THE STADIUM
The stadium[433] or racecourse of the Greeks was the natural development
of that primitive type of race which is described in Homer, and which we
may still see at school treats and rustic meetings. The competitors,
drawn up in a line, race to some distant point which is the finish, or,
turning round this point, race back again to the starting-point. Here we
have the germ of the stade or straight race, and of the diaulos, and
other turning races, as the Greeks called them (κάμπειοι). The start is
marked by a post (νύσσα) or by a line drawn in the sand (γραμμή), and
the finish or turning-point (καμπτῆρες) by a similar post or by some
natural object, a stone, or tree-stump.
From this primitive course two types of racecourse are derived. Both
differ from the modern oval course in that they are long, narrow, and
straight, the runners not describing a curve but running straight up and
down the track. The first, which we may call the hippodrome type, is
that in which the runners race round two posts placed at either end of
the course and connected by one or more intermediate posts, or by a low
wall called by the Romans the “spina.” One or both ends of the course
were rounded off for the convenience of spectators, and this circular
end was known as the σφενδόνη. This form was long regarded as the
regular type of the Greek racecourse; but recent excavations have
rendered it probable that though used by the Greeks for horse-races it
was not employed by them for the foot-race, at least until Roman times.
The true Greek stadium, as we now know, was strictly rectangular, both
starting-point and finish being marked by parallel lines of stone slabs
(βαλβίς, βατήρ), and even the seats at the end following the same lines.
For such a course any fairly level plain was suitable; but for the
convenience of spectators it was natural to select some level stretch
surrounded on one or more sides by some rising ground, along the foot of
a hill as at Olympia, or in a dip between two hills as at Epidaurus or
Athens. All that was required in such cases was to level the ground for
the actual track, and to improve the natural standing-ground by an
artificial embankment, which might or might not be afterwards provided
with seats. Most of the stadia in Greece, says Pausanias, were formed by
such an embankment;[434] it was not till a comparatively late period
that the seats were built up on masses of masonry and surrounded by
walls and colonnades. The length of the actual track was always a stade
or 600 feet; but, as there was no universal standard of measurement, the
length of the stadium varied locally with the length of the foot.
The simplest of all Greek stadia was that at Olympia, and it retained
its simplicity throughout its history.[435] We have seen that before the
middle of the fifth century all the games were held in the plain
commanded by the treasury terrace, and that the permanent running track
was first constructed about 450 B.C., after the completion of the first
eastern colonnade. At this date the ground at the foot of the hill of
Cronus was levelled so as to form a parallelogram some 212 metres long
by 29 broad, somewhat broader, however, at the centre than at the ends.
This parallelogram was enclosed by a stone sill, and within this sill at
a distance of about a metre ran an open stone gutter, opening at regular
intervals into stone basins. This gutter, fed from the conduit which ran
along the foot of the treasury steps, provided competitors and
spectators with the water which they must have sorely needed, exposed as
they were all day long, without protection, to the parching rays of the
summer sun. The running track lay some 10 feet below the level of the
Altis, and slightly below the level of the surrounding plain which
sloped gradually upwards to the south towards the bank of the Alpheus.
The only accommodation for spectators was afforded by the slopes of the
hill of Cronus and this open plain, which it has been calculated would
have accommodated from 20,000 to 30,000 people. At a later date,
possibly after the battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C., the ends and
southern slope were raised by an artificial embankment. This embankment
extended to the south some 40 metres from the actual track, and on it
some 40,000 or 45,000 spectators could find standing room. The ends of
the embankment were straight, there was no curved theatre or σφενδόνη,
nor during the whole history of the stadium did any seats exist. Seats,
probably of wood, were provided for a few privileged officials, but the
spectators stood or reclined on the banks. At the north-west corner of
the stadium a postern gate communicated with the Altis by means of a
tunnel through the embankment, which in Roman times was roofed with a
stone vault. This was the secret entrance reserved for officials and
competitors.[436] The spectators found their way into the stadium over
the embankments or along the slopes of Mount Cronius.
[Illustration: Fig. 41. Portion of starting lines at Olympia.]
The most interesting discovery at Olympia was that of the actual lines
which marked the start and finish of the races (Fig. 41). These lines
consist of stone sills about 18 inches wide extending nearly the whole
breadth of the course. Each sill is divided at intervals of about 4 feet
by square sockets obviously intended to hold posts. Between each pair of
sockets are two parallel grooves cut in stone about 7 inches apart.
