The Runners: The Cheat

Cheating wasn’t encouraged at the ancient Olympics, but we know it happened!

Athletics, including running, was an important part of ancient Greek culture. Training was a way to keep fit, fast, and strong – ready for battle if the time came. Gymnasiums, where men and boys trained, were places to socialise and learn in. Athletics competitions were performed as offerings to gods and provided a chance to see who was best.

In the classical period, running competitions included: the stadion (one length of the track), the diaulos (down the track and back), the dolichos (12 lengths of the track), and the hoplitodromos (two lengths of the stadion whilst wearing armour).

The ancient Greek poet Pindar was often hired to celebrate athlete’s victories. In Olympian Ode 8, he praises two brothers, Timosthenes and Alkimedon, who won competitions at Nemea and Olympia. Pindar says that they must be special to Zeus:

Timosthenes, destiny has assigned you and your brother
to Zeus Genethlios. He gave you glory at Nemea;
Alkimedon beside the Kronian hill
he made Olympic champion.
Splendid he was to behold, and, in action not shaming his beauty,
he won at wrestling to herald his homeland,
Aigina of the sweeping oar.

Pindar, Olympian Ode 8.

Cheating wasn’t encouraged at the ancient Olympics, but we know it happened!

The Cheat, Hermes' Favour, and The Runners were made from a fragment of an Attic, black figure cup, a kylix. It was made in the High Archaic period, c.550BCE, and is now housed in the Ure Museum (Accession Number: 51.4.6).

When the cup was whole it would have seemed as if the runners were running around and around it.

This is a photo of the vase fragment in situ at the Ure Museum:

The outsized hands and large thighs influence the running style, and the use of the crack by the runner to climb to the level the horse is on adds an extra dimension to the animation.

The Cheat was commissioned by the Open University for an open access study unit, The Ancient Olympics: Bridging Past and Present, which was the winner of the 2012 OCW Open Courseware Award.