A Statute for Olympic Games in Piraeus, 1856

A STATUE FOR OLYMPIC GAMES
IN PIRAEUS, 1856
by Wolfgang Decker
I
t was exactly one month before on the 6th of June
1856 the Greek consul general sent a letter to the
king of Greece from Bucharest about Evangelis
ZAPPAS' offer to found Olympic Games1 that a committee appointed by the magistrate of Piraeus issued
a document which contained the Statute for Agons
and referred to competitions "like our ancestors used
to hold them"2 and which has been ignored outside
Greece so far. These competitions could not mean
anything but a sports festival similar to the Olympic
Games, which, according to the general regulations
made for the very purpose of their implementation, were to consist of five disciplines: triple jump,
long jump, discus throw, running and wrestling.
With the exception of triple jump, which had never
played a role in the canon of the ancient festivals,
all the competitions of the ancient pentathlon3 are
included, without this potential ideal being referred
to in this comparatively detailed text. Only javelin
throw, which would have completed the ancient
pentathlon as the third of the five classic disciplines,
was excluded. The question why of all disciplines
triple jump made it into the recommended pentathlon has not yet been solved, although the articles 14
- 17 describe this discipline in particular detail.
The regulations are very concrete about the registration procedures, the judges and the prizes for
the winners. These are set out in article 9, and it was
planned to award the top two contenders with prize
money. This could lead to the conclusion that the
customs of the ancient Panathenean Games were to
be imitated, as they also awarded the top two of a
competition with graded prizes.4 There is, however,
a difference in the ratio of these prizes: Whereas in
ancient Greece the winner won five times as much
as the runner-up, this ratio changed to 2 : 1.
The following regulation in article 12 is amazing and
can probably only be explained by the open-mindedness of the seaport Piraeus, even if at that time it
was of little importance with its 6,000 inhabitants:
"Foreigners are also allowed to participate."
This regulation considerably contradicts the ancient ideal, at least that of the archaic and classic
era, as only free-born Greek men, who were free
from bloodguilt, were allowed. There are, however,
signs that in the 19th century there was a relative
open-mindedness on the part of the Greeks concerning international participation which can also
be seen in other attempts to organize sports festivals by following the ancient model.5 It is particularly in the poetry dedicated to the subject of the
Olympic Games that such visions can be found. An
anonymous poem from the year 1875, The Athenian
Olympic Games of 1875 in the Panathenaic Stadium,
embraces this idea:
"It is again time for the Games; the triumphant
goddess of peace suggests unbloody conquests to her
children [...] Oh, where were such people who, being
brothers now, only yesterday regarded their brothers as strangers? What force unites the peoples, and
which one is it that holds them together?"6
The great Greek poet Kostis PALAMAS (1859-1943),
author of the first Olympic Anthem of the first
Olympic Games in 1896, struck a similar tone in
the poem Anthem for Athena, with which he won
the poetry contests of the 4th Zappas-Olympics in
the year 1888.7
1st place
triple jump
60
discus throw 80
stadion
60
diaulos
60
wrestling
100
Drachmas
Dr.
Dr.
Gr.
Dr.
2nd place
30
40
30
30
50
Drachmas
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
Dr.
The prizes at the Olympics in Piraeus 1856
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JOURNAL OF OLYMPIC HISTORY 15(JULY 2007)NUMBER 2
The second part of the Statutes for Agons deals
with the disciplines. It comprises articles 14-36 and
is surprisingly precise about the regulations for the
competitions, even though one could be under the
impression that the jumping, running and throwing disciplines were not usually practiced in ancient Greece - provided that it is possible to speak
of a usual practice in the first place. Many things
are based on the ancient sports, whose historical reappraisal began as early as in Antiquity in Greece.
It seems bizarre to us that long-jumpers had to
jump over a ditch and that the landing area was 1
m below the take-off point. Discus throw with oval
stones would also be something that would take
getting used to today The rules for the runners
were not clear, either: on the one hand a straight
for the stadion, one the other hand a round track
for the double stadium (diaulos).
As in the Memorandum of 1835, the first document in modern Greece that contains an exact plan
for the idea of modern Olympic Games,8 a national
holiday is designated for the sports festival:
"Art. 36: The present body of regulations is to be
published in one of the Athenian newspapers. In
conclusion, the committee expresses its wish that
such agons are to be organized in commemoration of the ancient and famous agons of our dear
fatherland every year on the 25th of March."
It is doubtful whether and how often these painstakingly prepared festivals took place in the first place.9
In any case they are, in their outlined form, an important indication of the Greeks' preliminary work
for the establishment of modern Olympic Games.
The question of their realization is in fact secondary.
