In the ancient Olympic Games in Greece, athletes competed in the nude as homage to supreme god Zeus in celebration of manhood, strength, physique, and dominant status.
In fact, the games were part of a religious festival in honor of Zeus, father of all ancient Greek gods and goddesses. Athletes who participated were from all parts of Greece but also from as far as Iberia (today’s Spain) in the west and the Black Sea to the east, or modern day Turkey.
There were various competitions, ranging from footraces to chariot races, with a range of prizes for victors. The Archaic period (700-480 BC) was marked by various complex athletic competitions. They were often connected to religious feasts to honor gods and heroes, establishing a connection between athletic competition and the divine.
The games were held every four years, and only men were permitted to attend. Winning in the ancient Olympic Games was the ultimate honor for athletes. It elevated him not only in social status but also in the eyes of the gods.
The Olympic Games were named after Olympia, the place in southern Peloponnese where the famous sanctuary of Zeus was located, hosting the colossal statue of the king of the gods. It was about 12.4 meters (41 feet) tall, made in 435 BC by sculptor Phidias using a wooden frame and covered with elaborate ivory, gold plates, and decorations.
Orsippos, the first nude Olympian
It is hard to determine when exactly Olympian athletes began competing in the nude or whether nudity was a part of the very first games. In Homer’s Iliad and in the first ancient Olympics in 776 BC, athletes wore loincloths while competing.
It was only later that a runner named Orsippos from the city of Megara decided to run naked and threw away his loincloth, probably at the 15th Olympiad of 720 BC. He did so in order to win the one-stade foot race, a stade being the length of a stadium, which was often around 185 meters (202 yards).
According to Pausanias, Orsippos removed his loincloth during the competition to run freely. Following his victory, it was established that athletes would compete naked, not only so as to be less burdened by the loincloth but also to exhibit their physical strength. The Megarians honored Orsippos and even named him a general who fought in Megarian wars.
After his death, the victor from Megara had two feats written as his epitaph. He was the first athlete to compete naked in the foot race and win at Olympia, and, in a border dispute, he established a larger territory for Megara due to his glorious victory.
Pausanias’ account is questioned by Sextus Julius Africanus (160-240 AD), a Christian Greek traveler and historian, who says that the first nude runner in the 720 BC Olympic Games was Acanthus from Sparta.
Thucydides brings the issue of nudity in the Olympics closer to his own time to the 5th century BC. For Thucydides, nudity was a show of civility as opposed to the barbarism of the Persian enemies east of Greece who shunned the naked male body, as it was against their social mores.
The gymnasium
Whether the Olympians started competing in the nude in the 8th century BC or later is of little significance. Ancient Greeks exercised in the nude, anyway. The term “gymnasium” (the abbreviation for today’s “gym”) derives from the Greek word gymnos (Greek: γυμνός), meaning naked, nude. Whether it was for practical reasons or to celebrate the form and beauty of the male body (or both), ancient Greeks exercised in the nude, so Olympian athletes competed in this way as well.
The institution of the gymnasium was a significant part of ancient Greek culture. The gymnasium shaped the body and the mind, as well. There are countless works of Greek art that celebrate the magnificence of the Greek male body in sculptures, statues, and ceramics.
There was an incident in the Olympic Games that mandated that gymnasts and trainees enter the stadium or the gymnasium in the nude. Kallipateira of Rhodes was the daughter of Diagoras of Rhodes, a celebrated boxer and Olympic victor who won in boxing at several Panhellenic games. Lyric poet Pindar honored him in his poems.
Kallipateira went to Olympia disguised as a male trainer to support her son Peisirodos. At the time, if a woman was caught attending the Olympic Games, she would be punished harshly or even executed. There is no historical record of a woman caught attending the Olympics.
When her son ended the game victoriously, she attempted to jump over the fence of the enclosure where the gymnasts were. In her effort, her female identity was revealed. However, she was not punished out of respect for her father, her brothers, and her son who were all champions.
The capture of Kallipateira forced athletic authorities to require all trainers to enter a stadium or gymnasium unclothed.
The purpose of the measure was also to set an example of a well-trained body for athletes. At the same time, in this way, they were able to withstand the high summer temperatures. The Olympic Games were always held in the summer.
The nudity of athletes and gymnasts gave the whole ritual of the games a distinctly religious character. Far from the later Christian idea, the naked body mainly symbolized innocence towards the pursuit of victory and the certainty that the human body has nothing to hide in a face-to-face competition such as that of the Olympic Games.
