Running in Ancient Greece

Running was important to members of ancient Greek society. Foot races were major events at the Olympic Games. The ancient Greeks developed difficult training programs with specialized trainers, and a large variety of running events, each with a set of rules. The people of Greece loved sporting events, particularly foot racing, and rich admirers would often give large gifts to successful athletes. Though foot races were physically challenging, if successful, athletes could become very wealthy. The ancient Greeks developed running as a sport into a sophisticated field of science and philosophy.

Most sources are not specifically about running in ancient Greece. However, the way that athletes trained and competed can give modern historians an idea about the advancement of science and society in ancient Greece.

The majority of books on running in ancient Greece focus on the ancient Olympic Games. These sources do provide information about running as well as about many other sports. It is plausible that most sources that include information about running focus primarily on the Olympic Games because there is much more interest in such a broad and popular topic. Also, the ancient Greeks probably kept more records of the Olympics than they did about running in general.

In these sources training is often discussed, however details about how the training of runners compared to the training of other types of athletes are not clearly addressed. In ancient Greece athletes may have not been as specialized as they are today. It is likely that a single athlete would have trained for and competed in many different events resulting in less distinction being drawn between training for different events. Many philosophers had ideas about how athletes should train, which provides historians with a lot of insight. For example, Plato argued that the whole body should be trained to increase strength and speed for running and wrestling (Stefanović et al. 113). The lengths and types of foot races are widely written. Also discussed in a variety of sources is the use of music in athletic training, and the diet of athletes.

Early Olympic Games

The earliest Olympic Games involved the best warriors competing in a of variety events. The warriors did not have any specialized training for the Olympic. Each poleis in ancient Greece had its own training program for soldiers which was the only preparation they had. However, to train for war the ancient Greeks would exercise the whole body, which is a principle that many later ancient Greek athletes lived by. The first Olympians believed that in order to have a harmonious body, the entire body must be trained, which would result in fierce warriors and strong athletes. Aristotle later said that the training of the whole body infuses courage (Stefanović et al. 113).

Types of Foot Races

There were many lengths and types of foot races in ancient Greece. The standard distance that these races were measured in was the stade. One stadia is approximately 185 meters. The one stade race was the most prestigious; the mythical founder of the Olympic Games could allegedly run it in one breath. Other running events included a two stade race, and the diolicho, which was a long distance race that was 20 or 24 stades long, or about two and a half miles. For races longer than one stade, runners would have to turn 180 degrees around a post at each of the two ends of the stadium (Flaceliere 106).

Also in the Olympics was a race in armor which reflected the games origins as a means for training for warfare. The torch relay race was added to entertain the crowds. This event was run the night before the ancient Olympic Games began (Olympic Sports- Foot Races). Today we honor this tradition with the Olympic torch. One event that was not ever in the ancient Olympic Games is the marathon. What is called a marathon today gets its name from when the runner Pheidippides ran 160 miles over the course of two days from Athens to Sparta announcing the Persian landing at Marathon in 490 BCE. He ran to request Sparta’s help (Running Events). Another event in the ancient Olympic Games was the ancient Olympic Games. The pentathlon was a combination of five events; discus, javelin, jumping, running and wrestling. This race reflected the ancient Greek belief that one’s body should be strong as a whole and not just in one area. Aristotle describes a man’s ultimate physical beauty as a body capable of enduring all challenges. This is why he viewed the athletes in the pentathlon as the most beautiful (Running).

Training

As ancient Greece developed, sports also developed. Athletics in ancient Greece became a very scientific and philosophical field of study and practice. Many philosophers had their own ideas about how athletes should train. By the fourth century BCE sports in ancient Greece became so competitive and advanced that specialized coaches developed for each particular sport. These coaches were known as gymnastis. Along with specialized coaches, a new system of training was developed, the tetras. This was a four day cycle of varying training. The tetras had the following structure:

• Day One- the day of preparations. It consisted of toning and short, high-intensity workouts.
• Day Two- the day of intensity. It involved the athlete going through long, strenuous exercises.
• Day Three- the day of resting. On this day athletes would do short mild workouts and primarily rest.
• Day Four- the day of medium intensity. Athletes mainly practiced wrestling on this day, focusing more on tactics than strength.

This was the basic training structure practiced throughout ancient Greece. In order to create the optimal training structure for any given day however, the trainers would consider many factors such as the place, the time, upcoming events, and the athlete’s physical and mental condition. The training also differed depending on whether it was done indoors or outdoors. Based on these factors the trainer would adjust the workout (Stefanović et al. 113).

Trainers and Philosophers

Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician, believed that athletes who walked after exercising would have a stronger and more rested body. Because of his beliefs, ancient Greek athletes ended each workout with a low intensity cool down. This shows that even without modern equipment, the ancient Greeks understood that the body recovers faster with recovery exercises such as walking, instead of passive recovery including sitting and lying down. Aristotle observed that athletes who have a rest day should not rest completely, but do a mild, low intensity workout instead. These practices are still in use today because of how well-founded the early principles were (Stefanović et al. 112).