Their object was clearly to mark the place for the runners’ feet. There
are twenty of these sections in the western sill and twenty-one in the
eastern sill, one of which is, however, a short one. Each section
afforded room for a single runner. The western sill is 11 metres from
the end of the stadium, the eastern only 9-1/2. The distance between the
two sills is 192·27 metres, which gives ·32045 as the length of the
Olympic foot. The Olympic foot was said to have been determined by
Heracles, who measured out the stadium with his own feet. Hence the
stadium at Olympia is slightly longer than other stadia on the
mainland.[437]
The discovery of similar stone sills in the gymnasium at Olympia, and
subsequently at Delphi and Epidaurus, makes it probable that they were
universally employed in Greek stadia, though it is impossible definitely
to fix the date at which they replaced the earlier custom of marking the
lines in the sand. The reason why the lines are alike at either end is
obvious. In the stade-race the finish was at the opposite end from the
start, in the diaulos and other races consisting of an even number of
stades the runners finished where they started. Hence, as it was clearly
desirable that all races should finish at the same point, it was
necessary to have starting lines at both ends. At Olympia it seems
probable that the finish was at the eastern end of the course. Here were
the seats of the Hellanodicae, and opposite them was the seat of the
priestess of Demeter Chamyne, the only married woman, possibly the only
woman, who was allowed to be a spectator at the Olympia.
Closely resembling the Olympic stadium was that at Epidaurus,[438] where
the festival of the Asclepiea was celebrated as early as the time of
Pindar. It lies in a shallow trough formed by two low ridges descending
into the plain from the hills which encircle the sanctuary of Asclepius.
The bottom of the valley has been levelled and its eastern end and part
of the sides raised by an embankment. Its western end lies open giving
free access to visitors, who here as at all Greek festivals might enter
freely without payment. The actual track is 181·30 metres long. Finish
and start are alike, marked at either end by a pair of stone pillars
between which lies a row of stone slabs with parallel grooves and
sockets precisely similar to those found at Olympia, save that there are
only eleven divisions and that the parallel grooves are somewhat closer,
about four inches apart. The fact that traces of lead were found in some
of the sockets confirms the view that iron posts were fastened in them.
The pillars possibly belong to an earlier time than the slabs, when
start and finish were still marked by lines drawn in the sand between
the pillars. The stone slabs seem to have been added in Macedonian times
when the stadium was improved, and a record of this reconstruction is
preserved in an inscription which states that one Philon of Corinth
having undertaken a contract for providing the starting lines (ὕσπλακα)
and having failed to fulfil his contract within the specified time was
condemned by the Agonothetes and Hellanodicae to pay a fine of 500
drachmae.[439] A still later, possibly Roman arrangement for the start
is seen in five half pillars placed at either end in front of the stone
sill which they were obviously intended to supersede (Fig. 42). On each
side these pillars have a shallow groove intended apparently to hold
some form of barrier or starting gate, such as we find used in the Roman
Circus.[440] A further difficulty is caused by the remains of four small
stone platforms which stood immediately in front of the stone sills, two
at each end between the outside pillars and the edge of the course.
Their use is quite unknown; but the fact that they completely block the
grooved starting lines immediately behind them proves that they belonged
to some later arrangement. Possibly they are remains of an intermediate
arrangement between the stone sill and the pillars, or possibly they
served for starters and judges in later times.
[Illustration: Fig. 42. The Stadium of Epidaurus, S.E. corner, showing
the starting lines and rectangular end. (From a photograph by Mr. Emery
Walker.)]
Another interesting feature of the course is that it was marked off on
either side at distances of a plethron (100 feet) by small square
pillars. These pillars would have been very useful for races in which,
as in the girls’ race at the Olympic Heraea, only a portion of the
course was run. They may also have served for measuring the distance in
a javelin or diskos throw. The finish of the course was obviously at the
east end, round which alone the rows of seats extend. Between the actual
finish and the seats is a further space some 16 metres deep, which may
have been used like the curved sphendone of later times for events like
wrestling which did not require much room. The three sides of the
rectangle were surrounded by a stone border a little less than a yard
from the embankment and seats. This contained an open runnel supplied
with water by a pipe at the north-east corner of the stadium, and
opening out at intervals of 30 yards into oblong basins, like those
found at Olympia.