This document adds an important source to the
19th century pre-Olympic scene in the motherland
of this great sports festival. It is in the same line as
the Memorandum of 1835 (I. KOLETTIS, P. SOUTSOS),
the Royal Decree of 1837 on the foundation of a
committee for the advancement of the national industry, agriculture and stock-breeding with an exhibition of the products and concluding sport competitions, the initiative by the township of Letrinoi
near the ancient Olympic port of Pheia with the
objective of organizing Olympic Games in Pyrgus
in the year 1838, and the foundation of national
Olympics by Evangelis ZAPPAS. What is striking is
that the plan for Piraeus coincided with that of an
immensely wealthy Greek living abroad, who had,
however, submitted his plan to the Greek consulate
general in Bucharest considerably earlier than the
date on the letter of the consul general from the 6th
of June 1856 may suggest.10
JOURNAL OF OLYMPIC HISTORY 15(JULY 2007)NUMBER 2
Notes
1
W.DECKER, Die Olympien des Evangelis Zappas, in: W.DECKER/
G. DOLIANITIS/K. LENNARTZ (eds.), 100 Jahre Olympische
Spiele - der neugriechische Ursprung, Würzburg 1996,
pp. 41-60, 43-45. The original document was found by A.
KIVROGLOU, Die Bemühungen von Ewangelos Sappas um
die Wiedereinführung der Olympischen Spiele in Griechenland
unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Spiele von 1859, diploma
thesis German Sport University Cologne 1981, Doc. 1.
2 T. KATSIMARDOS,
1856 [Five ccontests to be played.
The forgotten Olympics 1856], Athens 2004, quotation p. 23;
W. DECKER, „Olympische Spiele", in Piräus, in: Philia (2006)2,
67-74, quotation p. 68. This plan was mentioned first time by
P. SAMARAS,
1797 - 1859. [The revival of the Olympic Games in
Greece 1797 - 1859. New circumstances - The first Games],
Kallithea 1992, p. 5. Without a hint on the source the whole
document is re-printed (art. 36 missing), p. 39f. Such can be
found on pp. 26 n. 53. - The document was even unknown
to D.C. YOUNG, The Modern Olympics. A Struggle for their
Revival, Baltimore/London 1996.
3 About those still outbalancing J. EBERT, Zum Pentathlon der
Antike [On the Pentathlon of Antiquity], Berlin 1963.
4 To the Panathenean Games cp. D.G. KYLE, Athletics in
Ancient Athens, Leiden/New York/Cologne,21993, pp. 3339; D.G. KYLE, 'The Panathenaic Games: Sacred and Civic
Athletics", in: J. NEILS, Goddess and Polis. The Panathenaic
Festival in Ancient Athens, Hanover, N.H./Princeton 1992,
pp. 77-111; M. BENTZ, Panathenäische Preisamphoren. Eine
athenische Vasengattung und ihre Funktion vom 6.-4. Jahrhundert
v. Chr. [Panathenaic Prize Amphoras. An Athenian vase
category and ist functionality through the 6th till 4th
Centuries] (Antike Kunst, Beiheft 18), Basel 1998, especially
pp. 11-22.
5 A compilation about these tendencies can be found in:
W. DECKER, Die vorolympische Szene in Griechenland im
19. Jahrhundert [The pre-Olympic situation in Greece],
in: S. WASSONG (ed.), Internationale Einflüsse auf die
Wiedereinführung der Olympischen Spiele durch Pierre de
Coubertin. 1. Symposion des Deutschen Pierre de CoubertinKomitees 4.-6. September 2003 in Leipzig [International
Influences onto the renovation of the Olympic Games by
Pierre de Coubertin. 1st Symposium of the German Pierre de
Coubertin Committee, September 4th-6th, 2003 in Leipzig],
Kassel 2005, pp. 43- 53, 50-52.
6 K. GEORGIADIS, Die ideengeschichtliche Grundlage der
Erneuerung der Olympischen Spiele im 19. Jahrhundert in
Griechenland und ihre Umsetzung 1896 in Athen (Olympische
Studien; vol. 4), Kassel 2000, pp. 78f., the Greek text pp. 79
n. 44, unfortunately without any sources.
7 GEORGIADIS, Grundlage, pp. 75, 79 (with sources)
8 Vgl. W. DECKER, Praeludium Olympicum. Das Memorandum
des Jahres 1835 von Innenminister loannis Kolettis an König Otto
I. von Griechenland über ein Nationalfest mit öffentlichen Spielen
nach dem Muster der antiken panhellenischen Agone [The
Memorandum of 1835 by loannis Kollettis minister of the
Interior to King Otto Ist of Greece about a national festival
with public games like played during the ancient panhellenic
agons] (Nikephoros Beihefte, vol. 13), Hildesheim 2006.
9 Dazu siehe genauer KATSIMARDOS,
(n. 2),
46; DECKER, in: Philia 2006/II, p. 74.
10 Concerning this question cp. YOUNG, Modern Olympics
(n. 2), pp. 14-16.
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