ATHLĒTAE

( ἀθληταί , ἀθλητῆρες ), persons who contended in the public games of the Greeks and Romans for prizes ( ἆθλα , whence the name of ἀθληταί ), which were given to those who conquered in contests of agility and strength. The name was in the later period of Grecian history, and among the Romans, properly confined to those persons who entirely devoted themselves to a course of training which might fit them to excel in such contests, and who, in fact, made athletic exercises their profe ion. The athletae differed, therefore, from the agonistae ( ἀγωνισταί ), who only pursued gymnastic exercises for the sake of improving their health and bodily strength, and who, though they sometimes contended for the prizes in the public games, did not devote their whole lives, like the athletae, to preparing for these contests. Athletae were first introduced at Rome, B.C. 186, in the games exhibited by M. Fulvius, on the conclusion of the Aetolian war. Aemilius Paullus, after the conquest of Perseus, B.C. 167, is said to have exhibited games at A mph i polis, in which athletae contended. Under the Roman emperors, and especially under Nero, who was pa ionately fond of the Grecian games, the number of athletae increased greatly in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. Those athletae who conquered in any of the great national festivals of the Greeks were called Hieronicae ( ἱερονῖκαι ), and received the greatest honours and rewards. Such a conqueror was considered to confer honour upon the state to which he belonged; he entered his native city through a breach made in the walls for his reception, in a chariot drawn by four white horses, and went along the principal street of the city to the temple of the guardian deity of the state. Those games, which gave the conquerors the right of such an entrance into the city, were called Is elastic i (from εἰσελαύνειν ). This term was originally confined to the four great Grecian festivals, the Olympian, Isthmian, Nemean, and Pythian, but was afterwards applied to other public games. In the Greek states, the victors in these games not only obtained the greatest glory and respect, but also substantial rewards. They were generally relieved from the payment of taxes, and also enjoyed the first seat ( προεδρία ) in all public games and spectacles. Their statues were frequently erected at the cost of the state, in the most frequented part of the city, as the market-place, the gymnasia, and the neighbourhood of the temples. At Athens, according to a law of Solon, the conquerors in the Olympic games were rewarded with a prize of 500 drachmae; and the conquerors in the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian, with one of 100 drachmae; and at Sparta they had the privilege of fighting near the person of the king. The privileges of the athletae were secured, and in some respects increased, by the Roman emperors. The term athletae, though sometimes applied metaphorically to other combatants, was properly limited to those who contended for the prize in the five following contests:—1. Running ( δρόμος , cursus ). [ Stadium . ] 2. Wrestling ( πάλη , lucta ). 3. Boxing ( πυγμή , pugil at us ). 4. The pentathlum ( πένταθλον ), or, as the Romans called it, quinquertium . 5. The pancratium ( παγκράτιον ). Of all these an account is given in separate articles. Great attention was paid to the training of the athletae. They were generally trained in the palaestrae , which, in the Grecian states, were distinct places from the gymnasia. Their exercises were superintended by the gymnasiarch, and their diet was regulated by the aliptes. [ Aliptae . ]—The athletae were accustomed to contend naked. In the descriptions of the games given in the Iliad, the combatants are represented with a girdle about their loins; and the same practice, as we learn from Thucydides, anciently prevailed at the Olympic games, but was discontinued afterwards.