Nemea

If Isthmia, in some sense, was a junior Delphi, Nemea was certainly a junior Olympia, for its program did not include the mousikos agon, and it was dedicated to Zeus. Although biennial, its games, like the Olympics, were held at the second full moon after the summer solstice. Located in a small valley in the foothills of the Arkadian Mountains at an elevation of 333 meters above sea level, Nemea lies slightly off the main

Fig. 191 Aerial view of Nemea from the west with the Temple of Zeus (T), early Hellenistic stadium (S), bath with modern roof (B), and pentagonal Shrine of Opheltes (O). University of California at Berkeley, Nemea Excavations Archives, no. Aerial 01.2.

Route into the eastern and central Peloponnesos from the Isthmos. Excavations have revealed that this valley is naturally swampy with poor drainage; it is therefore unarable and was uninhabitable before a drainage system was created. This was done in the Bronze Age, in the fifth and twelfth centuries a. d., and in 1884. Despite its swampy condition, sheep and goats were able to graze (as is documented in the pre-1884 valley); the name Nemea may thus derive from the verb nemein, “to graze” (one’s flocks). This is how Diogenes the Cynic understood it when he saw an Olympic victor grazing sheep and called out, “Hey, Mr. Winner, it didn’t take you long to get from Olympia to Nemea!” (Diogenes Laertius, Diogenes 6.49). Nemean Zeus is not, then, the philandering, thunderbolt-throwing Olympian Zeus but a shepherd Zeus. This explains one of the major differences between Olympia and Nemea revealed by excavation. At Olympia there are hundreds of dedications of weapons and armor, and many monuments were erected to commemorate military victories; none have been discovered at Nemea.

The struggle between Herakles and the Nemean lion was the first of the hero’s twelve labors. A venerable myth, it was depicted frequently in art of all periods (see, for example, fig. 99), but it is not given in our sources as the reason the Nemean Games were founded until the Roman period. Rather, the early founding myth concerned Opheltes, the infant son of the local king. An oracle had declared that Opheltes should not be allowed to touch the ground until he had learned how to walk. But one day his nurse set him down on a bed of wild celery in order to fetch water for the Seven Against

Fig. 192 Model of Sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, ca. 300 B. c., seen from the west with the Temple of Zeus (at top left) and its long altar on the far (east) side of it. The sacred grove of cypress trees lies in the Epipola south (right) of the temple. Next toward the south a row of oikoi (embassies) and then the long, narrow xenon (hotel) with the bath in the same line to the west. At the lower right is the pentagonal enclosure of the Shrine of Opheltes with reservoirs in the foreground and a practice running track to the left. The gravel in the left foreground represents the area of the hippodrome. University of California at Berkeley, Nemea Excavations Archives, no, Mus. 03.5.

Thebes, heroes who were passing through on their way from Argos to Thebes. A serpent killed the baby while he lay in the wild celery, and the Seven, recognizing this as a bad omen for their expedition, held funeral games for the baby, whom they renamed Archemoros (beginner of doom), in an attempt to propitiate the gods. Hence the victory crown of the Nemean Games was made of wild celery (fig. 190; see also fig. 212), and the judges wore black robes as a sign of mourning for Opheltes/ Archemoros.

The Nemean Games entered the stephanitic cycle in 573 and were held under the supervision of the small neighboring town of Kleonai, which functioned as a surrogate for the larger, more important city-state of Argos. Indeed, it is clear that the officials of Nemea were a part of the general administrative structure of Argos.

The name of the sacred area at Nemea was the Epipola, an Argive term used officially for a flat open space. At Nemea the Epipola is the equivalent of the Altis at Olympia or the Peribolos at Delphi and Isthmia. It contained altars, monuments, and a sacred grove of cypress trees, representing the funereal aspect of the games. Many of the planting pits of those trees have been discovered, and cypress trees have been replanted in them (figs. 191,192). The eastern and northern sections of the Epipola have not been excavated, but the southern side was defined by a row of buildings, many with kitchens and dining rooms attached, that were erected by different city-states.

Fig, 193 The Temple of Ne-mean Zeus, ca. 330 B. C., from the southeast as it appeared in 2002 (photo: author).

