Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Preface
- A Note on Terminology, Transliterations, and Editions
- 1 An Introduction to Olympic Victor Lists
- 2 Hippias of Elis and the First Olympic Victor List
- 3 Olympionikon Anagraphai and Standard Catalogs of Olympic Victors
- 4 Olympiad Chronographies
- 5 Olympiad Chronicles
- 6 Conclusion
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Index Locorum
1 - An Introduction to Olympic Victor Lists
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Preface
- A Note on Terminology, Transliterations, and Editions
- 1 An Introduction to Olympic Victor Lists
- 2 Hippias of Elis and the First Olympic Victor List
- 3 Olympionikon Anagraphai and Standard Catalogs of Olympic Victors
- 4 Olympiad Chronographies
- 5 Olympiad Chronicles
- 6 Conclusion
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Index Locorum
Summary
THREE QUESTIONS
For on the day of judgement the Holy One will judge his world as it says, “For by fire will the Lord execute judgement.” And the fire will increase to fifteen cubits above Mt. Tabor, and above the highest of all mountains, the mountain called Olympus. For from that mountain the Greeks made the reckoning of the Olympiads. For each four years they would ascend Mount Olympus, and they would write their victories in the dust of the soft earth which was on the mountain.
(Signs of the Judgement, Hebrew version, 257r.3–8)The anonymous Christian author who wrote Signs of the Judgement eloquently expresses, albeit in a poetic and slightly confused way, the importance ancient Greeks attached to recording the names of victors in the Olympic Games. Indeed, Olympic victor lists were documents of considerable importance in the ancient world. Nevertheless, they remain largely unknown even among classicists. It may be helpful, therefore, to begin by answering three basic questions I have been repeatedly asked during the time that I have worked on this project: What, exactly, was an Olympic victor list? What sort of textual evidence is available? Why are Olympic victor lists of more than passing interest?
In its original and most basic form, an Olympic victor list was a cumulative catalog of victors at the Olympic Games. These catalogs began with the Olympics held in the year corresponding to 776 bce and ran down to the time they were compiled.
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- Olympic Victor Lists and Ancient Greek History , pp. 1 - 44Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007