contest, and that they were regarded as representatives of the gods.10
Cornford applauds Cooks theory and agrees that in mythical times the Olympic contest
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may have been a wa y of appointing the local king.11 Cooks theory rests precisely on this
idea of single combat between the old king and the younger rival who will succeed him. On
the same topic Frazer maintains the view that the individual embodying the sovereign
authority must only be allowed to exercise power for a finite period, the reason being that he
must at all times possess certain qualities and gifts in order to guarantee the fertility of the
soil for his subjects.12 When his powers and vigour begin to decline, he cannot be permitted
to retain his office. Therefore a trial of strength is deemed necessary at regular intervals to
determine whether he is still capable of exercising his functions.
Since the power of the central authority figure is not for life but is renewed periodically
through the holding of some form of contest, we see this contest naturally enough
established as a regular event, held on each occasion to decide which of two contenders is the
worthy leader. Victory is interpreted as a demonstration of divine approval, manifested in
some form of appearance by the deity to endow the victor with his own strength and grace.
The men of the mythical era were convinced that the victor owed his triumph to the decision
of the god, and received from on high his anointed place as king. Thus a contest or combat
between those seeking power contained within it the idea of the selection of the fittest,
supplanting any other form of selection process since the contest was deemed the most
reliable means of selection, issuing in a result determined by divine, not human, action.
The cult of Pelops, with its rituals involving the holding of sporting events at
reasonably regular intervals, reminds us of the funeral games to which many scholars
attribute the religious aspects of the Olympic Games.13 Rohde claims that the Olympic
Games had their origins in the funeral games held for Pelops or Oenomaeus;14 he observes
that the sacrifices offered in honour of Pelops were of a ritual character which formed part
of the chthonic religion, according to which the spirits of the dead and of the heroes
inhabited a region within the bowels of the earth.15
Meuli, in his endeavour to cast light on the meaning of the funeral games, focuses in
particular on the encounters of warriors in single combat, which in early times appear to
have been fought to the death.16 The myth of Oenomaeus refers to the putting to death of
the 13 suitors of Hippodameia, a motif which leads us to the conclusion that Olympia must
once have been the scene of combats fought to the death, probably in honour of Poseidon,
whose cult, according to Vallois, is indicated by the many small figures of horses found in
the vicinity.17 Plutarch, too, describing the games at Pisa, hints at contests where two
combatants fought on until only one survived.18
In his endeavour to find the more profound purpose of human sacrifice in the
phenomenon of single combat, Meuli seeks first of all to interpret the concept of death as
seen in the myths of ancient peoples. He concludes that any death, even that due to natural
causes, is the result of a guilty process involving uncontrollable forces, and is seen as
murder. Thus in the case of each and every death there is an immediate requirement for
revenge on the force which caused it. This punishment of the guilty may come about only
as divine justice delivered through single combat, in which the loser is regarded
 Sport in Society 35