The seating arrangements like the starting lines bear traces of
different periods; in contrast to Olympia it seems that from early times
a certain number of seats were provided, if we may dignify by the name
of seats the five rows of small stones cemented with mud which enclose
the eastern end of the course. Beyond the points where these terminate
are numerous tiers of seats on either side built of large blocks of
dressed stone. The irregularity in the number and dressing of the stones
shows that they were not constructed all at the same time. Some of them
bear the inscriptions of the dedicators, which seem to date from the
Macedonian period to the close of the Roman Republic. But even these
seats cease entirely in the western half of the stadium, where as at
Olympia spectators can only have stood or reclined on the banks.
Staircases give access at intervals to the seats. In the centre of the
seats on the northern side is an arched passage communicating with a
square enclosure on the other side of the embankment. The enclosure was
possibly the place of assembly for officials and competitors who entered
the stadium in state through the arch-way. On the southern side of the
stadium close to the finish are four stone blocks some 15 feet long and
16 inches high which were probably the seats of the Hellanodicae. Lower
down, opposite to the arched passage, there are remains of a curved seat
which may also have served for officials. It is rather more than 40
yards from the finish, and if the javelin or diskos were thrown from the
finish, would have been a convenient seat for judges in these events. It
seems likely too that, at all events after the erection of the later
seats, wrestling and other events of the sort took place opposite these
seats and not at the east end of the course. Behind this curved seat a
broad staircase leads to a platform half-way up the seats. Here,
Cavvadias conjectures, stood the table on which the prizes were placed,
here the herald proclaimed the victor’s name and city, and here the
victors received their crowns from the hands of the Hellanodicae. From
this point too we may suppose, when the games for the day were finished,
the Hellanodicae followed by the victors started in a triumphal
procession, and passing through the official entrance on the north side,
made their way to the temple of Asclepius to render thanks and pay their
vows to the patron of the festival.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. Stadium of Epidaurus.]
A further stage in the development of the stadium is seen in the stadium
of Delphi, the best preserved and the most romantic in its situation of
all Greek stadia. It lies on a rocky shelf to the north-west of the
sacred precinct at the foot of the cliffs of Parnassus, which rise sheer
above it to a height of 800 feet, and looking down over the valley of
the Pleistus and the Crisaean plain. As at Olympia, there seems to have
been no permanent stadium till the second half of the fifth
century.[441] In Pindar’s time the athletic competitions took place in
the plain below, where, for want of sufficient room at Delphi itself,
the hippodrome must have continued to exist.[442] It seems probable that
the change took place between the years 448 and 421 B.C. when the
control of the festival was in the hands of the Phocians. To construct a
stadium on the steep slope of the mountain it was necessary to build a
massive retaining wall, and the date of this wall is approximately fixed
by a fifth-century inscription built into it forbidding the introduction
of wine into the dromos.[443]
[Illustration: Fig. 44. Stadium of Delphi.]
The stadium as we see it to-day is mainly the work of Herodes Atticus,
who is said by Pausanias to have reseated it with marble, as he
certainly did at Athens.[444] The French excavations, however, show that
Pausanias’ statement can hardly be accurate. The seats are not of marble
but of local stone, and are apparently quite complete. There is no sign
of any marble facing having existed, and not a trace of marble has been
found in the stadium. If marble was used at all, it can only have been
for special parts of the seats. Yet even without marble the appearance
of the stadium is sufficiently imposing. The actual track is bounded at
either end by a stone sill similar to those found at Olympia and
Epidaurus. The stone sill is composed of 17 or 18 sections, and the
parallel grooves are about 3-1/2 in. apart. The length of the track is
177·5 metres, and its breadth varies from 25-1/2 metres at the ends to
28-1/2 metres in the centre. The object of this curve, which we find at
Athens and in a much less marked degree elsewhere, was to give a better
view of the whole course to the spectators. The west end terminates in a
shallow curved sphendone 9-1/2 metres deep, and the east end is
similarly curved, though the curve is interrupted at the south by the
main entrance to the stadium from the precinct below. In this eastern
end there stand four pillars of poor and late workmanship which seem to
have formed a triumphal entrance for officials and competitors. The two
sides and the western sphendone are surrounded by rows of stone seats
raised on a stone basement 5 feet high. There are six rows of seats on
the south and west, twelve on the north, affording places for some 7000
spectators, though many more could find room on the slopes above the
stadium to the north. Flights of steps at the east end gave access to
two corridors which ran right round the stadium, above and below the
tiers of seats. The latter were further divided by flights of steps
placed at regular intervals. There were thirteen of these on either
side, dividing the stadium into twelve equal lengths of half a plethron,
and these divisions may have served like the similar divisions at
Epidaurus for purposes of measurement. Another detail which recalls the
stadium of Epidaurus is a seat of honour occupying the centre of the
first two rows of seats on the north side.
