The Pythian Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honour of Apollo at his sanctuary in Delphi every four years, two years after the Olympic Games, and between each Nemean and Isthmian Games. The Pythian Games were founded sometime in the 6th century BC. In legend they were started by Apollo after he killed Python and set up the Oracle at Delphi. They continued until the 4th century AD.
Cyrene, also sometimes anglicized as Kyrene, was an ancient Greek colony and Roman city near present-day Shahhat in northeastern Libya in North Africa. It was part of the Pentapolis, an important group of five cities in the region, and gave the area its classical and early modern name Cyrenaica.
Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate religious festivals held in ancient Greece that became especially well known for the athletic competitions they included. The four festivals were: the Olympic Games, which were held at Olympia in honor of Zeus; the Pythian Games, which took place in Delphi and honored Apollo; the Nemean Games, occurring at Nemea and also honoring Zeus; and, finally, the Isthmian Games set in Isthmia and held in honor of Poseidon. The places at which these games were held were considered to be "the four great panhellenic sanctuaries." Each of these Games took place over a four-year period, starting with the Olympics. Along with the fame and notoriety of winning the ancient Games, the athletes earned different crowns of leaves from the different Games. From the Olympics, the victor won an olive wreath, from the Pythian Games a laurel wreath, from the Nemean Games a crown of wild celery leaves, and from the Isthmian Games a crown of pine.
A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words pente (five) and -athlon (competition). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games. Five events were contested over one day for the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, starting with the long jump, javelin throwing, and discus throwing, followed by the stadion and wrestling. Pentathletes were considered to be among the most skilled athletes, and their training was often part of military service—each of the five events in the pentathlon was thought to be useful in war or battle.
Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports. In Greece, chariot racing played an essential role in aristocratic funeral games from a very early time. With the institution of formal races and permanent racetracks, chariot racing was adopted by many Greek states and their religious festivals. Horses and chariots were very costly. Their ownership was a preserve of the wealthiest aristocrats, whose reputations and status benefitted from offering such extravagant, exciting displays. Their successes could be further broadcast and celebrated through commissioned odes and other poetry.
Cynisca was a wealthy Spartan princess. She is famous for being the first woman to win at the Olympic Games; her horse teams competed in the sport of chariot racing, driven by male charioteers. Cynisca first entered the Olympics in 396 BC, where she won first prize competing with a team of horses she had trained herself. In 392 BC, Cynisca entered her horses in the Olympics for a second time and was awarded another victory in the same event.
Chionis of Sparta or Chionis of Laconia was an ancient Greek athlete who won multiple events at the ancient Olympic Games representing the city of Sparta in Laconia. Eusebius of Caesarea lists Chionis as victor in both the stadion and diaulos races at the 29th, 30th and 31st Olympiads. Pausanias' Description of Greece credits Chionis with a fourth stadion victory in the 28th games of 668 BC, which Eusebius assigns to Charmis of Sparta. Pausanias says that Chionis was an oikist at Battus of Thera's foundation of Cyrene, Libya. Paul Christesen suggests that claim may, on the one hand, date from much later heroization of Chionis by Sparta's Agiads seeking an alliance with Cyrene, but, on the other hand, may have some basis in fact.
Archon was a Pellaeon, appointed satrap of Babylonia after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. He is probably the same as the son of Cleinias mentioned in the Indian expedition of Alexander. He perished in 321 BC in a fight against Dokimos. An inscription in Delphi shows that Archon had taken part in both the Isthmian and Pythian Games of 333 to 332 BC, won some horse-races.
Leonidas of Rhodes was one of the most famous ancient Olympic runners. For four consecutive Olympiads, he was champion of three foot races. He was hailed with the title "Triastes" (tripler). Leonidas is acclaimed by some to be one of the greatest sprinters of all time.
Battus I of Cyrene, also known as Battius the Lacedaemonian and Battus Aristotle and Aristaeus (Ἀρισταῖος) was the founder of the Ancient Greek colony of Cyrene. He was its first king, the first Greek king in Africa and the founder of the Battiad dynasty. The butterfly Battus philenor is named after him.
Coroebus of Elis was a Greek cook, baker, and athlete from Elis. He is remembered as the winner of the first recorded Olympics, which consisted of a single footrace known as the stade or stadion. He is frequently described as having won the first Olympic Games, but Eusebius and other ancient writers stated that he was simply the first recorded winner, variously placing the first games in the Heroic Age, 27 olympiads before Coroebus, or 13 olympiads before. Coroebus being the earliest winner known to Hippias, his is still reckoned the "1st Olympiad"; following Hippias's dating, his victory is generally placed in the summer of the year 776 BC. The stadium at Olympia was one stade long and the competition was still clothed in his time, naked competition beginning with Orsippus around 720 BC. For winning the race, Coroebus received an olive wreath and was later revered by the people of Elis, his grave still being known in the time of Pausanias.
Oebotas of Dyme, the son of Oenias, was an ancient Greek athlete from Dyme who won the stadion race in the sixth Ancient Olympic Games in 756 BC. The stadion race was the only competition in the first 13 Olympiads.
Diaulos was a double-stadion race, c. 400 metres , introduced in the 14th Olympiad of the ancient Olympic Games . The length of each foot race varied depending on the length of the stadium. This was because the Greek foot varied widely from one locality to another, for example the stadium at Olympia was 192.27 metres but at Delphi it was 177.50 metres (582.35 ft) long. Scholars debate whether or not the runners had individual "turning" posts for the return leg of the race, or whether all the runners approached a common post, turned, and then raced back to the starting line. Although at Delphi an inscription referenced "turning-posts" as opposed to "turning-post", which suggests each runner had their own turning post, to prevent an outside runner from losing 3–4 metres (9.8–13.1 ft). These were called kampteres. Archaeological evidence at Nemea also shows that there were individual turning posts.
The dolichos or dolichus in the ancient Olympic Games was a long race introduced in 720 BC.
The ancient Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held at the Panhellenic religious sanctuary of Olympia, in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The originating Olympic Games are traditionally dated to 776 BC. The games were held every four years, or Olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. These Olympiads were referred to based on the winner of their stadion sprint, e.g., "the third year of the eighteenth Olympiad, when Ladas of Argos won the stadion". They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule in the 2nd century BC. Their last recorded celebration was in AD 393, under the emperor Theodosius I, but archaeological evidence indicates that some games were still held after this date. The games likely came to an end under Theodosius II, possibly in connection with a fire that burned down the temple of the Olympian Zeus during his reign.
Philinus of Cos, son of Hegepolis, was an ancient Greek athlete and five times Olympic winner.
Eupolemos of Elis or Eupolis of Elis was an ancient Greek athlete from the city of Elis. He won several pentathlons at the Panhellenic Games.
Hermogenes, son of Apollonios also known as Hermogenes of Xanthos, became a Roman citizen under the name Titus Flavius Hermogenes, whose nickname was "the Horse". He was a Greek athlete from the city-state of Xanthos in Lycia, living in the 1st century AD.