as responsible for the death (that is, the murder) of the hero being honoured, and atones for
the crime through the loss of his own life, thereby offering satisfaction to the hero, who
will subsequently make practical demonstration of his pleasure to the faithful.19
In the fertility rites the victor embodied the rural deity and, according to Cornford,
represented the male consort in the sacred marriage with the winner of the girls
contests held in parallel with those of the men.20 The rites dedicated to the female
deities had their roots in the era of a matriarchal society, subject to maternal law and
founded on the cult of the Mother Goddess. The arrival of Pelops brings to an end the
domination of the female deities and marks the passage from a matriarchal to a
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patriarchal society.21
Given this evolution in religious forms we should expect the games dedicated to the
female deities to precede those held in honour of male gods. Deubner supposes that the
mens running races, the first Olympic events in the historical period, were an imitation
of races run in earlier times by young women.22 Moreover, Curtius expresses the view
that from the time when the Achaeans gained supremacy Hera was worshipped as a
female deity and that the earliest games were held in association with the rites
celebrated in her honour. These running races for girls were the first competitive events
held at Olympia, according to Curtius, who goes on to formulate the view that the
Heraia served in some way as the model for the Olympic Games themselves.23 And so if
we wish to trace the earliest beginnings of the Games we are obliged to go back to the
time of Cretan-Mycenaean civilization and connect the Games with the cult of the
goddesses Demeter and Hera, which we encounter at Olympia. Vermeule believes that
there are signs in the Linear B of the Pylos tablets which lead us to the sacred
marriage.24
The arrival of the Dorian Heracles filled a gap in Mycenaean society, which after the
domination of Pelops was beginning to distance itself from its previous domination by
female figures and to seek masculine deities and heroic figures, which would form the
foundations of a new society based on patriarchal models. The Mycenaeans saw Heracles
as the symbol of courage and physical prowess and believed that through his struggles and
achievements (his labours) he would secure them a better life. The invading Dorians were
enchanted by this manly figure and adopted his cult.
Pindar describes Heracles as the founder of the Olympic Games, claiming that they
have their origins in the celebrations of his victory over Augeus.25 The mythical
background on which the lyric poet rests his assertion has now moved some distance from
the older perception reflected in the fertility rites. What we see here is a weakening of the
old rural religion and the emergence of a new social model one based on martial action.
Within this new climate the twofold nature of Heracles is elevated into a major mythical
figure of action and contest, covering two worlds between Pelops and Iphitus and playing a
dominant role in tradition, whether as a Mycenaean or a Dorian.
Scholars have come to a broad variety of different conclusions in respect of the origins
of the Olympic Games, and it is only natural that there should have been different
interpretations and conflicting findings when we remember that over their long history the
Games have passed through social groups of varying character and been influenced by
religious perceptions which varied from period to period and had to be adjusted at
intervals to the aspirations and desires of the different peoples occupying the area of
Olympia as victors and conquerors. Because the Games were not only the concern of the
internal population of Olympia; they were the product of the influence brought to bear by
invading Greek tribes in other words, they were the creation of the Mycenaeans and
the Dorians.
 36 G. Papantoniou

The role of religion in the revival of the Olympic Games

The successive waves of Dorian incursions into the Peloponnese (twelfth century) brought
social upheavals which at their height subjected the local populations to a period of
continual movement and migration in quest of land on which they could make their living.
We thus see a slackening of the social fabric and a fragmentation of the cohesion of the
community, which had a catalytic impact on the religious life of the people, who for a long
period of time had little leisure to pay the attention they had once paid to their ritual
activities. As long as the conflicts lasted and the frenzy of continual migration continued it
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would appear that most of the Mycenaean cult sites were abandoned. Throughout the
eleventh and tenth centuries offerings and sacrifices were rare.26 During this transitional
period of the post-Mycenaean era it is extremely difficult for us to trace developments in
the region, since the light of history cannot easily penetrate the mists of distant events and
provide us with a satisfactory degree of illumination.
Pausanias tells us that the cult games at Olympia ceased from the time of Oxylus to that
of Iphitus, with the result that the physical activities which had played such an important
role in the earlier period now passed into oblivion.27 This interruption was caused by the
social upheavals of the period, and has also been attributed to the religious differences
between the old and new tribes. Obliged to exist alongside groups with different religious
feelings and practices, they sought a compromise which could never fully satisfy both
sides but was nevertheless felt to be essential. It was natural that the scales should tip in
favour of the victors, who would never have been prepared to embrace the sacred marriage
enshrined in the fertility religion, which had formed the very basis of the matriarchal
religion but which now, in the post-Mycenaean period, was obliged to cede its place to the
new religious sentiments. Great efforts and much time were required, whole centuries in
fact, before the victors were able to persuade the old indigenous populations to accept the
new god of Olympus, Zeus, and to abandon the rituals of the sacred marriage and the
funeral cult of the gods of fertility. Yet certain manifestations rooted in the old rustic gods
did manage to survive, although henceforth these gods were to be worshipped as heroes.28
Eileithyia, Demeter Chamyni, Hippodameia and Pelops no longer existed as gods. Burkert
calculates that perhaps a half of the old Mycenaean deities survived, the others
disappeared.29 Thus the Mycenaean Pelops arrived at Olympia as a god, but the
appearance of the Dorian Zeus reduced him to the rank of a hero. Pausanias refers to
Pelops as a hero and in fact informs us that he was honoured more than any other deity at
Olympia.30 Drees finds it curious that Pelops should be spoken of as a deity while at the
same time his cult involved funeral games, since as a god he should be deemed immortal.
On the other hand, if Pelops was a hero, but a mere mortal, how can one explain why the
funeral games associated with him should have been transformed, at some point in time,
into cult rituals in honour of Zeus?31
Although these problems appear complex, they can be explained to some extent by the
changing religious perceptions consequent on various historical events. The passage from
one religion to its successor did not automatically entail the abolition of the old cults, nor
guarantee that the new cult would entirely prevail. The Dorian invasion of Olympia,
which came with the conquest of the area by the Aitoleans, changed the whole religious
picture. Yet the old gods of the defeated population were not expelled, but instead
demoted to the rank of heroes, allowing their devotees to continue the same form of
worship in their honour a worship which involved competitive games which, with the
passing of time, were incorporated in the cult of Olympian Zeus, the god of the victorious
invaders.
 Sport in Society 37