[Illustration: Fig. 45. The starting lines at Delphi. (From a photograph
by Mr. Emery Walker.)]
Such was the Pythian stadium as restored by Herodes Atticus. Before his
time it must have been something much simpler. The curved end and the
stone seats did not exist. Instead, the northern slope was roughly
levelled and an embankment raised above the southern retaining wall, so
that the track seemed to lie in a trough, from which fact it derived its
popular name the Lakkoma or “hollow.” In the intervals between the
festivals it can have been used but little; it was overgrown with weeds,
perhaps it was used for pasturage. Hence, as the time for the festival
approached, the stadium had to be set in order, and the work was let out
on contract. We have various records of these contracts. In 338 B.C. one
Helixius obtained the contract for work on the Pythian stadium. In the
accounts of the Archonship of Dion (258 B.C.) a number of items of work
are enumerated in connexion with the gymnasium, stadium, and hippodrome,
which throw invaluable light on the details of these institutions.[445]
First the course itself and the surrounding embankments (τὰ στέφοντα)
were thoroughly cleared of weeds and rubbish. This clearing (ἐκκάθαρσις)
cost 15 staters. Then the track and the jumping-places (τὰ ἅλματα) were
dug up and rolled (σκάψις καὶ ὁμάλιξις) at a further cost of 110
staters, and finally it was covered with 600 medimnoi of white sand,
which, at 1-2/3 obols per medimnos, amounted to 83 staters 4 obols. Next
a barrier (φράξις) was erected round the course at a cost of 5 staters,
and a scaffolding of seats costing 29 staters. The small amount spent on
the last item proves that the erection was merely a temporary structure,
probably of wood, intended not for the whole body of spectators, but
merely for a few distinguished persons. 36 staters were expended on the
starting lines and turning posts (καμπτῆρες), and 8 staters on the
arrangements for the pentathlon, presumably those for throwing the
diskos and the javelin. Further, 77-1/2 staters were spent—if the
restoration of the inscription is correct—on arrangements for the
boxers, a considerable sum in proportion to other items, which suggests
that some sort of raised platform may have been erected to enable as
many as possible to view this extremely popular event. A stage, too, was
erected for musical competitions, and a triumphal arch, or ψάλις,
probably on the site occupied afterwards by the four pillars described
above.
[Illustration: Fig. 46. The Stadium of Delphi.]
The temporary character of these arrangements is indicated sufficiently
by their cost. The stater was equal to two Aeginetic drachmae of 96
grains, and equivalent approximately to two shillings of our money,
though its purchasing power was considerably greater. In the time of
Pericles an Attic drachma of 67 grains was a day’s wage for an artisan;
in the third century its purchasing power was probably less. Allowing
half a drachma as the wage for a labourer, we find that the clearing of
the course and embankments took 60 men a day’s work.
The recent restoration of the Panathenaic stadium[446] for the revived
Olympic games has enabled us to realize something of the splendour which
it owed to its reconstruction by Herodes Atticus in the second century
of our era. Previous to the fourth century B.C., the Panathenaic games
seem to have been held at some spot in the deme of Echelidae which lay
between the Peiraeus and Athens. No traces of this stadium have yet been
found, and it is probable that the arrangements were as simple as those
existing in early time at Olympia. We gather from Xenophon that there
was no artificial barrier to keep spectators off the course; in his
treatise on the duty of a cavalry officer he recommends that horsemen
should be placed in front of the crowds at reviews and races to keep
them in order, but at sufficient intervals not to interfere with the
spectators’ view.[447] The first permanent stadium was constructed by
Lycurgus in the second half of the fourth century, in a deep ravine on
the left bank of the Ilissus. The land was the property of a patriotic
citizen Demias, who as a mark of respect to Lycurgus presented it to the
state. Other citizens followed his example: one Eudemus, who lent a
thousand yoke of oxen for the work, was rewarded by a public vote of
thanks. The work consisted in closing up the southern end of the ravine
by an embankment and levelling the ground for the course, which was
further separated from the spectators by a low wall, behind which ran a
conduit for carrying off the rain-water. The finish and start were
probably marked out as at Olympia by lines of stone slabs, but there
were no seats for spectators except for officials and distinguished
visitors. We hear of repairs made in the stadium at various times, but
it probably maintained substantially its original form till the time of
Herodes Atticus. Most of the remains discovered belong to his
reconstruction.
