The olive grove. The champions of ancient Olympia E-Book

Daniele Merelli

• Herausgeber: Youcanprint
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

The Olympic Games were the most important athletic competitions in Greece and the ancient world, held without interruption for over a thousand years, which preceded and inspired the sport of today. For the winners, the prize was a simple, highly coveted, olive wreath, however, what actually entailed an Olympic victory was glory, both on a personal level and for the city represented. In the spring of 148 BC the Games are now imminent and the meeting between a countryman and a wayfarer, surrounded by a luxuriant olive grove near Olympia, is the prelude to a dialogue in which, thanks to the memories of a special eyewitness who lived centuries earlier, will be celebrated the most famous Olympic athletes, real heroes of antiquity in which history and legend intertwine until they become confused, and where facts and curiosities about the multiform Greek world will be recalled.

Leseprobe

Indice

PREFACE

THE OLIVE GROVE

THE OLYMPIC DISCIPLINES

INDEX OF THE MENTIONED OLYMPIC WINNERS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Daniele Merelli

The olive grove

The champions of ancient Olympia

TITOLO | The olive grove. The champions of ancient Olympia

AUTORE | Daniele Merelli

ISBN | 978-88-31656-36-8

Prima edizione digitale: 2020

© Tutti i diritti riservati all'Autore.

Questa opera è pubblicata direttamente dall'autore tramite la piattaforma di selfpublishing Youcanprint e l'autore detiene ogni diritto della stessa in maniera esclusiva. Nessuna parte di questo libro può essere pertanto riprodotta senza il preventivo assenso dell'autore.

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PREFACE

Born from the inspiration of the Philostratus’ Heroicus, this dialogue aims at introducing the most famous ancient athletes to the modern reader. The Olympic Games were the most important athletic competitions in the Greek world, played for over a thousand years without any interruption, who so enthralled Pierre de Coubertin who wanted to revive them in the nineteenth century, a tradition that continues today. For the winners, the material prize was a simple, coveted, wild olive crown, but what really meant an Olympic victory was glory, both on a personal level and for the city represented. This great importance given to the Games gave rise as well to numerous legends and anecdotes concerning the most popular champions among the people, who acquired such celebrity as to be compared to the heroes of the myth and to be considered real divinities. These stories, halfway between history and legend, are gathered here through a careful collection and selection of the available sources. The description of the single Olympic disciplines and an index of the Olympic winners mentioned in the text complete the work. 

THE OLIVE GROVE

The champions of ancient Olympia

countrymanHail wayfarer, what brings you here? 

wayfarerI'm on the way to Olympia, countryman. Is the way that leads to the sanctuary still long? 

c.The Altis is just a few stades away, but I suggest you not to resume the march. The chariot of the Sun is in fact slowly finishing its course, soon it will be dark and the bandits will not miss the opportunity to cause damage to unwary travelers. My farm is also welcoming for an unexpected guest, I’ll offer you a place for the night. 

w. Thank you, countryman; welcoming is the best word to describe your beautiful farm. 

c. You look tired, have you been traveling for a long time, foreigner? 

w. From this morning. I left Elis, I reached the Alpheus river and I'm following its course that will lead me straight to Olympia.

c. Your tiredness is then more than justified. Why didn't you prefer to travel on horseback?

w. As a good pilgrim I have vowed to Zeus to reach his temple exclusively with the strength of my legs. The burden of fatigue is felt less when traveling to such a destination. 

c. Your devotion to the gods is commendable, here you’ll find a well-deserved refreshment. Come, follow me to the wide courtyard, I consider it the most enchanting place in the olive grove. 

w. Enchanting it will surely be, countryman, your olive trees have something divine! The flowering trees of this avenue release a sweet scent, spring seems to take a look on your land. The white, yellow, red and pink of the flowers around here blend beautifully with the green of the olive grove; not even Apelles could have found pigments so colorful for his works of art. The nightingales seem to appreciate all this, their melodious song surrounds a truly idyllic setting. 

c. I also have fruit trees here, if you like you can pick sweet figs and juicy apples, the country climate is good for ripening.

w. You’re too generous, countryman, the gods must have sent you! 

c. They’re the ones you have to thank, foreigner, I do my best to make them propitious. As you could see Demeter graciously grants me her copious fruits. 

w. The olive grove extends up to the Alpheus, you’ll produce a good amount of oil! 

c. Yes, enough to satisfy all buyers. I sell part of the oil in the city and in port, while another part is in great demand by the athletes of Olympia who come here personally. Without any doubt this is of excellent quality, but for those who participate in the Games it has something special, they say that this olive grove already existed at the time of the first Olympic Games. 