It is Iphitus who is credited with the revival of the Olympic Games. Descendant of
Oxylus and king of Eleia, he is said by tradition to have undertaken the task of relieving
Greece of civil conflict and epidemics of disease. At a time when the Greek world was torn
by conflict and sorely afflicted with infectious diseases he resolved to seek the assistance
of the oracle of Delphi, which recommended the resumption of the old Olympic Games.32
Olympia was thus entrusted by the oracle with the task of realizing the desire of the god
and restoring peace, tranquillity and harmony to the Greek world.
It is easy to see that the tradition related by Pausanias rests on some historical
foundation. First of all, Iphitus, as king of Eleia, had not the authority to undertake of his
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own initiative to restore peace to the whole country. It was the extraordinary scope of his
ambitious idea which led him to invoke the assistance of Apollo, a deity whose cult
extended across the Greek world, and it was the attempt to revive the old glory of Olympia
and elevate it into a religious centre for all the Greeks which led him to link his grandiose
undertaking with the by now forgotten Olympic Games.
Olympia, however, had originally belonged to the city of Pisa.33 The Pisatai were
believed to have organized the Games up until the time of the Aitolean invasion. When the
Aitoleans colonized and organized the powerful community of Eleia, the Pisatai saw them
as dangerous rivals and were not wrong to do so. There thus began many years of rivalry
between the two, as each sought control of Olympia and of the Olympic Games. During
the troubled period of the Dark Ages (twelfth eighth centuries) the tension and
confrontations between the Aitoleans of Eleia and the indigenous inhabitants of Pisa grew
so fierce that the Games were neglected and even forgotten. Phlegon of Tralles mentions
the peace which was eventually made by agreement between the two kings, Iphitus of
Eleia and Cleosthenes of Pisa.34 At the same time the peace treaty envisaged the
restoration of the derelict sanctuary of Olympia and the resumption of the Games. For it
to hold, however, it would require the seal of divine approval. Once the assistance of
Apollo had been sought and his approval granted, the peace was combined with the
commencement of the Games and came to be known as the truce.
Plutarch mentions another guarantor of the peace treaty,35 Lycurgus, the renowned
Spartan legislator, who is described as a contemporary of Iphitus. There may be some
historical basis for this testimony. The truth is that Sparta, which represented the martial
glory of the Doric race and was to play a significant role in later developments, could not
be absent from an enterprise of this kind, affecting as it did the whole Greek world. Thus
the truce was the work of three different centres, each representing its tribal origins. There
were the old inhabitants of Pisa, descendants of the Mycenaean kingdom, the Aitoleans of
Eleia and the Dorians of Sparta.
The terms of the truce were inscribed on a bronze disc, the text not set out in horizontal
lines but running around the circumference of the surface.36 This was known as the disc of
Iphitus and was kept in the temple of Hera a location which might indicate symbolically
its influence in bringing together the devotees of Zeus and Hera, patriarchy and
matriarchy, or the new tribes of Eleia and Laconia and the old tribes of Pisa.37
It was only to be expected that the truce would provoke reaction from the pre-Dorian
populations, and generally from the other cities of the Peloponnese, who looked askance at
the revival of the Games, the prestige they would bring to Olympia and the wealth and
status to be secured by the organizing city. They sent their own representatives to the
oracle at Delphi, which issued a new instruction to all the peoples of the Peloponnese,
urging them to submit to her wishes.38 Eventually they all yielded to the insistence of the
oracle and the peace, desired for centuries, appeared to have won general acceptance. The
Eleians undertook the organization of the Games and, according to Pausanias, were even
 38 G. Papantoniou