The arena which was enclosed by a marble parapet measured something over
205 metres long by 33 metres broad. It ended in a semicircular sphendone
which was separated from the actual running track by the stone starting
line of which remains have been found. As, however, no trace has been
discovered of the corresponding line at the other end, it is impossible
to determine definitely the length of the course. It must have been
approximately 177 metres. At either end of the starting line stood a
stone pillar, and between these pillars stood four curious double-headed
herms. Two of these have been found almost intact, and portions of the
other two have also been found.[448] They consist of square pillars
about 6 feet high, on which stand back to back two heads, one bearded,
the other beardless, sometimes said to represent a youthful Apollo and a
bearded Dionysus. The heads, which are of rude and unfinished
workmanship, are probably second-century copies of early originals. The
pillars are divided to the height of 3 feet by a narrow slit through
which, it has been suggested, may have passed the rope used in starting
the races. The position of these herms along the starting line reminds
one, however, of the somewhat similar rows of pillars at Epidaurus and
Priene. The pillars at Epidaurus, it will be remembered, had likewise
grooves on either side, though these did not as at Athens extend right
through the pillars. In view of this resemblance it seems probable that
both grooves and slits served for fixing either a sort of starting gate
or a barrier used to enclose the course when dangerous exhibitions, such
as fights of wild beasts, took place. Such shows it is known were
exhibited in the stadium. The Emperor Hadrian on one occasion presented
1000 wild animals for this purpose. It was probably to secure the safety
of the spectators on such occasions that the seats surrounding the whole
arena were raised on a marble basement nearly 6 feet high. Above this
rose 46 rows of marble seats, capable of seating at least 50,000
spectators. At the point where the curve of the sphendone began on the
northern side a vaulted passage led underneath the seats and through the
hill into the valley beyond. This passage may have served originally
like the secret entrance at Olympia for the entrance of officials and
competitors. In its later and more elaborate form it was probably
intended by Herodes for the introduction of wild beasts, like the
similar vaults in Roman amphitheatres. The principal entrance was at the
other end of the stadium, near the Ilissus, where, it seems, elaborate
Propylaea were erected, while the whole effect was greatly enhanced by a
marble Doric colonnade which crowned the hills above the upper seats of
the sphendone.
The stadium at Priene[449] presents similar difficulties to those at
Epidaurus and Athens. It appears to have been constructed at the same
time as the lower gymnasium in the second century B.C., but to have been
considerably modified in later times. It is built inside the south wall
of the town, and is supported along the south side by a massive
retaining wall. The ends are square, and the seats are placed along the
north side only. There are twelve rows of marble seats, the lowest of
which rest on a marble basement 3-1/2 feet high. The marble seats are
only found in the centre, extending for a distance of about a third of
the course. Beyond them at either end the spectators must have sat on
wooden seats or on the embankment. In the absence of any sphendone, the
ceremonial part of the games, the proclamation of the victors, and
presenting of prizes must have taken place in the centre of the course.
Above the seats is a terrace, behind which is a Doric colonnade
extending the whole length of the stadium. The starting lines at the
west end have been discovered; but excavations at the east end have been
fruitless. The western starting line shows traces of an earlier and of a
later arrangement. The earlier arrangement is represented by eight
square slabs in which are cut sockets for posts of wood or metal, such
as are found at Olympia and elsewhere, but there is no sign of the slabs
marked with parallel grooves between the pillars. Just behind this line
of slabs is a row of ten pillar bases standing on a stone sill, in which
is cut a runnel extending the whole length of the sill with two short
offshoots in the centre. This runnel, which clearly served to carry off
some of the water which naturally drained down into the stadium, must
have been covered by stone slabs between the pillars. Only small
fragments of the pillars have been found; but these seem to indicate
that there were longitudinal grooves down the sides which may have
served for some form of barrier or starting gate. The total length of
the stadium is 191 metres; perhaps the actual course was as at Delphi
about 177 metres.