w. I won't even leave from here without the juice of your green olives, countryman. The other crops, I imagine, are your personal exploitation. 

c. That's right, I also breed some animals in the nearby fence to make sure I always have eggs and fresh milk. It’s a really golden age trade, foreigner, because «the man who works without wrong against the immortals can be considered happy and prosperous» (Hesiod, Works and Days, 826-827). 

w. You recite the ancient poets, a great wisdom is hidden inside you; perhaps once you weren't just a farmer. 

c. You aren’t wrong, my young guest. Your clothes suggest that you come from Italy, what’s your homeland exactly? 

w. Taras is my city.

c. An ancient rivalry flows in our blood, Spartan! 

w. I deduce that you’re Athenian, countryman! Let's put aside the fatal disagreements of our ancestors and tell me your past, if you like. 

c. I’m originally from Athens, from the deme of Alopece as the wise Socrates. Since I was young I had attended the Academy, but it wasn't exactly for me, my real predilection was the study of poetry and history; in the lodgings I brought many of the writings I owned in Athens, in my property in the Kerameikos. There I had the role of proxenos for Argos citiziens, also thanks to the fact that my wife had several relatives in that city, and now that I’m an olive grower the Argives living in Athens can turn to my son for any matter, he inherited my task. 

w. I had immediately noticed your nobility of soul and your culture. What prompted you to radically change your life? 

c. I have always dreamed the rural reality of the countryside, where time is simply marked by the changing of the seasons, immersed in tranquility and away from the problems of the city, with its political troubles, the trials and sycophants that wallow in: these don't miss me at all! 

w. All I can do is to agree. And how long have you been doing the olive grower? 

c. I settled on the banks of Alpheus in the spring of the year when Leonidas of Rhodes won for the first time at the Olympics. I saw this magnificent farm a short time earlier during a trip in Elis, I had the necessary drachmas and I took immediately the opportunity. Moreover, I’ve always loved watching the Panhellenic Games, by living here I’ve caught two birds with one stone! By the way, foreigner, you said that you were headed for Olympia, what’s the purpose of your trip? 

w. Especially business, countryman, I'm a merchant. I started sailing a little over a month ago and thanks to the clemency of Poseidon I crossed the Ionian Sea landing without worries first in Corcyra and then in Zakynthos, while I arrived a week ago in the port of Kyllene and I stayed in Elis these days; I’ve concluded some good agreements and now I go to Olympia to watch the upcoming Games. I also have the desire to fully admire the wonders of the sanctuary of Zeus, however I imagine that I’ll be able to take advantage of this excellent meeting point to take the opportunity to make further important business. 

c. No doubt you’ll be able to find sources of profit! In tens of thousands they will arrive: spectators, food and drink suppliers, politicians, gamblers, vendors, speakers and many others to add to the colorful crowd. For the visit of the Altis you’ve chosen the propitious moment, in fact there isn’t still all this bustle in every corner of the sanctuary; you’ll have all the time and space to enjoy the divine spectacle of its monuments. As for the Games instead, the sacred heralds have just started to announce the event and soon the athletes will arrive ready to register and train. 

w. I’m excited to see the Zeus on the throne; is it really as magnificent as it is described? 

c. Phidias’s gold and ivory speak for him, foreigner, every word would be superfluous in front of such a work of art: only sight can satisfy your curiosity. I’m sure, however, that not only this sculpture will surprise you. You will have the chance to admire an innumerable series of statues of gods, heroes, athletes and kings, work of the most talented artists that Hellas has ever seen born, such as Myron, Polykleitos, Praxiteles and Lysippos, just to give you some names. Even the architecture will arouse your admiration, the buildings blend harmoniously with the surrounding landscape shaped by the impetuous flow of the Alpheus and the Kladeos. 

w. I’d like to know where this your innate passion for Olympia and the Games comes from.

c. I have always admired what’s said about the most famous athletic champions, above all for their assimilation as heroes of myth and deities. I had tried to emulate them since I was young by taking part in the race, in particular the stadion, and in Athens I participated in the Panathenaic Games among the boys; however due to physical problems in training I had to give up the athletic career. For what concerns Olympia, there’s a particular care of the sky, no other place where you feel this sense of harmony exists. What can you tell me about your homeland? Is the situation in Taras quiet at this time? 

w. Now the state is rather peaceful; the aftermath of the war of the Romans against Hannibal lasted for some years, as my father told me, but now, although under a certain control of Rome, we enjoy a fair degree of autonomy.