Gary Corby: Sacred Games

Praise Singer. Praise singers were poets-for-hire, who sang their poems, and who for a fee would do a terrific marketing job to make you look great. It’s difficult to think of a modern equivalent to the praise singer. If you can imagine a spin doctor with literary talent and the skills of a singer/songwriter you’re probably not far off. The two most famous praise singers in history, head and shoulders above the rest for talent, were Simonides and Pindar. One of these two men almost certainly wrote the famous epitaph for the 300 Spartans who fell at Thermopylae, but neither ever claimed the credit.

Pronaos. The room before the naos. Many churches have a small vestibule before you enter the church proper. This is the same thing.

Psyche. A human spirit. When you die, your psyche descends to Hades. If the proper burial rituals aren’t performed, a psyche can be trapped in the mortal world. The psyche of a groom murdered by Pelops was said to inhabit the taraxippus.

Sacred Games. The ancient name for the Olympics. The Sacred Games were dedicated to Zeus, king of the Gods. They were held at Olympia, hence the modern name for the event. There were four major Games in the Greek sporting calendar: the Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, and the Nemean Games.

Sanctuary of Zeus. The center of Olympia was not the stadion, but the Sanctuary of Zeus. To the ancients, the Olympics was a religious observance first, and a sports event second. Within the sanctuary was the Temple of Zeus.

Skamma. These days we’d call it the long jump pit, but the ancient Greeks didn’t use sand. They tilled the earth alongside one length of the stadionuntil it was soft and level and could take an imprint. Long jump in the Sacred Games was from a standing start-no run up allowed! — the athlete was allowed to swing weights held in his hands, and it was all done to music.

Stadion. No prizes for guessing this one. It means stadium. What’s less well known is that stadion was originally a unit of length. The sports field at Olympia is one stadion long, hence its name. The sprint event at the Sacred Games was also called the stadion, since competitors ran one length of the field. The Olympic stadion is in the top right-hand corner of the map, and it’s a lot smaller than you’d think, considering its vast reputation.

Strigil. A curved piece of bronze with a handle at one end, used to scrape down the skin. Classical Greece has soap, but no one wants to use it because it’s made of goat fat and ashes. Instead, a slave rubs you down with olive oil, and then scrapes away the dirty oil and the dead outer layer of your skin with a strigil.

Taraxippus. The horse terror. Tara -terror. Xippus -horse. I know it’s usually hippos for horse, but they haven’t yet invented the dictionary and standardized spelling. The taraxippus was an altar outside the first turn of the chariot race track at the hippodrome. Most crashes occurred on that turn, supposedly because a psychetrapped within the taraxippus induced great fear in the horses.

Temple of Zeus. The Temple of Zeus at Olympia is brand spanking new at the time of this story. It stunned the Greeks with its brilliance and was the greatest ever example of Doric architecture. The Temple of Zeus won’t be completed for another three years, but it surely must have been open for inspection at these Olympics. The cult statue will not be installed for another thirty years. When it is, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia will become one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.