It is unnecessary to describe in detail the remains of the numerous
other stadia which have been found in Greek lands; but a few
peculiarities which they present may be noted as illustrating the
development of the stadium and the way in which the Greeks adapted
themselves to the character of the ground. At Messene advantage was
taken as elsewhere of a shallow valley.[450] The stadium consists of two
parts—an old embanked part, forming the actual racecourse, and an
unusually elaborate sphendone. In the former the sides of the valley
were carefully banked up into terraces, but no stone seats were provided
and no attempt was made to render the two sides parallel. The sphendone
was considerably narrower than the actual course and of unusual depth,
the sides of the semicircle being continued for some distance in
straight parallel lines. It is seated with stone, and the height above
is enclosed in an elaborate square court surrounded on three sides by
colonnades, which are continued along both sides of the course. A
similar narrowing of the entrance of the sphendone occurs at
Ephesus,[451] where the curve of the sphendone is produced on either
side so as to project into the course. This elaboration of the sphendone
is clearly connected with its use for musical and dramatic performances,
and marks the declining importance of athletic competitions. At Aezani
one end of the stadium was rounded; the other was straight, and formed
the stage of an elaborate stone theatre. Finally, the last stage in the
evolution of the stadium is reached at Aphrodisias in Caria.[452] Here
the course is symmetrical with a sphendone at either end, and the whole
is surrounded by a colonnade and wall, through which fifteen openings
along one side afford entrance to the spectators’ seats, and various
underground passages give access through the side of the hill to the
arena. It is only in its proportions, its narrowness as compared with
its length, that such a stadium differs from the Roman amphitheatre.
Indeed, we learn that the large stadium at Laodicea was actually
converted into an amphitheatre.[453]
In all the stadia described the essential part is the rectangular
course, bounded at either end by a straight line. Not one of the stadia
which have been excavated has revealed any trace of the three pillars or
metae forming a line down the middle of the course which were the
characteristic features of the Greek hippodrome and Roman circus, and
which still figure in the descriptions and plans which our handbooks and
dictionaries give of the Greek stadium. The only authority for this
arrangement is the note of a scholiast on the well-known description of
the Pythian games in the _Electra_ of Sophocles.[454] He states that
there were in the course three stones or square pillars, bearing on one
side the respective inscriptions ἀρίστευε, σπεῦδε, κάμψον—“Be stout,”
“Make speed,” “Turn.” Now it is by no means certain that the worthy
scholiast is referring to the foot-race at all; the note on the pillars
would be far more appropriate in connexion with the horse-race, in
which, as every reader will recollect, the pillar is the cause of the
supposed catastrophe to Orestes; moreover, practically the same note is
repeated in connexion with the chariot-race by another scholiast, who
implies that there were several of these square pillars along the
course. But even if the passage is intended to refer to the stadium, it
does not follow that the posts are in the centre of the course, and the
description would apply equally well to the square pillars which are
placed along both sides of the course at Epidaurus, if we suppose them
to be inscribed. When in 1870 the first of the double herms at Athens
was found, it was at once concluded to be one of these three pillars,
but the subsequent discovery of portions of the other three herms almost
_in situ_ along the starting line proves this view to be untenable. At
the same time, though we must abandon the idea of any line of metae for
the Greek stadium, we shall find that in the long race the runners did
probably race round two pillars placed in the centre of the starting
lines at either end, but these pillars must have been of metal or wood.
The examples described above enable us to trace with some certainty the
history of the Greek stadium. In its simplest form it is a long
parallelogram, marked by two lines at either end. The spectators stand
along the course on raised banks, natural or artificial. Stone seats
occur first perhaps in the fifth century at Epidaurus. In the second
half of the third century more elaborate stone seats appear near the
centre of the course, which seems to have been usually the place of
honour. The curved sphendone with its rows of seats does not appear till
the Hellenistic period. Finally, when both ends are curved the stadium
approaches the type of the Roman circus, and the resemblance is
increased by the addition of colonnades either round the sphendone or
round the whole course. The development of the actual racecourse is more
rapid: the needs of competitors came before the needs of spectators. The
starting lines and finish seem to have been first marked by pillars
temporary or permanent on either side. These pillars exist at Epidaurus,
and survive at a much later period in the Panathenaic stadium. Pillars
are commonly represented in athletic scenes on fifth-century vases.[455]
Often they are merely the shorthand symbol used by the vase-painter to
denote the buildings of the gymnasium or palaestra. In foot-races and
horse-races it is reasonable to suppose that they represent the pillars
at the start or finish of the race. They occur chiefly on the
red-figured vases, and the usual type is that of a fluted pillar often
standing on a square basis. The starting lines with double grooves
appear certainly in Macedonian times, though their introduction may well
date back to the laying out of the stadia at Olympia and Delphi in the
fifth century. The importance attached to the starting lines is proved
by their frequent mention in inscriptions. Finally, in Roman times these
starting lines were superseded by a row of pillars, between which was
fixed some sort of barrier. The details and use of all these
arrangements will be more conveniently discussed in connexion with the
actual foot-race.
