responsible for this reorganization, as the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon seems to have had a hand in the
founding of the Pythian games.
“For the team of two colts: 40 amphoras of oil; second place: 8. For the team of two horses: 140
amphoras of oil; second place: 40.” (IG II^2 2311, listing prizes for the Panathenaic games in the
fourth century BC)The Panathenaic games were not Panhellenic. They were, rather, a series of contests, in musical
performance and dancing as well as in equestrian and athletic events, for citizens of Athens, of the sort
that very many ancient Greek communities held for their own citizens. The Panathenaic games also
included several events that were open to competitors from elsewhere in Greece as well, and the great
value of the prizes – in contrast to the Panhellenic games, which offered prizes of no monetary value –
ensured that highly qualified competitors from all over the Greek world could be counted on to
participate. These prizes included golden crowns, substantial amounts of gold and silver, and, specific to
the Panathenaic games, quantities of large ceramic vessels containing great amounts of fine Athenian olive
oil. These “Panathenaic amphoras” were of a standard shape and size, with a capacity of just under 40
liters, and were decorated in uniform fashion: One side of each vase was painted with a representation of
the goddess Athena, the patron of the games and of the city of Athens, while the other side depicted the
event for which the vase served as a prize. The amphora illustrated here (figures 32 and 33 ) was
decorated by one of the leading Athenian vase painters of the early fifth century BC, to serve as part of the
prize for the chariot race. Every four years the authorities of the Panathenaic games, a group of Athenian
citizens chosen by the governing body of the polis, would commission hundreds of these vases. For, as we
know from a fourth-century inscription, first prize in the wrestling contest in the boy’s category at that
time was 30 amphoras of olive oil and second prize was six amphoras. Since the prizes for men were
regularly double those for boys – there was also a third age category, between the men and the boys – we
can be confident that the winner in the men’s category received 60 amphoras, containing nearly 2,400
liters of olive oil.