NGC Ancients: Sports on Coins

The 2024 Summer Olympics begin in Paris on July 26, with athletes from more than 200 countries competing for the gold medal in more than 300 events across 39 sports. The modern Olympics that began in 1896 in Athens, Greece, are a revival of the ancient Olympic Games that for more than a thousand years were held every four years.

A broad range of evidence reveals that people in antiquity enjoyed watching athletes compete as much as we do in modern times. Many of these events — and even the sports themselves — were celebrated on ancient coins.

The origin of the ancient Olympic Games is traditionally dated to 776 B.C. Thus, the games already had been held more than four centuries before this silver tetradrachm was struck in 360 B.C. for the 105th Olympiad. The name of the Olympic Games derives from Olympia, a town in the Greek Peloponnesus. The obverse shows Zeus while the reverse shows the nymph Olympia, identified in the inscription.

One of the core sports is a foot race, a simple test of who can cover a certain distance the fastest. A soldier is shown crouched and ready to race on this electrum stater struck ca. 450-330 B.C. at Cyzicus in Mysia (northeast Turkey). The race involved carrying military equipment and was called the hoplitodromos, a name that derives from the hoplite soldiers of ancient Greece. The hoplitodromos was a mainstay of the ancient Olympics and other competitions.

Another athlete running appears on this silver denarius struck c. 74/71 or 67 B.C. by the Roman moneyer L. Plaetorius L.f. Cestianus. The athlete holds a palm frond in one hand and a caestus (a fortified boxing glove) in the other.

A foot race was one of the five events that made up the Olympic Pentathlon. The others were the discus throw, javelin throw, long jump and wrestling. (The pentathlon at the modern Olympics involves fencing, horse-riding, swimming, running and shooting.)

A discus thrower, called a diskobolos, is believed to be the subject of this silver 3 sigloi struck in the early 5th century B.C. by Kos, an island settlement just off the southwest coast of modern-day Turkey. (An older theory that the figure on this coin was Apollo with a drum or tambourine has been discarded.)

An athlete preparing to throw a javelin is shown on this small bronze of Philippopolis in Thrace, issued for the emperor Elagabalus (A.D. 318-222). Each event of the ancient Olympic pentathlon was believed to hone skills helpful on the battlefield.

Another event of the pentathlon was the long jump. An athlete is shown dropping a distance marker before his jump on this bronze assarion from Bizya, Thrace. The coin portrays Philip II, who ruled as Caesar A.D. 244-247, under his father, Roman Emperor Philip I ‘the Arab’. Their reign included great sporting events to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of Rome.

Wrestling was the final event of the ancient Olympic pentathlon. Wrestlers are depicted on this silver stater struck in the mid-4th century B.C. by the city of Aspendos, an important Mediterranean port located in what today is southern Turkey. The reverse shows a slinger, whose equivalent word in ancient Greek was similar in pronunciation to Aspendos. A triskeles of three human legs is seen in the background.

A boxer with wrappings on both sides of his arms is shown on this tetrassarion struck in Philippopolis, Thrace, under Emperor Caracalla (A.D. 198-217). The coin was struck for one of the great competitions of the time: the Pythian Games held in Philippopolis. The games are identified by the inscription ΠYΘIA in the reverse field.

To protect their knuckles and hands, boxers wore himantes. The reverse of this bronze medallion struck under Caracalla shows the Greco-Egyptian syncretic god Serapis holding himantes over a fiery altar. Caracalla, who is best remembered for the murder of his brother and co-emperor Geta, was particularly devoted to Serapis.

Separating the Italian peninsula from Sicily is the Strait of Messina, a strategic water passage ruled in the early fifth century B.C. by the tyrant Anaxilas. This silver tetradrachm of Rhegium in Bruttium, struck around 475 B.C., depicts a man driving a biga of mules. Anaxilas’ team won this event at the Olympics, so the coin is likely a testament to his victory.

The popularity of chariot racing was enduring, becoming a central part of the ancient Olympic Games. This Contorniate, a bronze medallion struck in the late 4th century A.D., shows a chariot racer on the obverse, while the reverse shows a quadriga (a chariot of four horses).

At the time this medallion was struck, the ancient Olympics were near the end of their run, but chariot racing's popularity and influence was well-established in the culture of Rome and Constantinople. Chariot racing factions named after colors, including the Blues and Greens, had enormous influence in broader society. In fact, the Blue and Green factions revolted against Emperor Justinian I in A.D. 532, and the ensuing Nika Riots destroyed much of Constantinople and left tens of thousands dead.

Emperor Constantine, who famously moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople in A.D. 330, sought to elevate chariot racing over gladiatorial combat. The latter had pagan roots and was seen by early Christian writers as morally corrupting to watch because the gladiators sometimes fought each other to the death. This silver denarius struck under Roman moneyer Titus Didus around 113-112 B.C. shows two gladiators with shields. One is armed with a flail, while the other holds a sword or a staff.

Gladiators also fought animals in a spectacle known as a venatio (from the Latin word for hunting). This silver denarius struck by Roman moneyer L. Livineius Regulus in 42 B.C. shows a fighter known as a bestiarius slaying a charging lion in the foreground, while a second bestiarius fends off another wild creature — perhaps a leopard — in the background.

The 2024 Paris Olympics are being held in a number of venues, including the Stade de France, which has the largest seating capacity in France: 80,698. At its peak, Rome's Circus Maximus could accommodate several times that number of spectators, and it remains the largest stadium ever constructed. This bronze sestertius of Caracalla shows the Circus Maximus, which was typically used for chariot races and public games.

Rome's Colosseum was also used for spectacles, including gladiatorial combat. Known as the Flavian Amphitheater, the building had a seating capacity estimated at 50,000 to 80,000. The Colosseum was completed during the reign of Emperor Titus (A.D. 79-81), who issued this bronze sestertius celebrating the largest amphitheater that had ever been built.

Rome had other arenas besides the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum. This gold aureus struck under Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211) likely shows the Stadium of Domitian, which was completed shortly after the Colosseum and had roughly half its seating capacity.

Gaining admittance to a modern sporting event requires a paper ticket or a smartphone app. The ancient Romans used tokens called tesserae for a number of purposes, including — in some cases — admittance to games. This Roman tessera was struck under Emperor Tiberius (A.D. 14-37).

Today, being awarded a gold medal is considered the apex of glory in the sporting world. Similar awards were provided to ancient athletes. This bronze coin struck in Thrace, Byzantium, under Roman Emperor Severus Alexander (A.D. 222-235) shows three athletes around an agonistic urn, which was used in sports ceremonies.

This bronze coin from Tarsus in Cilicia, struck under Roman Emperor Valerian I (A.D. 253-260), shows three athletes who are clearly enjoying the limelight. Each holds a palm while placing a crown on himself.

The jubilant scene offers a sharp contrast to the fate of Valerian, portrayed on the obverse, for when his army was captured at the Battle of Edessa in the Near East, Valerian spent the rest of his life in humiliating captivity.