persuaded by Iphitus to offer sacrifices to Heracles, their inveterate enemy, who had
waged war against them when their king was Augeus.39
There is no consistent Greek tradition concerning the origin of the truce. We have
mentioned three sources, each of which appears to be desirous of supporting the claims of
a different group: Pausanias gives us the Eleian tradition, Phlegon is anxious that we not
forget the role of Pisa, and Plutarch introduces a Spartan involvement. The leading players
in this Olympic Amphictiony move in the shadowy realm that divides myth from history.
As for the date of the truce and the commencement of the Games, 776 BC, this can only be
accepted as a convention. Yet these events were only the formal aspect of a process which
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in essence was intended to bring an end to a period of turmoil and which marked the
dawn of a new historical period, in which the Greek world was to experience moments of
unparalleled glory.
Drees interprets the truce as an attempt to revive the Mycenaean kingdom.40 After
years of hostilities which resulted in the fragmentation of the Mycenaean empire, old and
new tribes, victors and vanquished realized that they had no alternative but to seek the path
of peaceful coexistence. They looked back nostalgically on the period of pax mycenica
as they suffered the grief of unceasing warfare, with all its ill effects: the economic decline
of their country,41 the loss of external trade to the Phoenician fleet, the dwindling
population caused by mass migration, the decline in the level of culture and the temporary
loss of the art of writing, and most important of all the hatred and enmity fomented by
the rivalry of old and new religious feelings. A solution had to be found.
The truce provided the opportunity for all sides to bury the hatchet; it demonstrated in
practical terms that even after centuries of hostility it was possible for the various peoples
to enjoy the fruits of peaceful coexistence. The sacred character of the truce served as a
guarantee that it would be respected. The competitors, their families and others wishing to
attend the Games were able to travel without fear to Olympia, to watch the contests and
then return safely to their homes. Military conflicts and legal proceedings alike were
suspended during the truce; no executions were carried out on those condemned to death.
Elis was regarded as a sacred city, neutral and inviolable; it was forbidden for armed
troops to set foot on its territory. As long as the truce was in effect (one, two or three
months) it was an opportunity for traditional enemies to test the waters of reconciliation
an opportunity seized gratefully by the people, and one which demonstrated that the time
for a new beginning had arrived.

Religious aspects of the Olympic Games in the historical period

As humans have evolved, the range of our bodily movements has increased; the various
uses of the human body are, of course, an integral part of everyday life. In the context of
social organization, physical activities develop from a simple biological phenomenon into
a form of expression for deeper feelings, often involving the religious sentiments of the
community as a whole. Important scholarly works have demonstrated that the life of
society is closely linked to mans religious activities,42 and therefore it would be
unthinkable that such a basic function as the movements of the body should remain outside
the sphere of influence of religion. J.P. Vernant maintains that ancient Greek religion was
not a phenomenon separate from other areas of life and closed within its own boundaries.
He goes on to say: Specifically, in respect of ancient and classical Greece, if we have the
right to speak of a religion of the city, it is because in the city the religious formed part of
the social, while conversely the social, on all levels and in the whole variety of its
manifestations, was imbued with the religious.43
 Sport in Society 39

