Panhellenic Games

Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate sports festivals held in ancient Greece. The four Games were:

Games	God Honored	Location	Prize	Frequency
Olympic Games	Zeus	Olympia, Elis	Olive wreath (Kotinos)	Every 4 years
Pythian Games	Apollo	Delphi	Laurel wreath	Every 4 years (2 years after the Olympic Games)
Nemean Games	Zeus, Heracles	Nemea, Corinthia	Wild celery	Every 2 years (2nd and 4th year of Olympiads)
Isthmian Games	Poseidon	Isthmia, Sicyon	Pine	Every 2 years

Description

The Olympiad was one of the ways the Greeks measured time. The Olympic Games were used as a starting point, year one of the cycle; the Nemean and Isthmian Games were both held (in different months) in year two, followed by the Pythian Games in year three, and then the Nemean and Isthmian Games again in year four. The cycle then repeated itself with the Olympic Games. They were structured this way so that individual athletes could participate in all of the games.

(But note that the dial on the Antikythera mechanism - - seems to show that the Nemean and Isthmian Games did not occur in the same years.)

Participants could come from all over the Greek world, including the various Greek colonies from Asia Minor to Spain. However, participants probably had to be fairly wealthy in order to pay for training, transportation, lodging, and other expenses. Neither women nor non-Greeks were allowed to participate, except for very occasional later exceptions, such as the Roman emperor Nero.

The main events at each of the games were chariot racing, wrestling, boxing, pankration, stadion and various other foot races, and the pentathlon (made up of wrestling, stadion, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw). Except for the chariot race, all the events were performed nude.

The Olympic Games were the oldest of the four, said to have begun in 776 BCE. It is more likely though that they were founded sometime in the late 7th century BCE. The Pythian, Nemean and Isthmian games most likely began sometime in the first or second quarter of the 6th century BCE. The Isthmian games were held at the temple to Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth.

The games are also known as the stephanitic games, because winners received only a garland for victory. (Stephanitic derives from stephanos the Attic Greek word for crown.) No financial or material prizes were awarded, unlike at other Ancient Greek athletic or artistic contests, such as the Panathenaic Games, at which winners were awarded many amphorae of first-class Athenian olive-oil. The Olympic games awarded a garland of olives; the Pythian games, a garland of laurel, i.e. bay leaves; the Nemean games, a crown of wild celery, and the Isthmian, a garland of pine leaves in the archaic period, one of dried celery in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, and again one of pine from then on.^[1] Though victors received no material awards at the games, they were often showered with gifts and honors on returning to their polis.

Notes

↑ See O. Broneer, "The Isthmian Victory Crown," AJA 66 (1962) 259-63.

Multi-sport events

Global

Olympics	Olympic Games Summer Winter Youth Olympic Games

Continental	African Games Asian Games Summer Winter Beach Indoor and Martial Arts European Games Pacific Games Pan American Games

Associations	Commonwealth Games Inter-Allied Games¹ Island Games Jeux de la Francophonie Lusophony Games Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR¹ World Outgames

Communities	Croatian World Games Gay Games Islamic Solidarity Games Maccabiah Games Pan Arab Games Pan-Armenian Games Women's Islamic Games¹ World Indigenous Games

Disabled sport	Deaflympics Défi sportif IWAS World Games Armed forces Invictus Games Warrior Games Paralympic Games Summer Winter Special Olympics Summer Winter

Professions	Lumberjack World Championship Military World Games World Police and Fire Games

Youth and students	Asian Youth Games Australian Youth Olympic Festival Commonwealth Youth Games CPLP Games European Youth Olympic Festival Gymnasiade International Children's Games SELL Student Games Universiade World Interuniversity Games World Youth Games¹

Other sport	Dew Tour Mind Sports Olympiad SportAccord World Mind Games World Combat Games World Games X Games

Regional

Africa	African Youth Games African Games All-Africa University Games Central African Games¹

Americas	ALBA Games Bolivarian Games CANUSA Games Central American and Caribbean Games Central American Games North American Indigenous Games North American Outgames Pan American Games Parapan American Games South American Beach Games South American Games

Asia	ASEAN Civil Service Games ASEAN School Games ASEAN University Games ASEAN ParaGames Asian Beach Games Asian Games Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Asian Indoor Games¹ Asian Martial Arts Games¹ Asian Para Games Asian Winter Games Asian Youth Games Central Asian Games Children of Asia International Sports Games¹ East Asian Games Far Eastern Games¹ South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games West Asian Games

Europe	Black Sea Games EuroGames European Games European Sports Championships European Youth Olympic Festival Games of the Small States of Europe

Oceania	Australasian Police and Emergency Services Games Micronesian Games Pacific Games

Inter-continental	Afro-Asian Games¹ Arafura Games Arctic Winter Games AsiaPacific Outgames FESPIC Games¹ Indian Ocean Island Games Mediterranean Games Nordic Games¹ Pacific Ocean Games¹ Pan Arab Games

National

Americas	Canada Quebec Western Colombia United States amateur juniors seniors

Asia	Bangladesh China All-China Games National Games of China National Peasants' Games India Indian Empire¹ Indonesia Japan Malaysia Para Mongolia Pakistan Philippines National Games Batang Pinoy Palaro Singapore South Korea Summer Winter Thailand youth Vietnam

Europe	Albania¹ Nazi Germany¹ Netherlands Poland (youth) Soviet Union (youth)¹

Oceania	Western Australia (high school)²

NCSG³	Alabama California Florida Massachusetts Missouri Montana Nebraska New York North Carolina North Dakota¹ Texas Wisconsin

Historical¹

Pre Modern Olympics (in chronological order, 1900BC–1852AD)	Tailteann Games Panhellenic Games Ancient Olympic Games Pythian Games Nemean Games Heraean Games Panathenaic Games Roman Games Cotswold Olimpick Games Gog Magog Games Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games

Alternatives to the Modern Olympics	Aryan Games Friendship Games Games of the New Emerging Forces Goodwill Games Islamic Games Liberty Bell Classic People's Olympiad South African Games Spartakiad Workers' Olympiads

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Panhellenic Games

Description

See also

Notes