So, I’m an Essendon fan. Needless to say, I’m unhappy about 34 players being suspended, but I’m even less thrilled about the doping happening in the first place. The problem, as far as I can tell, is modern professional sports. People much smarter than I have pointed out that as a society we worship these athletes, who do little of use for society. They destroy their bodies in their quest for glory. And when the inevitable cheating and fall from grace occurs, the scandal can literally stand as a token of their shame for hundreds of years. These critics, for the record, were: Xenophanes, Euripides, Galen and Pausanias. Considering that the most recent died in 180 AD, perhaps we shouldn’t use the word “modern”.

The scale of ancient athletics is difficult to grasp. Firstly, although the Olympics are the most famous of the ancient games, with 40,000 plus people attending them at their height, there were actually four key events held in Olympia, Delphi, Nemea and the Isthmus of Corinth. Apart from these, there were many other local games. The origins of the games are unclear, but they were held regularly from 776BC. They ran for over a thousand years until about the turn of the fifth century AD. To put that in perspective, it would be the equivalent of the modern Olympics running until the year 3066.

Much is made of the ancient tradition of competing not for money but for olive wreathes. This is a lovely ideal, and something to be aspired to, if it weren’t for the fact that not only could athletes expect monetary prizes at all the other games, but an athlete who won at the Olympics would likely be greatly paid and possibly set up for life once they got home. Surprise, surprise, where there was big money, the temptation to cheat proved just that bit too hard to turn down.

Doping, it must be admitted, wasn’t really a big deal. There are all sorts of stories floating around the internet about the various potions athletes were supposedly taking in order to improve performance, but I can’t find much academic evidence for most of them.¹ Additionally, the idea that “doping” is wrong is a relatively recent phenomenon, but I’ll save that history for another entry when the next doping scandal rolls around.²

Instead, when it comes to cheating, it seems good old fashioned bribery was the most popular form. In fact, the first recorded conviction for cheating was of Euopolus of Thessaly in 388BC for bribing his opponents, so bribery might literally be “the oldest trick in the book”. Though first, Eupolus was far from last, and many athletes were subsequently convicted of cheating, almost universally bribery.

These athletes were fined large amounts of money, which was used to build bronze statues of Zeus outside the stadium, each bearing an inscription of the name of the athlete and their infraction.³ According to ancient accounts, there seems to have been quite a number. Curiously, even if convicted of cheating, the athlete got to retain their wreath and title for those particular games. So much for “Cheaters never win and winners never cheat”.

Other offences included one competitor who arrived late to the games. He provided the excuse that he had been delayed by pirates and so was allowed to compete. Subsequently, it was discovered that he’d actually been making a few extra drachma on the side at the Ionian games. Sarapion, from Alexandria, has the dubious honour of being the only Olympian to be immortalised for his cowardice. He was due to fight at the Olympics, but was so afraid of his opponent that he fled the day before his bout. In fairness to Sarapion, he was due to fight in the pankration. This was a mix of boxing and wrestling which had exactly two rules: no gouging, no biting. If I found myself due to fight in that event, I’d probably rethink my decision to compete.

Possibly the most spectacular case of cheating was by our old friend Nero, Emperor of Rome. Firstly, in 67BC, he managed to have poetry reading added to the competition, as he thought this would be his strong point. Then, not content with this, Nero entered the four-horse chariot race with a 10-horse chariot. In spite of falling off his chariot and nearly killing himself, Nero was still awarded the wreath for the event. Of course, his magnificent victory was short-lived, as Nero was dead the next year and had his name stricken from the victors’ roll. And the judges were forced to repay the bribes they accepted.

As far as I can tell, it’s the ancient equivalent of having a movie made about your corrupt practices and inevitable downfall.

Academic Sources

Crowther, N 2002, “The Salt Lake City Scandals and the Ancient Olympic Games”, The International Journal of the History of Sport, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 169-178.

Euripides, Ancient Olympics, accessed 18/1/2016 at http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/sourceEN/D180EN.html.

Hyde, WW 1921, Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington DC.

Kotynski, EJ 2006, The athletics of the ancient Olympics: a summary and research tool, University Vanderbilt, Nashville.

Pausanias, Description of Greece, translated by WHS Jones, accessed 18/1/2016 at http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias5B.html.

Perrotet, T 2004, The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games, Random House Publishing Group, New York.

Xenophanes, Ancient Olympics, accessed 18/1/2016 at http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/sourceEN/D179EN.html.