We have already spoken of the leading role played by competitive activities in the
ritual aspects of religious life. The smooth development of such activities presupposed the
consistent dominance of one form of religion, to whose requirements the corresponding
ritual practices were adapted. We also claimed that the revival of the Games was the result
of a religious compromise and of the dominance of the new religion of the Dorian
conquerors. This compromise basically involved the imposition on the vanquished
population of the new gods of their conquerors, yet in reaction there emerged among the
defeated population a cult of the hero, generally accepted as a way of commemorating their
glorious past and forming the basis for the development of a new type of society, one which
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was to acquire a remarkable energy and vigour with the creation of the new city-state.
Each new city to be founded selected a particular deity as its patron and protector, yet it
was perfectly possible for two or more cities to adopt a common cult. Not infrequently cities
would jointly decide to establish ritual celebrations in honour of the same deity.44 Their
peoples would come together at regular intervals to organize sacred rites and share lavish
meals, accompanied by hymns, prayers and contests. Each city would send its own official
delegation of theoroi45 to take part in the sacrifices. The Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian and
Nemean Games were major religious gatherings. A basic feature of these events was the
coming together in celebration of the same cult, and the link which originally connected a
large number of city-states, and eventually the whole Greek world, was this shared religious
awareness. Their affiliation was primarily religious, not political. F. de Coulanges, says that
their main purpose was not to attempt to bridge the two worlds of myth and smooth over
differences, but rather to celebrate the rituals of worship, to perform the appropriate rites
and to preserve the sacred truce during the period of the festivities.46
If we focus history, it is clear that the Games of Olympia were revived within a
tradition, carrying with them the traces of their past religious and cult character and now
gradually becoming established in their new form with the appearance and consolidation
of the new city-state, marking in its turn the dawn of what we know as ancient Greece.
The definitive revival of the Games also indicated the triumph of the true Greek spirit,
implying that the Games were no longer held solely to pay tribute to Zeus, but also to
allow the competitors to savour the joy of victory, earned through the nobility of
competition and the indescribable passion to prevail.47 This secular aspect of the Games
may have offered some support to those who have claimed they were never a religious
occasion, who have questioned their religious character and would place them outside the
religious and cult context of the festive occasion. Such views have been propounded on
occasion from as far back as the time of Krause and Burckhardt (nineteenth century).
Gardiner (1925) would later claim that the Games were held in tandem with cult festivals
simply because a large and peaceful gathering of devotees offered the ideal practical
conditions for such contests to be staged. A similar view, backed by a variety of
arguments, has subsequently been put forward by Juthner (1965), Harris (1972) and
Patrucco (1972).48
Since the earliest times athletic contests had been intimately associated with religious
practices and the bond between religion and physical activity had been forged in the cults
of the heroes and the gods. In the enchanting world of myth we saw gods and heroes
competing and winning, establishing their own games and being regarded as the patrons
and sponsors of particular events. Cronus, Zeus, Apollo, Hermes and Ares were the first to
participate in the games, followed by Idaean Heracles, Pelops, Oenomaeus, Heracles, the
Dioscouri and a whole host of kings and rulers.49 Many victors in the Olympic Games
were worshipped as heroes or gods, a custom which ordinary people would retain well into
historical times, from which a number of cases can be cited.50
 40 G. Papantoniou

