Facts about Olympics

Most people know that the Olympics started out in Ancient Greece, but did you
know that back then the athletes competed in the nude? (Though technically,
they could wear penis restraints - yes, you read that right). Or that
one of the games was an ancient form of mixed martial arts? Or that a
chef won the very first Olympic games?

To help celebrate the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, we'll posts some neat
facts about the Olympics, starting with this one: 10 Fascinating Facts
About the Ancient Olympic Games:

1. Ancient Olympic Athletes Competed in the Nude

Milo of Kroton, one of the greatest Ancient Olympic champion. He won

the wrestling event 6 times, over the span of 34 years! (Source)

Yes, that's right - ancient Olympic sportsmen (all men, by the way) ran,
wrestled, and fought buck naked. The ancient Greeks had a tradition of
doing things nude (they walked around in the buff in the bedroom and at
parties called sympsia*, and they exercised without any clothes on) -
indeed, the word gymnasium came from the Greek word gymos, which
means "naked."

Why naked? Well, to appreciate and celebrate the male physique, of course,
and as a tribute to the gods. Participants regularly anointed themselves
with olive oil to enhance their looks ... and to keep the skin smooth!

In the sixth century, there was an actually attempt to make athletes
wear loincloths, but this proved to be unpopular and soon afterwards nudity
regained its status as fashion in athletics.

*Great trivia for the next time you're in a boring symposium: the original
symposium is a nude drinking party (sympotein is Greek
for "to drink together"), complete with courtesans (basically
sophisticated prostitutes).

2. The Prudes Wore Penis Restraints

Did
I say all athletes competed naked in the Ancient Olympics? Silly me -
actually, not all of them were naked.

Some wore a kynodesme (literally a "dog leash"), a
thin leather thong used as a penis restraint:

[The kynodesme] was tied tightly around the part of the foreskin
that extended beyond the glans. The kynodesme could then either be attached
to a waist band to expose the scrotum, or tied to the base of the penis
so that the penis appeared to curl upwards.

3. A Chef Won the Very First Olympic Games

The very first recorded Ancient Olympic Games took place in 776 BC. The
event was a stadion race (a foot race equivalent to a 190-m or
208-yard dash). The winner was a humble baker from the Greek city state
of Elis named Coroebus
(also spelled Koroibos).

For the first 13 games, the stadion race was the only competition. At
the 14th Ancient Olympic Games, a double race was added.

4. ... and He Won ... An Olive Branch!

An Olympionike or a winner of an event receiving an olive wreath and red
ribbons

(Epiktetos Painter, 520 - 510 BC - from mlahanas.de)

Yup - that's because the Ancient Olympic Games didn't have any medals
or prizes. Winners of the competitions won olive wreaths, branches, as
well as woolen ribbons. Oh, that and the all important honor.

They did, however, come home as heroes - and got showered with gifts
there. Many victors subsequently used their fame to endorse products and
to get paid posing for sculptures and drawings (just like today, huh?)

5. More than Just Running: Wrestling and Boxing Added to the Ancient
Olympics

Tired
of all the running, a new game of wrestling (called pale) was
added to the 18th Olympics in 708 B.C.

Greek wrestling was a bit more fun than your regular high school wrestling.
For one, submission holds were allowed (actually, they were encouraged)
and that a referee could punish an infraction by whipping the contestant
with a stick until the undesirable behavior stopped!

Later, pygme/pygmachia or Ancient Greek boxing was added. Now,
some historian believed that boxing was originally developed in Sparta.
Being the original tough guys, Spartans believed that helmets were unnecessary
in battle. Instead, they boxed themselves in the face to prepare for battles!

In the Ancient Olympics, there were no rounds - boxing was done when
a fighter was knocked out cold (if the fight lasted too long,
then they each took turn punching each other in the head until one collapsed).

6. Pankration: Ancient Greek Mixed Martial Arts

In this Pankration scene, the pankriatiast on the right is trying to gouge
his opponent's eye and the ref is about to beat the living tar out of
him with a stick

(Photo: Jastrow [Wikimedia])

If you think that Ancient Greek boxing was violent, it's more like knitting
when compared to pankration, the ancient form of mixed martial arts.

