Pausanias: A Description of Olympia in the Days of Its Glory, ca. 776 B.C.E.
What Olympia was in the days of its glory may be judged by the following description by Pausanias, who visited the spot in the second century A.D. In his age all the famous buildings were still intact, the games were maintained in the spirit of the old traditions, and the signs of decadence at least were unmarked. As he himself indicates, the games were once vastly simpler affairs than in the later days. At first they probably attracted the folk of the neighboring parts of the Peloponnesus merely: and very likely it was not until the sixth century B.C. that they began to be frequented by athletes from all parts of Hellas, or to be visited by the hardly less characteristic “Religious Embassies” sent by the several city-states to show forth their wealth and elegance under the guise of bringing offerings to Olympian Zeus.
On reaching Olympia you see at last the waters of the Alpheus, a broad and noble stream, fed by seven important rivers, not to speak of lesser tributaries. With regard to the Olympic games, the Elean antiquaries say that Cronos first reigned in heaven, and that a temple was made for him at Olympia by the men of that age, who were named the “Golden Race.” But when Zeus was born, Ehea committed the safe-keeping of the child to the Dactyls, who came from Ida in Crete, — and their names were Heracles, Pseonsens, Epimenes, Lasius, and Idas. Then in sport Heracles, as the eldest, set his brethren to run a race, and crowned the victor with a branch of wild olive, of which they had such abundance that they slept on its fresh green leaves. They say that the wild olive was brought to Greece by Heracles from the land of the Hyperboreans. He made the rule that the games should be celebrated every fourth year. Some say that Zeus wrestled here with Cronos for the kingdom, others that Zeus held the games in honor of his victory over Cronos. Amongst those who are said to have gained victories is Apollo, who is declared to have outrun Hermes in a race, and defeated Ares in boxing. That is why the flutes play the Pythian air [sacred to Apollo], while the competitors in the pentathlum are leaping, because that air is sacred to Apollo, and the god himself had won Olympic crowns.
[After a long tradition of contests in which gods and heroes were the main participants] Iphitus “renewed” the games, and people had forgotten the ancient customs, and they only gradually “remembered” them, and as they remembered them piece by piece, they added them to the games. At the point where the unbroken tradition of the Olympiads begins, there were only prizes for the foot race, and Coroebus the Elean won the first race. Afterward in the fourteenth Olympiad (724-720 B.C.) the double-circuit foot race was added, and Hypenus, a Pisan, won the wild olive crown in it. In the eighteenth they “remembered” the pentathlum and the wrestling. In the twenty-third Olympiad they “restored” the prizes for boxing. In the twenty-fifth they admitted the race for grown horses, in four horse chariots. Eight Olympiads later they admitted the pancratium for men, and the (single) horse race. The origin of the competitions for boys, however, is not traced to any ancient tradition; they were introduced by a resolution of the Eleans [who presided over and controlled the general policy of the games]. Prizes for boys in running and wrestling were instituted in the thirty-seventh Olympiad; in the forty-first they introduced boxing for boys. The race between men in armor was sanctioned in the sixty-fifth Olympiad, for the purpose, I presume, of training men in war. The race between pairs of full-grown horses was instituted in the ninety-third. In the ninety-ninth they began the chariot races between cars each drawn by four foals. In the hundred and forty-fifth Olympiad prizes were offered for boys in the pancratium.
[A number of contests, e.g. between mule carts, were tried for a while, then given up.] As for the mule-cart race it had neither dignity nor antiquity to commend it, and the carts were drawn by mules, and an ancient curse rests on the people of Elis if ever the animal is born in their land.
The present rules as to the presidents of games are not what they were originally. Iphitus [the founder] presided over the games, and after him, the descendants of Oxylus did likewise. But in the fiftieth Olympiad two men, selected by lot from the whole body of the Eleans, were intrusted with the presidency of the festival, and for a long time two was the number of the presidents. However, in the twenty-fifth Olympiad nine umpires were appointed, three to take care of the chariot race, three for the pentathlum [a very important contest] and three to take charge of the other contests. In the next Olympiad but one a tenth umpire was added. In the hundred and third Olympiad the Eleans were divided into twelve tribes, and one umpire was taken from each of the twelve. In the hundred and eighth they reverted to the number ten, and so it has remained ever since.
The temple and image of Zeus here were made from the booty at the time the Eleans conquered Pisa and the vassal states that revolted with her. That the image was made by Phidias is attested by the inscription under the feet of Zeus: — “Phidias, Charmides’s son, an Athenian made me.”
The god is seated on a throne, he is made of gold and ivory, on his head is a wreath made in imitation of the sprays of olive. In his right hand he carries a Nike (Victory), also of ivory and gold; she wears a ribbon, and on her head is a wreath. In the left hand of the god is a scepter curiously wrought in all the metals; the bird perched on the scepter is an eagle. The sandals of the god are of gold, and so is his robe. On the robe are wrought figures of animals and lily flowers. The throne is adorned with gold and precious stones, also with ebony and ivory; and there are figures painted, and images wrought on it. There are four Victories in the attitude of dancing at each foot of the throne, and two others at the bottom of each foot.
[Then follows much detail about the mythological characters represented by Phidias on the foot of the throne or about it.]
I know that measurements of the height and breadth of the Zeus of Olympia have been recorded, but I cannot praise the men who took them. For even the measurements fall far short of the impression made by the image upon the spectator. Verily the god himself, they say, bore witness to the art of Phidias. For when the image was completed Phidias prayed that the god would give a sign if the work were to his mind, and immediately, they say, Zeus hurled a thunderbolt into the ground at the spot where a bronze urn stood at the time of my visit.
The ground in front of the image is flagged not with white but with black stone. Round about the black pavement runs a raised edge of Parian marble, to keep in the olive oil that is poured out. For oil is good for the image of Olympia, and it is this which keeps it from suffering through the marshy situation of the Altis [the sacred grove].