Pindar, poet of the Games and their victors, pours all his own religious feeling into his
victory odes and, as apostle and initiator of a new theology, gives form to sophisticated
religious and moral perceptions. He confesses that nothing is incredible if it issues from the
gods and makes the victories of his heroes dependent on the gods will, since it is they who
have endowed the victors with the necessary talent.51 This divine recognition, combined
with the athletes worthiness of foot and hand, brings victory and bestows on the victor
both happiness and glory.52 This is the distillation of Pindars moral view, making human
perfection and happiness the result of divine approval, in combination with a mans own
efforts and prowess in the arena and in his ordinary life. He whose efforts are crowned with
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victory is elevated to a level above that of ordinary mortals, a level where he encounters his
god and assumes his likeness.53 The victory odes of Pindar reveal the profound religious
significance of the Games and record for posterity the philosophy of competition which we
owe to the Greeks, who regarded the athletic contests as an integral part of their religion.
The fact is that the whole ideological edifice of the Olympic Games rests on religious
feeling. The victor is regarded as sacred and extraordinary honours are bestowed on him, for
in essence he symbolizes the god in whose honour the Games are held.54 Sacrifices were
made to Zeus or to the patron deity of a particular event, in order to ensure divine assistance,
but after the contest, too, the victor would dedicate lavish gifts, offerings and statues to the
gods. Pausanias, who visited Olympia in the second century AD, mentions a large number of
statues of athletes adorning the sacred grove of Altis.55 Any breach of the rules governing
the Games was regarded as an act of impiety and the punishment imposed involved an
appropriate offering to the offended gods.[56] The stadium in which the contests took place
formed part of the sanctuary and it was not until the middle of the fourth century BC that the
portico of Echo was constructed, separating the sanctuary from the stadium and marking the
beginning of the gradual secularization of the Games. Even the rule prohibiting married
women from watching the contests was an act of cult significance, indicating the total
opposition of the new patriarchal religion to anything which might be seen as a fertility
symbol.57 Thus while unmarried maidens were according to Pausanias58 allowed to
watch the Games, the married women were excluded on pain of death, because in their
capacity as mothers they represented the fertilizing force and energy.59
As the Olympic Games evolved during the historical period they were often subject
to religious intervention, as religion endeavoured to control the competitive activities. Such
interventions may often have concealed underlying economic or even political motivations,
yet the mere fact that they aroused a response among the people and raised their individual
awareness indicates that the popular mind still kept alive somewhere deep within it a sense
of tradition and still attached a religious character to the competitive events.

Conclusion
The Olympic Games in ancient Greece had their roots deep in the past and were directly
linked with religion as an event which had been an important part of the cult rituals of society
since very ancient times. Tradition has it that the gods themselves were worshipped as
victors in the Games, while also asserting a special relationship between the Games and the
cult of the rural deities which appeared from time to time over the course of the centuries.
Prehistoric man sought to solve his problems by physical activity. In prehistoric
cultures the cultivation of physical prowess was a mans most important quality, earning
him worldly power through victory and triumph over his rivals. At the same time,
however, this power acquired a religious content, since the ruler was recognized as the
representative of the deity on earth, an interlocutor of the god and an interpreter of divine
 Sport in Society 41

orders, by virtue of which he sought to exercise his authority.60 Accepting as his main duty
the welfare of his people, he assumed responsibility for propitiating the divine forces of
fertility, securing their assistance in increasing the yield of the soil.
This mediation of one individual between god and human community gradually came
to be seen as the task of the strongest, since bodily strength was associated with healthier
crops and more abundant harvests. Thus the process of identifying the strongest man
through a contest, a trial of strength, became an event of the first importance for the
community and assumed a religious dimension.
With the appearance of the Dorians and the transition to the warlike deities of the
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patriarchal societies, Olympia came to be dominated by the Olympian pantheon and the
contests were now held in honour of Olympian Zeus. Drees observes that it is not easy to
establish a dividing line between the old contests in honour of the fertility gods and the
new Games in honour of Zeus; this is because, he says, the old contests were the model on
which the new Games were based and from whose ashes the new Olympic Games arose.61
In other words the revival of the Games occurs within a sequence of continuity, rather than
a suspension and a new beginning on a new basis.
During the historical period the Games retained a whole range of features which quite
clearly were intended to safeguard their religious character, and indeed depended on that
character. For many centuries the communities of the Greek cities remained faithful to the old
traditions and religion, continuing to see the Games as a manifestation of the cult of Olympian
Zeus. And thus the religious aspect of the Olympics would not be lost until mans religious
sentiments and faith themselves were shaken. From that time on the religious character of the
Games entered on its decline, until the final moment of its complete disappearance the
inevitable consequence of the collapse of the religion of the gods of Olympus.