The ancient Greeks also valued rest after exercising. After a workout, athletes used their aryballos, a special bottle of oil, and a strigil, which is a curved stick. They would rub the oil on their skin and then scrape it off using the strigil. In this way they would clean themselves (The Olympic Games 5). After exercising they also often had a bath, and a massage. Massages would consist of gentle movements and stretching of their arms and legs (Stefanović et al. 112).

Trainers and philosophers had many ideas about specific ways of training. One practice that developed had athletes exercise with 3 pound weights in each hand. This practice helped improve arm strength which is beneficial for running, throwing the javelin, swimming, and martial arts. Lucian, an ancient Greek philosopher postulated another principle. He believed athletes should always train in “exuberated conditions.” His idea was that training should take place outdoors in the sun every day of the year. He thought that the body should be beautiful, tanned, and lean to perform its best. During workouts he believed athletes should work as hard as possible. When training in the gymnasium, his idea was that one should not run or exercise on the stone floor, but on sand instead to add difficulty. An exercise he invented involved a long jump where athletes would run and jump high into the air wearing weighted suspenders. Another exercise he developed was for athletes to jump over hurdles with lead weights in their hands (Stefanović et al. 114).

Tribes

In ancient Greece, a group of athletes and coaches who trained together would have been referred to as a tribe. In a single tribe, there may have been many athletes that trained in the same sport or different sports. A certain length of time before the Olympic Games a coach would be selected for each event that that tribe wanted to compete in. For instance, the coach for the relay race with lit torches would be selected. They would then decide which athletes in their tribe would be the most suited for that event and therefore they would be chosen to compete. If more than one coach selected a particular athlete, then that athlete would compete in multiple events (Stefanović et al.113).

Age Categories

The ancient Greeks divided athletes into three age categories similarly to what is done today. Each age category would have its separate set of coaches. The training programs for each age level varied, growing increasingly strenuous the older the athletes were. Certain coaches were selected to scout for young boys who looked particularly strong and fit. These boys would be selected to start training with the young men as soon as they were old enough (Stefanović et al.113).

Diet

Along with developing training programs and stretching exercises, the ancient Greeks also introduced special diet to athletes a. Most people in ancient Greece only ate meat during Religious Festivals. Only the rich could have afforded it on a regular basis, but meat was still just a minor part of their diet. Fruits, vegetables, and grains grew very well in Greece and were the primary part of everyones diet up until fifth century BCE. At that time trainers recognized that meat was key in building muscle. At this same point in history, sports were becoming increasingly popular and athletes were given large gifts by rich admirers. Because of these gifts athletes were able to afford lots of meat. Today, scientific advancements allow trainers to prescribe specific diets to athletes, but even in ancient times without modern scientific knowledge the Greeks were able to recognize food’s beneficial effects on an athlete’s diet (Briers 12-13).

Music

Ancient Greeks believed that training and music should be experienced together because they both pleased man’s spirit. Music was used both in training and in competition. Each gymnasium had at least one aulos player. The aulos player’s job was to produce rhythmical music in order to help the athletes, particularly when warming up. The athletes were supposed to focus primarily on accurately performing the exercises according to their trainer’s advice; however, music was a key part of their warm up (Stefanović et al.112).

Over Training

Although most people in ancient Greece like sports, not all philosophers thought that intense training was good. Aristotle believed that fitness should be a part of children’s education, but that over training was bad. In ancient Greece, there were 4 main parts to education: reading, writing, gymnastic exercises, and music. Aristotle thought that an appropriate amount of exercise was a key part of education, however he recognized how much some athletes over-trained. Aristotle referred to the excessive training that many competitive athletes did as “evil” (Stefanović et al. 113).

Effects of Ancient Olympics on Modern World

The ancient Greeks pioneered athletics thousands of years ago with trial and error as their only method for gaining knowledge. With pure reason, men like Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Plato developed such advanced ideas that the modern world has been able to make only a few significant advancements. These ancient Greek philosophers postulated many ideas on how to train that are now the basis of many modern athletic events. Trainers also made many advancements such as their discovery that meat was necessary for building muscle. Not only did the ancient Greeks develop the theory of how to train, but they founded the prestigious Olympic Games. The ancient Olympic Games were ended in 393 CE by Theodusius I while trying to make Christianity the state religion (Craig 87). Today the Olympic Games have been restored with over 12,000 athletes that compete at the Summer and Winter Olympics in 31 different sports and nearly 400 events (Craig 102).

References

• Briers, Audrey. Sporting Success in Ancient Greece and Rome. Oxford: Henry Ling Limited , 1994.
• Craig, Steve. Sports and Games of the Ancients. Westport: Greenwood, 2002.
• Flaceliere, Robert. Daily Life in Greece at the Time of Pericles. New York: Macmillan Company, 1965.
• The Olympic Games in Antiquity. 2nd ed. N.p.: n.p., 2007. Olympic.org. 5 December 2009.
• "Olympic Sports- Foot Races." The Olympic Games. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 December 2009.
• "Running." The Ancient Olympics. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 December 2009.
• "Running events." BBC History. BBC, n.d. Web. 5 December 2009.
• Stefanović, Djorđe, et al. Syncretism of Coaching in Ancient Greece and Modern Times. Serbian Journal of Sports Sciences 2.4 (2008): 111-121. Web. 5 December 2009.