Amateurism vs. Professionalism in Ancient Athletics

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Amateurism vs. Professionalismin Ancient
Athletics
Toledo 1963.28, Attic bilingual eye cupSide A
athletic victorPhotograph by Maria Daniels,
courtesy of the Toledo Museum of Art
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Some Basic Questions

• What Kind of Prizes Did Ancient Athletes Receive?
• How Much Training Did They Get?
• Were Ancient Athletes Honest?
• Did They Have Professional Coaches/Trainers?
• Where Did They Get the Money for Training?
• Were They Aristocrats by Birth?
• Did Athletes Earn High Status from the Victories
  or from their Birth Status?
• How Much Money Could an Athlete Win?

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Issues Regarding Professionalism

• Prizes
• Professional Training
• Corruption
• Athletic Dynasties
• Evidence of Wealth of Athletes
• Social Status of Athletes
• Nationalism and Internationalism

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Prizes

• Death of Hector (Iliad XX.159-166)
• Thereby they ran, one fleeing, and one pursuing.
  In front a good man fled, but one mightier far
  pursued him swiftly for it was not for beast of
  sacrifice or for bull's hide 160 that they
  strove, such as are men's prizes for swiftness of
  foot, but it was for the life of horse-taming
  Hector that they ran. And as when single-hooved
  horses that are winners of prizes course swiftly
  about the turning-points, and some -- great prize
  is set forth, a tripod haply or a woman, in
  honour of a warrior that is dead 165 even so
  these twain circled thrice with swift feet about
  the city of Priam and all the gods gazed upon
  them.
• Also Funeral Games for Patroclus (Iliad
  XXIIIMiller 1)

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Prizes in Myth

• Chariot Race of Pelops

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Heracles and Alcestis

• Hercules Fighting Death to Save Alcestis, by
  Frederic Lord Leighton.

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Athletic Prizes in Hesiod
References to rich prizes for athletes and poets

• Hesiod Theogony 435-438
• For to this day, whenever any one of men on earth
  offers rich sacrifices and prays for favor
  according to custom, he calls upon Hecate. Great
  honor comes full easily to him whose prayers the
  goddess receives favorably, 420 and she bestows
  wealth upon him for the power surely is with
  her.
• 430 And when men arm themselves for the battle
  that destroys men, 433 then the goddess is at
  hand to give victory and grant glory readily to
  whom she will. 435 Good is she also when men
  contend at the games, for there too the goddess
  is with them and profits them and he who by
  might and strength gets the victory wins the rich
  prize easily with joy, and brings glory to his
  parents.

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Hesiod Works and Days 654-657

• 655 Then I crossed over to Chalcis, to the
  games of wise Amphidamas where the sons of the
  great-hearted hero proclaimed and appointed
  prizes. And there I boast that I gained the
  victory with a song and carried off a handled
  tripod which I dedicated to the Muses of Helicon,
  in the place where they first set me in the way
  of clear song. 660 

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• Sybaris Inscription (Miller 160/220)
• The problem How can the athlete tithe his
  prize?
• Aristis Inscription (Miller 146/205)
• The problem Where did he get the money for
  this statue?
• Solonic Reforms in Athens (Miller 163/223)
• The problem Is this a reduction in prize?

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Prizes in the Classical Age

• Simonides Poem about Nicolades of Corinth (Greek
  Anthology XIII.19)
• State Subsidy for Athletes in Athens (Miller
  161/221)
• Victory Procession (Miller 162/222)

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Panathenaic Games

• What were these prizes worth?

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Panathenaic Games

• Inscriptional Record of Prizes (Miller 84/120)
• Extremely expensive prizes
• Exact worth (purchasing power) difficult to
  measure
• 4th place singer makes more than a 2nd place
  athlete
• Record datable to early 4th century B.C.

