Ancient vase paintings show runners carrying shields and
wearing helmets and other armor. Th e hoplitodromos appears
to have been from 2 to 4 stades in length.
Th e Greeks also engaged in boxing, wrestling, and the
pankration (“all fi ghting”), which combined boxing and wres-
tling. Th e opponents neither fought in a ring nor had rounds
lasting for any specifi c time. Unlike their modern counter-
parts, Greek boxers, wrestlers, and pankratiasts, though
divided into diff erent age classifi cations, could be matched
against opponents much heavier than themselves. Greek box-
ers and pankratiasts did not wear gloves but wrapped their
hands in leather thongs. Th ey won by either knocking out the
opponent or having him give up. Wrestlers won when the op-
ponent gave up or when a certain number of falls, probably
three, occurred. What determined a fall is not completely
clear, but causing an opponent’s back or shoulders to touch
the ground seems to have counted as one.
Th e Greeks also competed in a pentathlon (javelin, discus,
jumping, stadion, and wrestling). An athlete who won three
of the fi ve events obviously would claim the prize, but other-
wise the pentathlon’s scoring system is debated. Th e javelins
used in athletic competition seem to have been about 6 feet
long. Unlike in the modern event, Greek athletes wrapped the
shaft s of their javelins with a strap that they looped around
one of their fi ngers. Th e strap apparently caused a rifl ing ef-
fect that made the throws more accurate and possibly longer
than they would have been without it.
Other events in the pentathlon also diff ered somewhat
from their modern counterparts. Whereas the men’s dis-
cus in the modern Olympics weighs 4.4 pounds, the Greeks
threw disks whose weight probably varied from location to
location. Modern competitors in the event whirl around two
and three-quarters times before releasing the discus, but the
Greek discus throwers apparently made only a single three-
quarters turn. Meanwhile, Greek jumpers seem to have en-
gaged in a standing broad jump rather than taking a running
start. Th e most unusual feature of this event was that the
jumpers held weights in their hands. Apparently swinging
the weights forward and then dropping them aft er takeoff in-
creased the distance of the jump.
Besides track-and-fi eld events various equestrian com-
petitions occurred. Greek riders, who had neither saddles
nor stirrups, made six laps around an oval track about three-
quarters of a mile long. Th e competition was divided into
races involving horses either less or more than a year old.
Chariot racing made the same age division but also had races
for chariots drawn by two or four horses. Chariot races were
twice as long as the horse races.ROME
BY ANNE MAHONEY
In ancient Rome spectator sports and individual exercises
were distinct: Th e games people played on their own were
not the same ones they watched other people playing. Spec-tator sports included gladiator combat, wild-animal shows,
and chariot races. Few Roman citizens participated in these
events except as onlookers.
Gladiator combats began at least as early as the third
century b.c.e. Th e Latin word for such a combat was munus,
“duty,” because at fi rst they were held only at funerals, as an of-
fering for the dead person. In about 50 b.c.e. Julius Caesar held
a memorial service for his daughter Julia that featured gladia-
tors, even though this was not her actual funeral. From then
on gladiator shows were no longer necessarily connected with
funerals. Most gladiator fi ghts were between two combatants.
A showy, expensive munus would involve several pairs fi ghting
one aft er another. Th ere were several styles of fi ghting, each
with its special weapons and equipment. For example, a hoplo-
machus used the heavy armor and weapons of a Greek infantry
soldier or “hoplite.” A retiarius used a net (from Latin rete).
Gladiators were almost always slaves. Th e person put-
ting on a munus hired the troop of gladiators from its owner.
Fights might or might not end with the death of the loser.
Sometimes the audience was asked whether the winner
should kill the loser, and the spectators would shout and ges-
ture their opinions. We know that they could give thumbs-up
or thumbs-down, but the ancient evidence does not tell us
clearly what these gestures meant.
Wild-animal shows included exhibitions, combats, and
public executions. Th ere were no permanent zoos in Rome,
but travelers sometimes brought back exotic animals and
showed them off. For example, Pompey the Great (Gaius
Pompeius Magnus, 106–48 b.c.e.) showed elephants in his
games of 55 b.c.e. celebrating the dedication of a theater he
had paid for. More exciting were animal fi ghts and staged
hunts. In the hunts armed slaves called venatores (“hunters)”
chased down and fought various dangerous animals. Ve n a -
tores were not as skilled as gladiators, and theirs was a less
prestigious kind of combat.
Gladiator shows and animal shows took place in an am-
phitheater or arena much like a modern football stadium. Th e
Colosseum in Rome is one such amphitheater, and others still
exist in several former cities of the Roman Empire. A day at the
arena might start with a staged hunt in the morning and fi nish
with gladiators in the aft ernoon. In between there might be
public executions. Criminals were oft en executed by wild ani-
mals in a spectacle much like the staged hunts except that the
humans were not armed. Another form of execution was to
perform a story from mythology with the condemned crimi-
nal in the role of a character who dies brutally. For example,
the Roman historian Suetonius (ca. 69–ca. 130 c.e.) tells us
that someone was made to act out the story of Icarus, the boy
who in myth fl ew too close to the sun, which melted his arti-
fi cial wings. Suetonius adds that the condemned man playing
Icarus splashed the emperor with his blood when he fell.
Chariot races were the other major spectator sport. In
these events chariots, usually pulled by two or four horses,
raced around a track. Th e stadium was called a circus, “circle,”
although the track was an oval; the Circus Maximus (“biggestsports and recreation: Rome 10550895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1055 1055 10/10/07 2:30:54 PM