Hellanodikai: The Chief Judges of the Olympics

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"There, the method of premliminary training and the kind of exercises are decided by others, and it is not the trainer, but the Hellanodikes who, entirely on his own initiative and without being bound in any way, organizes everything, in accord with the particular circumstances pertaining from time to time. And the Hellanodikes has the whip at his disposal, not only for the athlete, but also for the trainer, and he uses it in case of any contravention of his orders; and all have to conform with the orders of the Hellanodikai, since those who violate them may be immediately excluded from the games."1

Philostratos, ca. 3rd century AD

HOW ARE THE JUDGES SELECTED?

"A Jury of Appeal and a Ground Jury (Judges) shall be appointed for each sport. The choice of them is left to the international federations. One delegate of each international federation must be present in order to check the entries. The members of these juries and the officials must all be amateurs. Where a jury has not been formed by th etime it should have started to function, the Organizing Committee will advise and decide how to form one. The Juries of Appeal for the sports not governed by an international federation shall be formed by the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and must be composed of five members of different nationalities, who shall elect their own president."2

Region

Judges did not come from all over the Greek world, but were drawn from Elis, the local region which included Olympia. Even though the judges were all Eleans, local Elean Greeks were still allowed to compete in the Olympics. The Elean people had such a reputation for fairness that an Elean cheating at the games was a shock to other Greeks.

Number

Like the athletes, the hellanodikes also underwent a long period of preparation for the ancient games. The judges were instructed for a period of ten months by Elean magistrates. Historians disagree about the number of the judges, but apparently not more than one or two judges officiated at the early Olympic games, where but one event was contested. When the athletic program was expanded to take in many events and last for five or more days, the number was increased, although there seems to be no record of more than ten judges at a single celebration.

One source states "At the ninety-fifth festival nine umpires were appointed. To three of them were entrusted the chariot-races, another three were to supervise the pentathlum, the rest superintended the remaining contests.

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