Farther away, outside the sacred area, are secular buildings like a hotel and a bathhouse. The core of the Epipola was the Temple of Nemean Zeus (fig. 193). The extant structure was built over the top of an earlier temple that was destroyed around 415 B. c. In front of the temple was a long, narrow altar, paralleled only by the altar of Poseidon at Isthmia. This correspondence demonstrates the conscious similarities — and the rivalries —between Nemea and Isthmia.

The history of the Nemean Games was a troubled one. After Nemea was destroyed in about 415, the games were moved to Argos until about 335. They returned to Nemea at that time, launching a major building program, of which the Temple of Zeus was the centerpiece. By 271 the games had been moved back to Argos, where they were held for the remainder of antiquity. But two structures built during the times the games were at Nemea offer significant information concerning ancient Greek athletics. The first of these is the bath, the first at a festival site. It included an elaborate hydraulic system that fed water to a pair of tub rooms flanking a central pool (fig. 194). This is the physical setting we see portrayed on a vase in which water is scooped from a tub to be poured over a young athlete (fig. 195).

The second building constructed in around 330-300 that has much to tell about ancient athletics is the early Hellenistic stadium that lies about 450 meters southeast ofthe Temple ofZeus (fig.196; see also figs. 63,191). This was created by hollowing out a natural ravine between two ridges at the south and building up an artificial terrace for the track at the north. The latter has eroded badly since antiquity; and the first 400 ancient feet (118 meters) are preserved today.

Ijm

Pig!94 Reconstruction of the bath at Nemea showing one of the tub rooms at the left and the central pool at the right. Drawing by

Ruben Santos.

Fig. 195 A youth pours water over a young athlete in a bath; at the left we see a tub, with two more youths standing behind it. Red-figure kylix by the Codrus Painter, 430-420 b. c. London,

The British Museum, inv. no, E 83 (photo: © The British Museum).

West of the stadium, also built between two ridges is the apodyterion (locker room) where the athletes prepared for their competitions (fig. 197). This was a simple structure with a three-sided colonnaded court open to the air and surrounded by roofed areas. The tiles of this roof bear the name of its architect, Sosikles, who was the “director of public works” of Argos. This is where the athletes disrobed, rubbed their bodies down with oil, and prepared themselves psychologically for the games (see fig. 273).

From the apodyterion the athlete passed through a vaulted entrance tunnel 36 meters long: the krypte esodos, to use the name given it at Olympia (fig. 198). The effect on those who pass through today is transforming and we can believe that it helped bring the athlete’s full attention to the job at hand. At the far end of the tunnel the athlete would wait for the herald to call his name and then run out onto the track (fig. 199). Apparently competitors had to wait in the tunnel for their names to be called, and some passed the time defacing public property. At least that seems to be the explanation for the ancient graffiti scratched all over the tunnel walls. One of these, the name Telestas (fig. 200), could refer to a victor in the boxing at Olympia in around 340. Another offers a difference of opinion about the physical beauty of a man named Akrotatos.

The balbis, hysplex, and kampter of the Nemea stadium have already been discussed (see figs. 51, 54-57, 63, 66-67), but another discovery should be mentioned. About four hundred coins were found during the excavation of the stadium, but few of them were at the closed southern end. We were able to figure out why after our revivals of the Nemean Games in 1996 and 2000. The view from the end of the track (fig. 63) shows the stadium and its surroundings clearly. But spectators cannot really follow the races from there. Hence the coins were found where the spectators would have sat, along the sides of the track where they could more easily see the competi-

Fig. 196 Aerial iew of the early Hellenistic stadium at Nemea from the north,

The apodyterion (undressing room, A) lies about halfway between the stadium track and the asphalt road at the right. University of California at Berkeley, Nemea Excavations Archives, no. Aerial 90.16.

Fig-197 Cut-away of a reconstruction of the apodyterion at Nemea from the northwest. University of California at Berkeley, Nemea Excavations Archives, no. pd 93.8. Drawing by Ruben Santos.

