The Nineteenth Muscle Song - From Olympia to Tiberias

The awards at the Olympics are sponsored by the King of Judah. For Herod's contribution to the continuation of the Olympic Games in Greece

We ended the previous chapter by mentioning Herod's architectural contributions in relation to baths, and the current one opens by mentioning other contributions according to Josephus: "He (Herod) established gymnasiums in Tripoli, Damascus and Acre... In Sidon and Tire Herod established theaters... and in other cities he installed permanent positions for the heads of the gymnasiums and financed All their expenses every year and demanded from them, as he did to the inhabitants of the island Kos (an island in the Aegean Sea, near the western coast of Asia Minor, where the base of a statue erected in Herod's honor was discovered), that the prizes (competition prizes) never cease" (Jewish Wars 423 422-XNUMX).

These donations meant a lot to Herod - first, personal prestige; Second, the likeness of the Hellenistic noble who is blessed with the ideal virtue of a "megalopsychic", we mean a noble soul, i.e. a benefactor; Thirdly, finding favor with the Romans who upgraded Herod's status from official to official; Fourthly, the construction "bug" that plagued Herod; Fifth, creating economic, beyond social and cultural ties with his support centers. And let's not forget that these donations, and especially the continuous ones, demanded Herod a voyage in expenses, and Herod was not one to put his money on the stag's horn.

However, his most famous contribution in the physical-sports field was focused on the revival of the Olympic Games, and Joseph ben Matthieu wrote the following lines about it: who installed financial income for the games and graced the celebration both in terms of the sacrifices and in terms of the other decorations due to generosity ("megalopsychic") This Herod was crowned among the citizens of (the city) Elis (with the title) a regular organizer of games" (Antiquities of the Jews, 149 XNUMX).

In his second composition, The Wars of the Jews, Josephus completes the above description as follows: "The claimant may claim that only the inhabitants of the cities who received gifts (from Herod) enjoyed them. But with the generosity of his heart to the people of Elis (a small town near Olympia, which from the beginning of the Olympic Games was the one that held and supervised them) Shay gave not only to the communities of Greece, but to the entire world ("Oikomena") - wherever he heard of the glory of the Olympic Games. When he passed through Elis on his way to Rome (12 BC or perhaps 8 BC), in the year of the existence of the competitions held once every four years ("the games of the fifth year"), and saw that they were decreasing in size due to a lack of money, and that with their sunset the last vestige would disappear of ancient Greece, took it upon himself to be the editor of the games for this year, and even gave sums of money for the future to come, thus ensuring that the memory of his tenure as the editor of the games would not He will pass away from the world" (Wars of the Jews, 427 426-XNUMX).

The Olympic Games, which constituted the pinnacle of classical physical culture, in its time, of course, were beset, from the third century BC onwards, by a severe crisis due to several factors: first - the decline of Greece as a result of a series of exhausting wars; second - the center of gravity was moved to the East since the Hellenistic period; Third - the city of Ellis, which was entrusted with the management of the games and their supervision, was caught in a serious economic crisis from the beginning first century BC; Fourthly - the sport became more and more professional and aggressive under the influence of the Roman conquests and therefore found no place for it in the classical Olympic atmosphere of non-professional sports; Fifth - Olympia's place was taken by local sites.

Olympia seemed to expect a brave initiative, almost hopeless, in the form of reviving her glory, and Herod took up this gauntlet. and why? First, due to his pro-sports inclination; secondly, as an integral part of the construction bug that plagued him; Thirdly, in order to be portrayed again and again as having a noble, charitable character, befitting a Hellenistic prince. Fourth, out of a desire to strengthen the ties between him and Augustus, the ruler of Rome, and this because Augustus was known as an avid fan of Greek and Hellenistic culture and it is not for nothing that Josephus notes that Herod revived the Olympic Games on his way to Rome, partly to meet with Augustus and win his support regarding the appointment Herod's successor; Fifth, Rome asked to be portrayed as the heir of the Hellenistic Empire and Herod decided to be the one to leverage Rome's dream in this regard; Sixth, a kind of rumor spread that there was a mythological connection between Judah and Sparta; Herod may have expected that athletes from Judea would also take part in the prestigious games, mythologically.

It is true that Herod's contribution was supposed to strengthen his prestige among everyone who knew him, but the question arises, could Herod have financed this tremendous enterprise? The answer to this is positive. Herod was known as the owner of many assets and as someone who knows how to invest his money wisely and it is not inevitable that as a result of his enterprise in Olympia the economic ties between Judea and the cities of Greece will be strengthened.

Herod received a special appointment, a reward for the financial aid he gave to Olympia, and he is "Agonotatas (permanent organizer of games) permanently". This appointment and this title were foreign to the classical world of the Olympic Games. The games were presided over by a special panel of judges (the "Helanodikai"), who were chosen by lot from among the citizens of the city of Elis, and therefore Herod's appointment and title were subject to renewal on an understandable pragmatic basis. A kind of compromise was reached here, the main point of which is the appointment of an honorary president of the games, considering it a prestigious title with no functional association.

The sporting enthusiasm, which includes political, socio-economic and cultural layers, was good for Herod to instill in his sons after him. Among his successors, the figure of Herod Antipas (4 BC - 39 AD) was mentioned, who received under his hand the rule over the Galilee and the Jewish Transjordan ("wilderness") by special Roman appointment.

Antipas rebuilt the city of Zipuri as the capital of the Galilee and named it "Autokratoris" after Augustus. The remains of the theater that were discovered there testify to the existence of competitions and musical and aquatic performances that were held there.

Between the years 17 and 22 CE, Antipas built another city in the western Galilee called Tiberias after the emperor Tiberius as an important economic center. Tiberias was built in the pattern of a polis city for everything (a Jewish polis city) and among the buildings he erected there we find a stadium, according to the testimony of Yosef ben Matthew, which was built outside the city, near the Sea of ​​Galilee, and its contents were intended to house between 15 and 20 thousand spectators. The viewing audience did not "rest" on stone seats, but on earthen elevations supported by an outer stone wall. That is, it is a structure that combines a Greek worldview and a Roman worldview.