The stadium was used for other events besides the foot-race; but where
these took place and what arrangements were made for them we cannot say.
The Delphic inscription quoted above proves that special arrangements
were made for the jump, for throwing the diskos or javelin, and for
boxing. It is reasonable to suppose that the starting lines were
utilized for the diskos and the javelin, which must certainly have been
thrown along the length of the course. It is probable that at a later
period wrestling and boxing matches took place in the sphendone. But in
many earlier stadia there was hardly sufficient room at the end for
these events, which would have been too far removed from the bulk of the
spectators. At Olympia we have seen reason for thinking that they took
place not in the stadium but in the Altis. Otherwise it seems likely
that they were held in the centre of the stadium, where seats of honour
seem often to have been erected. But all this is mere conjecture.
Footnote 433:
Krause, _Gym._ pp. 131 ff.; _J.H.S._ xxiii. pp. 261 ff.
Footnote 434:
Paus. ii. 27. 5. The stadium of Epidaurus is στάδιον οἷα Ἕλλησι τὰ
πολλὰ γῆς χῶμα. Cp. viii. 47. 4, ix. 23. 1, of the stadia of Tegea and
Thebes. That at Corinth in contrast is described as λίθου λευκοῦ, ii.
1. 7; cp. Delphi x. 32. 1, and _infra_.
Footnote 435:
_Ol._ Text. ii. 63 ff.; Frazer, _Pausanias_, iv. 78.
Footnote 436:
Paus. vi. 20, 8.
Footnote 437:
The stadium of Pergamum was, however, 210 m. according to Dörpfeld,
the standard settled by Philetaerus being higher than that on the
mainland. _Ath. Mitth._ xxxiii. 341.
Footnote 438:
Πρακτικά. 1902, pp. 78-92, Pl. A-D; Frazer, _Pausanius_, v. 576.
Footnote 439:
Ditt. _Syll._ 2nd Ed., ii. 688.
Footnote 440:
A drawing from the Codex Ursinianus in the Vatican, published in _Röm.
Mitth._ 1890, p. 156, Taf. vii., represents runners standing behind a
wooden barrier.
Footnote 441:
_B.C.H._, 1899, pp. 601-615.
Footnote 442:
Pindar, _Pyth._ viii. 19-20, x. 15, xi. 21.
Footnote 443:
_B.C.H._ _l.c._ p. 611, and _supra_, p. 126.
Footnote 444:
Pausanias, x. 32, 1.
Footnote 445:
_B.C.H._, 1899, pp. 564, 613.
Footnote 446:
Frazer, _Pausanias_, ii. 205; Politis in _The Olympic Games_ in 1896,
pp. 31 ff.
Footnote 447:
_Hipparch._ ch. 3.
Footnote 448:
One may be seen in the museum at Athens, another has been re-erected
in the stadium.
Footnote 449:
Wiegand u. Schrader, _Priene_, pp. 258 ff.
Footnote 450:
Schreiber, _Atlas_, xxvi. 1; Blouet, _Expéd. de Morée_, ii. Pl. xxxix.
The stadium is stated to belong to the third century B.C.
Footnote 451:
Krause, _Gym._ Pl. iv. 5.
Footnote 452:
_Ionian Antiquities of the Dilettanti_, iii. Pl. xxi.
Footnote 453:
_Ib._ ii. Pl. lxxxiv. Durm, _Baukunst der Griechen_, gives in his
“Register” numerous references to accounts by early travellers of
stadia at Aezani, Aphrodisias, Ephesus, Laodicea, Messene, Perga,
Pessinus.
Footnote 454:
_Electra_, 680 ff.
Footnote 455:
On earlier black-figured vases the finish is represented by tripods or
vases set as prizes (Gerh. _A. V._ 257), or by the seats of the judges
as on the Amphiaraus vase (Fig. 3).