Notes
1
Treuil et al., Les civilisations egeennes du Neolithique et de l Age du Bronze (The civilization
of Aegean region in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages), 548 55. Also, Alexiou, The Minoan
Culture, 79 121.
2
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis I, 7, 10.
3
Diodorus of Sicily, The Library of History, 5, 64, 3. See also, Kaibel, Daktyloi Idaioi,
488 517.
4
Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, VIII, C 355 and X, C 473.
5
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis I, 7, 9.
6
Ibid.
7
Hesiod, Theogony, 971.
8
Homer, Iliad, 4. 59.
9
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 1, 9.
10
Cook, The European Sky-God, 369.
11
Cornford, The Origin of the Olympic Games, 212 59.
12
Frazer, Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship, 264.
13
Goessler, Das Pelops-Grab in Olympia und seine kultische Bedeutung, 283ff; Meuli,
Der Ursprung der Olympischen Spiele, 189 208; Ueberhorst, Totenkult und Agon der
Griechen, 176ff.
14
Rohde, Psyche, Seelenkult und Unsterblichkeitsglaube der Griechen, 27ff.
15
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis I, 13, 2.
16
Meuli, Der Ursprung der Olympischen Spiele, 197.
17
Vallois, Les origines des jeux olympiques, 118.
18
Plutarch, Moralia, V, 675 D.
19
Meuli, Der Ursprung der Olympischen Spiele, 195 6.
20
Cornford, The Origin of the Olympic Games, 223.
21
Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht, III, 164.
 42 G. Papantoniou
22
Deubner, Kult und Spiel im alten Olympia, 25.
23
Curtius, Entwurf einer Geschichte von Olympia, I, 18.
24
Vermeule, Gotterkult, 68.
25
Pindar, The Odes of Pindar Olympian, 10. 4 and 57 9.
26
Mosse and Schnapp-Gourbeillon, Precis d Histoire Grecque, 140.
27
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis I, 8, 5.
28
Pindar, The Odes of Pindar Olympian, 1. 90 1.
29
Burkert, Griechische Religion der archaischen und klassischen Epoche, 121.
30
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis I, 13, 1.
31
Drees, Der Ursprung der Olympischen Spiele, 104.
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32
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis I, 4, 6; Also, Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, VIII,
C 358.
33
Xenophon, Hellenica, 7, 4, 28; Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, VIII, C 336.
34
Phlegon of Tralles, FGrHist, 1, 3.
35
Plutarch, Lycurgus, 1.
36
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis I, 20, 1.
37
Drees, Der Ursprung der Olympischen Spiele, 107.
38
Phlegon of Tralles, FGrHist, 1, 5 9.
39
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis I, 4, 6.
40
Drees, Der Ursprung der Olympischen Spiele, 102 103.
41
Sakellariou, History of Greek Nation, II, 37 41.
42
In his classic work La cite antique de Coulanges maintains that community life is the result of
religious influence. He thus takes a view almost opposite to that of Durkheim (Le suicide), who
claims that the role of religion is dependent on the social organization of the human community.
43
Vernant, Mythe et religion en Grece ancienne, 12.
44
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 3, 57 and 59.
45
Plato, Laws, 950e.
46
de Coulanges, La cite antique, 293.
47
Lucian, Anacharsis, 12.
48
Cf. Gardiner, Olympia. Its history and remains; Juthner, Die athletische Leibesubungen der
Griechen; Harris, Sport in Greece and Rome; Patrucco, Lo Sport nella Grecia antica.
49
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis I, 8, 4; Pindar, The Odes of Pindar Olympian, 3. 34 8.
50
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis II, 9, 6 8 and 11, 6 9.
51
Pindar, The Odes of Pindar Olympian, 13. 104 5; Pythian, 10. 49 50; Olympian, 11. 10;
Pythian, 10. 10 11; Nemean, 1. 12 13; Olympian, 9. 110 11; Pythian, 1. 41.
52
Ibid., Pythian, 10. 22 4.
53
Ibid., Olympian, 2. 2.
54
Lucian, Anacharsis, 10.
55
Pausanias, Elis II, 1 18.
56
Ibid., Elis I, 21, 2.
57
Drees, Der Ursprung der Olympischen Spiele, 119.
58
Pausanias, Elis II, 20, 9.
59
Ibid., Elis I, 6, 7.
60
Homer, Odyssey, 19. 179; Plato, Minos, 319b; Laws, 624b.
61
Drees, Der Ursprung der Olympischen Spiele, 99.

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