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Professional Trainers

• Pindar often praises victors coach by name
  e.g., Ol 8.54-66
• And if in my song I have magnified Melesias'
  glory as a trainer of youths,
• let no resentment strike me with a foul stone,
  for I will also sing of his triumph over the
  youths at Nemea, and mention next his victory
  against the men in pankration.
• To teach, then, is easier for one who knows. The
  man of no foresight gives a fool's lesson, for
  the thoughts of inexperience have no weight.
  Melesias will tell you better than anyone how to
  train man bent on taking glory from contests.
  And now Alkimedon is his pride, and his
  thirtieth triumph

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A Trainer at Ptolemys Court

• Miller 147/207
• Zenon, business manager of Apollonios
• Apollonios, Minister of Finance of Ptolemy II
  (285-246 B.C.)
• Pyrrhos, young ward of Zenon
• Hierokles of Alexandria, trainer and teacher of
  Pyrrhos
• And Professional Sports Physicians?
• Demokedes of Croton (Miller 146/216)

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Corruption

• Inscription of Markos Aurelios Asklepiades
  (Miller 153/213, c. AD 200) threats against
  athletes
• Philostratos (Miller 154/214, c. AD 230)
  describes scandal in boys pale at
  Isthmiabribery possible everywhere except
  Olympia?
• Galen's attack on professionalization of
  athletes(Miller 155/215, c. AD 180)
• unbalanced lives
• exaggeration of negative stereotypes?

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Athletic Dynasties

• athletic dynasty at Croton (S. Italy)
• 12 Olympic stade winners between 588 484 BC
• (c. 50 of total) 588, 584, 576, 564, 560, 548
  note gap, 508, 504, 496, 492, 488, 484 first
  7 places in one Olympiad
• Milo's career in wrestling 536-512
• Astylos wins stade diaulos for Croton in 488
  484, competes for Syracuse in 480 476
  (corresponds with economic political decline of
  Croton)See Miller 224
• Conclusion high degree of athletic
  professionalization already in 6th century BC

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Wealth of Athletes

• Alcibiades (Miller 159/219, 48/67, /116)
• Evidence for cost of sponsoring chariot team.
• Question Is this cost unique to the event?
• Phayllos of Kroton (Miller 38e/60a, from
  Herodotus 8.47)
• Was Phayllos from a wealthy family or did he use
  his athletic winnings for this?

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The Modern Myth

• Victorian view of Greek Athletes
• Earliest Greek athletes are aristocrats. (e.g.,
  Pindar)
• Non-aristocratic athletes first compete
  extensively in early classical period.

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The evidence for non-aristocratic participation
in Archaic period

• Hesiod (Works Days, Theogony last half of 8th
  BC) wins tripod at Games of Amphidamas
• Koroibos of Elis first Olympic victor (cook)
• Glaukos of Karystos boxing, early 6th BC
  (farmboy)

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Social Status of Athletes

• Demokedes the Physician (Miller 146/216, from
  Herodotus 3.129)
• at court of tyrant Polykrates of Samos
• prisoner of war of Darius of Persia
• marries daughter of Milo of Croton

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Ambiguity of Social Status in the Classical Age

• Astylos (Miller 164/224 from Pausanias)
• Scholars have called him an aristocrat but why,
  then did he transfer his allegiance, if not for
  money?

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Athletes in the Roman World

• Mark Antony and Markos Antonios Artemidoros
  (Miller 149/209) special honors for athletic
  guilds (synodos)
• A Clubhouse for the Capitoline Games (Miller
  152/212)
• From Athlete to Sports Administrator Marcos
  Aurelios Asklepiades (Miller 153/213)
• Attack on Professional Athletes by the Physician
  Galen (Miller 155/215)

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Athletic Loyalty to City-State (Polis)

• Miller 164-166/224-228
• Why does Astylos of Kroton decide to play for
  Syracuse? (Miller 164/224)
• How does the tyrant Dionysios of Syracuse try to
  persuade Antipater of Miletus to play for him?
  (Miller 165/225)

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The Value of Athletes to the City-State

• Miller 167-169/229-231
• What does the philosopher Xenophanes think is
  more important than the strength of men or
  horses? (Miller 167/229)
• What does the tragedian Euripides think is the
  greatest evil which exists in Greece? (Miller
  168/230). Why?
• In what way does Socrates argue in Platos
  Apology (Miller 169/231) that he is more helpful
  to Athens than an Olympic victor? What reward
  does he think he deserves?

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Nationalism vs. InternationalismCONT.

• Relations Between Panhellenic Sanctuaries
• Miller 170-174/232-236
• What is the curse of Moline? (Miller 170/232)
• Why does Plutarch (Miller 173/235) say that the
  Corinthians chose celery for victor crowns at the
  Isthmian games?

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Relations Between City-States at the Panhellenic
Sanctuaries

• Miller 181-185/243-247
• Find the document in Miller which describes the
  building Phillip of Macedon built at Olympia to
  celebrate his accomplishments (See Perrottet, pg.
  153).