Tions. In addition, the area around the judges’ stand yielded the largest concentrations of coins from Argos, while the coins of Corinth were concentrated on the opposite side of the track, and the coins of Sikyon a little farther along. We thus have evidence that groups of fans gathered in cheering sections, just as they do today, and as is suggested by Lucian’s description of an experience at the Olympic Games: “Recently 1 sat to the left of the Hellanodikai at Olympia thanks to Euandrides of Elis, who kept a seat for me among his fellow citizens. I wanted to see close at hand everything that happened among the Hellanodikai” (Hermotimos 39; A io6)-

Finally, we have recently uncovered clear evidence about the earlier stadium at Nemea, used in the sixth and fifth centuries. Excavations have shown that the original Shrine of Opheltes, in the late fourth century a pentagonal enclosure, was a tumulus. This mound was artificially created in the first half of the sixth century—a date close to 573 would not be far wrong. Rounded at the south end, the mound continues as a long, gradually narrowing dike to the north (fig. 201). Along the eastern side of this elongated tumulus ran the track of the early stadium, consisting of a fine layer of white clay, which was equipped with the single-foot starting blocks noted above (see fig. 45).

To the west of the mound dozens, perhaps hundreds, of layers of alluvial silt and

:

Fig. 199 One athlete waits as another comes through the passageway from the tunnel to the track at Nemea. The keryx announces the next competitor while the crowd shows its partisanship. University of California at Berkeley, Nemea Excavations Archives, no. PD 93.4. Drawing by Ruben Santos.

Fig. 198 The underground entrance to the stadium at Nemea from the west, ca. 320 B. c. This 36-meter-long tunnel was discovered with its ends silted up but the central part still standing empty. University of California at Berkeley, Nemea Excavations Archives, no. STAD 95.95.

Gravel have accumulated over the centuries. The clay silt always contains a few grooves left behind by chariot wheels, although the gravel shows no traces of them. This must be the early hippodrome, a conclusion supported by the absence of any other possible space in the Nemean valley for it. Not enough has been exposed to discern its overall dimensions, but future excavations can accomplish that. Apparently the single mound served as the viewing stand for both the gymnikos agon and the hippikos agon, as we perhaps see in a fragment of a sixth-century vase (see fig. 144).

Perhaps the most important result of these discoveries is the inevitable conclusion that Argos created an athletic festival center at Nemea out of nothing in the first half of the sixth century b. c. Although there is evidence of activity in the valley in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries b. c., there is no bridge over the intervening 600-700 years, and no evidence that Nemea had any venerable tradition of ongoing activity. Rather, it seems clear that Nemea was created on the basis of the preexisting model of Olympia: the mound of Pelops and the location of the early stadium nearby at Olympia served as prototypes for Nemea. We may also note that, as at Olympia and Isthmia, the early stadium was close to, and tied with, religious cult centers but later moved away from the sanctuary because of the need to provide new, larger, and more permanent facilities for the athletes and spectators.

Together the games at Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea formed the athletic cycle, or periodos, and the best athletes of antiquity were those who had won at

Fig. 200 Graffiti on the wall ofthe entrance tunnel to the Nemean  Fig. 201 Schematic reconstruction of

Stadium. The graffito above brags, “I win! ” Below, Telestas has  the Archaic festival center at Nemea with

Scratched his name. University of California at Berkeley, Nemea  the Shrine of Opheltes (center) flanked

By the hippodrome and the early stadium. Drawing by author.

Excavations Archives, no. 159.

Least once at each site and were entitled be called periodonikai (circuit winners). Although the full cycle would be completed within an Olympiad of four years, and there were four festivals, the cycle was not straightforward since the Isthmian and Nemean Games were biennial. One cycle included six festivals. Using 480 B. c. as the starting point, a typical cycle would have looked like this:

Since the ancient year began at the summer solstice, the Isthmian and Nemean Games took place in the same year while the quadrennial Olympics and Pythian Games were each in separate solaryears. The doubling of the Isthmian and Nemean Games also meant that it was easier to win in one of them than at the single festivals of Olympia or Delphi, so a victory there counted for a bit less. We can read, for example, about each of the victories of Milo of Kroton at Olympia and Delphi, but not at Isthmia and Nemea (Pausanias 6.14.5; A 163a). When all the victories are listed, as for Theagenes of Thasos (Pausanias 6.11.3; A 167a), we see that the victories at the two junior sites far outnumbered those at the senior: Theagenes had two Olympic victories, three Pythian, nine Nemean, and ten Isthmian. But if an Isthmian or Nemean victory was less important than one at Olympia or Delphi, it was still more valued than a victory at any other games.