A correspondent has drawn my attention to an article discussing a recently (1994) discovered bronze plaque from Olympia, somewhat cropped, but still showing lists of olympic victors.[1]
The interest of the item is that it lists victors from the late 4th century, not that long before the games must have ceased. The number of the olympiad is given, the name of the victor, the city from which they come, and the event. The plate is ca. 75 x 40 cms in size.
Ebert notes:
Die Bronzeplatte ergänzt unser Wissen über die Geschichte der Olympischen Spiele in mehrfacher Hinsicht beträchtlich. 27 Vor allem aber wirft sie mit ihren Inschriften einer ganzen Reihe vordem unbekannter aus Griechenland und Kleinasien stammender Olympioniken des 4.Jh.s n.Chr. und mit den damit verbundenen Aufschlüssen über das Wettkampf programm auf diese bislang dunkle Spätphase der Olympischen Spiele neues Licht. Es zeigt sich (auch wenn wir über Ausgestaltung und Besucherzahlen der Feste jener Zeit nichts Näheres erfahren und gegenüber früheren Jahrhunderten gewiß mit geringerer Resonanz rechnen müssen), daß bei den Olympien noch bis in die letzten Jahrzehnte des 4.Jh.s n.Chr. Athleten aus weit entfernten Gegenden der griechisch-römischen Welt konkurrierten und daß die Olympien damals keineswegs den Charakter lokal begrenzter Spiele angenommen hatten. Und wenn uns die spätesten Eingravierungen der Bronzeplatte, diejenigen für Eukarpides und Zopyros aus Athen, lehren, daß neben den athletischen Wettkämpfen auch das Zeremoniell der Bekränzung weiter Bestand hatte, so zeugt dies beredt von der – trotz des stetig mächtiger werdenden Christentums – immer noch starken Lebenskraft der Olympischen Spiele auch als Zeusfest. 28
The bronze plate supplements our knowledge of the history of the olympic games considerably in many respects. Above all its inscriptions give us a whole series of previously unknown olympians from Greece and Asia Minor from the 4th century A.D., and sheds new light through its data on the previously obscure late phase of the olympic games. It turns out that (even if we have gained no more information on the design and visitor numbers of the festival compared to earlier centuries, although we might expect lower numbers) until the last decades of the 4th century athletes from distant parts of the Graeco-Roman world were still competing, and that the olympics had by no means assumed the character of a local event. The latest engravings on the bronze plate, those of Eucarpides and Zopyrus of Athens, tell us that, in addition to the athletic contests, the ceremonial of crowning had continued, so that it testifies eloquently — despite the increasing dominance of Christianity — to the still strong vitality of the olympics as a festival of Zeus.
No photograph is given of the plaque itself, only a facsimile and transcription. Unfortunately there is no clear, tabular representation of the data, nor translation, and the article presupposes good knowledge of both Greek and German. So I have found it rather hard to extract the key data from it. But it is clearly a very important find.
The latest entries are of two brothers from Athens, named M. Aur. Eucarpides and M. Aur. Zopyrus, in Olympiads 290 (=381 AD) and 291 (=385 AD) in the pancration contest. Laurel wreaths are depicted on the plaque. Doubtless Athens was proud of them.
At some period after the games had ceased the plaque was pulled down, trimmed to size, and used to block a latrine channel. Sic transit gloria mundi.
UPDATE: A nice photograph of the bottom of the plaque appears on p.115 of Vasileios Patrakos Great moments in Greek archaeology, and is visible in preview here.
- [1]J. Ebert, Zur neuen Bronzeplatte mit Siegerinschriften aus Olympia (Inv.1148), Nikephoros vol. 10, 1997, p.217-233.↩