How violent was pankration? Let's just say that there were only two rules:
no eye gouging and no biting (the referees carried sticks to beat those
who violated the rules). Everything else - including choke holds, breaking
fingers and neck - was legit. There was no weight division or time limits:
the fight continued until a combatant surrendered, lost consciousness,
or died.

In 564 BC, Arrhachion of Philgaleia was crowned the pankration victor
... even after he had died:

Arrhachion's opponent, having already a grip around his waist,
thought to kill him and put an arm around his neck to choke off his
breath. At the same time he slipped his legs through Arrhachion's groin
and wound his feet inside Arrhachion's knees, pulling back until the
sleep of death began to creep over Arrhachion's senses. But Arrhachion
was not done yet, for as his opponent began to relax the pressure of
his legs, Arrhachion kicked away his own right foot and fell heavily
to the left, holding his opponent at the groin with his left knee still
holding his opponent's foot firmly. So violent was the fall that the
opponent's left ankle was wrenched from his socket. The man strangling
Arrhachion ... signaled with his hand that he gave up. Thus Arrhachion
became a three-time Olympic victor at the moment of his death. His corpse
... received the victory crown. (Source)

Lastly, just to prove that they're bad asses, the ancient Greeks then
decided to start a pankration event for the paides or youth (boys
aged 12 to 17) Olympic games!

7. The Olympic Games Weren't the Only One

Those Greeks sure did love their sports! The Ancient Olympic games were
actually just a part of four sports festival called the Panhellenic Games:

- The Olympic Games, the most important and prestigious game of them
all, was held in honor of Zeus every four years near Elis.

- Pythian Games was held every four years near Delphi in honor of Apollo

- Nemean Games was held every two years near Nemea, in honor of Zeus

- Isthmian Games was held every two years near Corinth, in honor of
Poseidon

The games were arranged in such a way that there was one going on (almost)
every year.

8. Heraea: Ancient Olympics for Women

Married
women were banned at the Ancient Olympics on the penalty of death. The
laws dictated that any adult married woman caught entering the Olympic
grounds would be hurled to her death from a cliff! Maidens, however, could
watch (probably to encourage gettin' it on later).

But this didn't mean that the women were left out: they had their own
games, which took place during Heraea, a festival worshipping the goddess
Hera. The sport? Running - on a track that is 1/6th shorter than the length
of a man's track on the account that a woman's stride is 1/6th shorter
than that of a man's!

The female victors at the Heraea Games actually got better prizes: in
addition to olive wreaths, they also got meat from an ox slaughtered for
the patron deity on behalf of all participants!

Overall, young girls in Ancient Greece weren't encouraged to be athletes
- with a notable exception of Spartan girls. The Spartans believed that
athletic women would breed strong warriors, so they trained girls alongside
boys in sports. In Sparta, girls also competed in the nude or wearing
skimpy outfits, and boys were allowed to watch (to encourage gettin'
it on later marriage and procreation). (Photo: Sikyon.com)

9. Ancient "Computer" Used to Set Olympics Date

In
1901, a Greek sponge diver discovered the wreck of an ancient cargo ship
off the coast of the Antikythera island. One of the item recovered was
an ancient mechanical computer that became known as the Antikythera mechanism. Scientists estimated that it was created in 150 to 100 BC

For over a hundred years, scientists debated the true purpose of the
Antikythera mechanism and marveled at the intricacies of the device (mind
you, the mechanical clock didn't appear in the West until about a thousand
years later).

Recently, scientists believed that they've finally cracked the mystery:

Tony Freeth, a member of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project,
said he was "astonished" at the discovery.

"The Olympiad cycle was a very simple, four-year cycle and
you don't need a sophisticated instrument like this to calculate it.
It took us by huge surprise when we saw this.

"But the Games were of such cultural and social importance
that it's not unnatural to have it in the Mechanism." (Source)

10. Christianity Killed the Ancient Olympics

The
Romans, who conquered Greece, viewed the Olympics as a pagan festival.

So, in AD 393, Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned the Ancient Olympics
in part to institute Christianity as a state religion. The Olympics was
no more ... until it was revived 1,500 years later in 1896.