Ancient Cities by Charles Gates;Andrew Goldman; & Andrew Goldman

Author:Charles Gates;Andrew Goldman; & Andrew Goldman [Goldman, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published: 2024-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Only certain women were permitted as spectators: the priestess of Demeter Chamyne, the goddess of the harvest, whose presence was required, and virgins; and eventually, single women who were not virgins, including ‘women of dubious character’ according to Dio Chrysostom. Married women were rigorously barred. These arcane regulations may reflect some early link between the games and fertility rituals. A separate athletic festival for women was held at Olympia every four years, the Heraia, to honor the goddess Hera. The foot race was the only event contested by three age groups of girls.

Already by the Late Classical period (fourth century BCE), the religious authority of the games was diminishing. At Olympia, this trend is marked by the construction inside the sacred precinct of a political monument: the Philippeion, a lavish circular building of the 330s BCE housing gold and ivory statues of Philip II of Macedonia, the conqueror of Greece, and his family. Professionalism of athletes was on the rise too, with athletes during the Roman period following a circuit of a multitude of crowd-pleasing festivals in order to make their living. But for the Christians, such contests were tainted by their association with the pagan gods and thus had to be prohibited. In 393 CE, on orders of the emperor Theodosius I, all pagan festivals were abolished, including the Olympic Games.

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