Delayed a year as a result of the pandemic, the Olympic Games of 2020 are in progress in Tokyo. The ancient games were held in the 9th Century BCE, but the first official Olympic games took place in 776 BCE at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia as a festival in honor of the god. An Olympic truce began one month before the festival to allow participants to travel safely to and from the games. The Olympics grew from one event, a sprint (stade) that was one length of the stadium (stand), to a five days series of events. The festival included processions, sacrifices, award ceremonies, and a final victory party. Athletes were free men and boys who spoke Greek. Foreigners, slaves, and women were not allowed to participate or attend. The one exception was the priestess of Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, harvest, and fertility, and her virgin attendants. Approximately 40,000 men attended the festival.
Athletes trained for ten months at nearby Elis. Two days before the festival, they walked on the Sacred Way to Olympus. Heralds (kerykes) and trumpeters (salpinktes) led the procession, passing by bronze statues of past Olympic athletes that lined the terrace wall to the entrance of the stadium. Before the competition, athletes and their fathers took an oath testifying to the athletes’ character and morals. An important part of the oath, the aidos, was a statement that each athlete had conducted “himself fairly, courageously, respectfully, kindly, and honestly.” The fathers swore their sons were truly descended from pure Greek lineage. Last, while holding the flesh of boar sacrificed to Zeus, everyone swore aidos together to do nothing to dishonor the games. The judges then swore to judge fairly, to not accept bribes, and to keep information about the athletes private.
A life-size bronze sculpture and a big celebratory feast was a typical tribute by a city to its winning athlete. In the Middle Ages and later, these bronze pieces were melted down to make weapons. As result the number of extant Greek bronzes is very small. Fortunately, the Romans made thousands of marble copies of the beautiful Classical and Hellenistic Greek bronzes that were brought to Rome as booty. One Roman was reported to have commissioned 3000 marble copies.
Polycleitus’s “Spearbearer” (Doryphorus) (javelin) (450 BCE) was one of the most copied works. Devised by Polycleitus, this male figure was considered the perfect “Canon of Proportion.” The figure was seven heads high, and all body measurements were mathematically proportioned accordingly. Athletes were known as “arete”, meaning all round body and performance perfection. Polycleitus achieved that goal. The Classical standing male figure was ideal, possessing the perfect body, age, behavior, and pose, and representing “sophrosyne”, moderation in all things.
The “Spearbearer” stands in the relaxed pose a standing human naturally assumes called contrapposto (weight shift). The Spearbearer’s weight is on his right leg; his left leg is bent at the knee, and his left toes gently touch the ground, but only for balance. The muscles of his right leg and left arm, where the javelin would have been placed, are engaged. The left leg and right arm are relaxed. When the right leg tires the body naturally will shift, the left leg will take the weight as the right relaxes.
Greek Classical sculpture also reflects Plato’s (Republic) description of the significance and necessity of a life-long education in music to achieve the ideal. “The music master makes rhythm and harmony describes familiar to the souls of boys, and they become gentler and more refined and having more rhythm and harmony in them they become more efficient in speech and in action. The whole life of a man stands in need of good harmony and good rhythm…In keeping the harmony of his body in tune, his constant aim is to preserve the symphony which resides in the soul.”
Polycleitus’s “Diadumenous” depicts an athlete tying the filet (sweat band) around his head. This statue and the “Spearbearer” are marble copies of the original bronzes. The Romans set up large studios to make marbles copies for the wealthy to display in their villas. For the most part the Romans made excellent copies. However, they were unable to make the marble statues stand only on two feet, as the original Greek bronzes did. The Roman copiers had to make a strut, or third leg, to keep the figure upright. The tree trunk on the “Spearbearer” is an unusual spiral carving that from the front looks to be several inches behind the leg. From the side, the tree trunk can be seen to bend at ninety-degrees to attach to the leg. The tree trunk of the “Filet Tier” appears natural, but several of the upper branches attach to the leg. Another unexpected aspect of a Roman free-standing marble statue is that they were painted. Hair was either brown or yellow, lips were red, eyes were brown or blue, and skin was pink. If the figure was clothed, fabric patterns and solid colors were used.
Myron’s “Discus Thrower” (460-450 BCE) is represented by two Roman copies. Typically, Roman marble copies were found partially intact. Since there were so many identical images, and so many had broken apart, museums have been able to piece together numerous copies of these works. Despite the initial impression, the “Discus Thrower” is not in motion. He is in the starting position of the discus throw; he is calmly running through the steps he will take in order to have a successful throw. According to the Classical ideal, a rational, not an emotional mind, is an absolute necessity. A successful athlete must maintain total concentration during each moment. Emotions have no place in success. For this reason, all faces appear deep in thought, never allowing emotion to intervene.
The Classical Period (480 – 323 BCE) evolved and the sculptor Lysippos introduced a second “Canon of Proportion.” The “Scraper” (Apoxyomenos) (350-320 BCE) (6’9”) depicts the new proportion at eight heads tall, that resulted in a slenderer figure. The new proportion was a subtle change to the original Classical figure and was easily adopted.
Male figures were not depicted in the nude until early in the Olympic games. It was said that a woman who had trained her sons became so excited at their victory, that she jumped out of the trainer’s enclosure and fell. Her disguise was revealed. She had violated the proscription of women’s participation. From that time on, all athletes and trainers who participated were required to be nude. In art, the depiction of trainers and judges are not always nude. Women who tried to sneak onto the sacred grounds of the games were thrown off a nearby mountain cliff.
“Scraper” depicts an athlete cleaning the perspiration, dust, and oil from his body with a strigil, a curved metal instrument with a wooden handle that could be used on all muscles of body. Appreciation of the perfect male body in sporting events was frequently enhanced by smearing the body with oil to create a pleasing sheen.
Polycleitus, Myron and Lysippos worked only in bronze. Pliny the Elder said Lysippos made 1500 works in bronze. In 330 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered Greece. Lysippos was named the court sculptor to Alexander with the sole right to depict him.
Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world and as he conquered, he spread his love of Greek sculpture to new lands. The Hellenistic period, as it is known, this signaled a change in Greek sculpture. The ideal Classical figure was continued, but many new human types were introduced. The range of ages from very young to very old were introduced as well as figures representing a wide range of human conditions and emotions.
The “Bronze Boxer” by Apollonius of Athens (80 BCE) is old, battered and tired. Boxing matches (pyx or pygme) were fought until one boxer gave up. Although the “Boxer” is sitting down to rest, he is not calm. His head has turned and his facial expression is one of concern or anxiety. He has a beard and mustache and a broken nose, cauliflower ears, and several facial scars. His slightly soft muscles show his age. Unlike Classical sculptures, he is not entirely nude but wears caestus, leather hand wraps. The viewer cannot help but feel a deep emotional impact when observing this work.
The Olympic Games were not the only annual games of Ancient Greece. The Olympics were held every four years, rotating with the Isthmian games celebrating Poseidon, the Nemean games celebrating Zeus at Nemea, and the Pythian games celebrating Apollo at Delphi. The winners at the Olympic games were awarded victor’s palms and ribbons were tied around their heads. Athletes might take victory lap where they would be showered with leaves. The final and most important reward was an olive wreath from Zeus’s sacred tree. There was no metal and no money. The historian Dio Chrystostom (40-115 CE) wrote in The Rhodian Discourses: “You know the Olympian crown is olive leaves, and yet many have preferred this honor to life itself.”
Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.
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