The hoplitodromos or hoplitodromia ( Greek: , English translation: "race of the Hoplites") was an ancient foot race, part of the Olympic Games and the other

Panhellenic Games Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate sports festivals held in ancient Greece. The four Games were: Description The Olympiad was one of the ways the Greeks measured time. The Olympic Games were used as a starting point, year ...

. It was the last foot race to be added to the Olympics, first appearing at the 65th Olympics in 520 BC, and was traditionally the last foot race to be held. Hoplitodromia Louvre CA214 n2

Unlike the other races, which were generally run in the nude, the ''hoplitodromos'' required competitors to run wearing the ''hopla'', the helmet, greaves and heavy shield (''

aspis An aspis ( grc, ἀσπίς, plural ''aspides'', ), or porpax shield, sometimes mistakenly referred to as a hoplon ( el, ὅπλον) (a term actually referring to the whole equipment of a hoplite), was the heavy wooden shield used by the infa ...

'') from which the

hoplite Hoplites ( ) ( grc, ὁπλίτης : hoplítēs) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Polis, city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with ...

infantryman took its name, bringing the total encumbrance to at least 6 kg (12 pounds).Peter Krentz, “A Cup by Douris and the Battle of Marathon,” in Garrett G. Fagan and Matthew Trundle (eds.), New Perspectives on Ancient Warfare (Brill: Leiden, 2010) pp. 190ff. As the ''hoplitodromos'' was one of the shorter foot races, the heavy armor and shield was less a test of endurance than one of sheer muscular strength. After 450 BC, the use of greaves was abandoned; however, the weight of the shield and helmet remained substantial. At Olympia and Athens, the ''hoplitodromos'' track, like that of the '' diaulos'', was a single lap of the stadium (or two ''stades''; about 350-400m). Since the track made a hairpin turn at the end of the stadium, there was a turning post called a ''kampter'' (''καμπτήρ'') at each end of the track to assist the sprinters in negotiating the tight turn—a task complicated by the shield carried in the runner's off hand. At

Nemea Nemea (; grc, Νεμέα; grc-x-ionic, Νεμέη) is an ancient site in the northeastern part of the Peloponnese, in Greece. Formerly part of the territory of Cleonae in ancient Argolis, it is today situated in the regional unit of Corinthia ...

the distance was doubled to four ''stades'' (about 700-800m), and at

Plataea Plataea or Plataia (; grc, Πλάταια), also Plataeae or Plataiai (; grc, Πλαταιαί), was an ancient city, located in Greece in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes.Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. “Plataea.” '' Webst ...

in Boeotia the race was 15 ''stades'' in total. The ''hoplitodromos'', with its military accoutrements, was as much a military training exercise as an athletic contest. Encounters with units of expert Persian archers, first occurring shortly before the ''hoplitodromos'' was introduced in 520 BC, must have suggested the need for training the Greek armored infantry in fast "rushing" maneuvers during combat to minimize the time spent exposed to Persian arrows. Additionally, the original 400-meter length of the ''hoplitodromos'' coincides well with the effective area of the Persian archers' zone of fire, suggesting an explicit military purpose for this type of training.

References

{{Ancient Olympic sports Ancient Olympic sports Middle-distance running Extinct sports

See also

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