The stadium^[433] or racecourse of the Greeks was the natural development of that primitive type of race which is described in Homer, and which we may still see at school treats and rustic meetings. The competitors, drawn up in a line, race to some distant point which is the finish, or, turning round this point, race back again to the starting-point. Here we have the germ of the stade or straight race, and of the diaulos, and other turning races, as the Greeks called them (??pe???). The start is marked by a post (??ssa) or by a line drawn in the sand (??a?), and the finish or turning-point (?apt??e?) by a similar post or by some natural object, a stone, or tree-stump.

From this primitive course two types of racecourse are derived. Both differ from the modern oval course in that they are long, narrow, and straight, the runners not describing a curve but running straight up and down the track. The first, which we may call the hippodrome type, is that in which the runners race round two posts placed at either end of the course and connected by one or more intermediate posts, or by a low wall called by the Romans the “spina.” One or both ends of the course were rounded off for the convenience of spectators, and this circular end was known as the sfe?d???. This form was long regarded as the regular type of the Greek racecourse; but recent excavations have rendered it probable that though used by the Greeks for horse-races it was not employed by them for the foot-race, at least until Roman times. The true Greek stadium, as we now know, was strictly rectangular, both starting-point and finish being marked by parallel lines of stone slabs (a???, at??), and even the seats at the end following the same lines.

For such a course any fairly level plain was suitable; but for the convenience of spectators it was natural to select some level stretch surrounded on one or more sides by some rising ground, along the foot of a hill as at Olympia, or in a dip between two hills as at Epidaurus or Athens. All that was required in such cases was to level the ground for the actual track, and to improve the natural standing-ground by an artificial embankment, which might or might not be afterwards provided with seats. Most of the stadia in Greece, says Pausanias, were formed by such an embankment;^[434] it was not till a comparatively late period that the seats were built up on masses of masonry and surrounded by walls and colonnades. The length of the actual track was always a stade or 600 feet; but, as there was no universal standard of measurement, the length of the stadium varied locally with the length of the foot.

The simplest of all Greek stadia was that at Olympia, and it retained its simplicity throughout its history.^[435] We have seen that before the middle of the fifth century all the games were held in the plain commanded by the treasury terrace, and that the permanent running track was first constructed about 450 B.C., after the completion of the first eastern colonnade. At this date the ground at the foot of the hill of Cronus was levelled so as to form a parallelogram some 212 metres long by 29 broad, somewhat broader, however, at the centre than at the ends. This parallelogram was enclosed by a stone sill, and within this sill at a distance of about a metre ran an open stone gutter, opening at regular intervals into stone basins. This gutter, fed from the conduit which ran along the foot of the treasury steps, provided competitors and spectators with the water which they must have sorely needed, exposed as they were all day long, without protection, to the parching rays of the summer sun. The running track lay some 10 feet below the level of the Altis, and slightly below the level of the surrounding plain which sloped gradually upwards to the south towards the bank of the Alpheus. The only accommodation for spectators was afforded by the slopes of the hill of Cronus and this open plain, which it has been calculated would have accommodated from 20,000 to 30,000 people. At a later date, possibly after the battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C., the ends and southern slope were raised by an artificial embankment. This embankment extended to the south some 40 metres from the actual track, and on it some 40,000 or 45,000 spectators could find standing room. The ends of the embankment were straight, there was no curved theatre or sfe?d???, nor during the whole history of the stadium did any seats exist. Seats, probably of wood, were provided for a few privileged officials, but the spectators stood or reclined on the banks. At the north-west corner of the stadium a postern gate communicated with the Altis by means of a tunnel through the embankment, which in Roman times was roofed with a stone vault. This was the secret entrance reserved for officials and competitors.^[436] The spectators found their way into the stadium over the embankments or along the slopes of Mount Cronius.

The most interesting discovery at Olympia was that of the actual lines which marked the start and finish of the races (Fig. 41). These lines consist of stone sills about 18 inches wide extending nearly the whole breadth of the course. Each sill is divided at intervals of about 4 feet by square sockets obviously intended to hold posts. Between each pair of sockets are two parallel grooves cut in stone about 7 inches apart. Their object was clearly to mark the place for the runners’ feet. There are twenty of these sections in the western sill and twenty-one in the eastern sill, one of which is, however, a short one. Each section afforded room for a single runner. The western sill is 11 metres from the end of the stadium, the eastern only 9-1/2. The distance between the two sills is 192·27 metres, which gives ·32045 as the length of the Olympic foot. The Olympic foot was said to have been determined by Heracles, who measured out the stadium with his own feet. Hence the stadium at Olympia is slightly longer than other stadia on the mainland.^[437]

The discovery of similar stone sills in the gymnasium at Olympia, and subsequently at Delphi and Epidaurus, makes it probable that they were universally employed in Greek stadia, though it is impossible definitely to fix the date at which they replaced the earlier custom of marking the lines in the sand. The reason why the lines are alike at either end is obvious. In the stade-race the finish was at the opposite end from the start, in the diaulos and other races consisting of an even number of stades the runners finished where they started. Hence, as it was clearly desirable that all races should finish at the same point, it was necessary to have starting lines at both ends. At Olympia it seems probable that the finish was at the eastern end of the course. Here were the seats of the Hellanodicae, and opposite them was the seat of the priestess of Demeter Chamyne, the only married woman, possibly the only woman, who was allowed to be a spectator at the Olympia.

Closely resembling the Olympic stadium was that at Epidaurus,^[438] where the festival of the Asclepiea was celebrated as early as the time of Pindar. It lies in a shallow trough formed by two low ridges descending into the plain from the hills which encircle the sanctuary of Asclepius. The bottom of the valley has been levelled and its eastern end and part of the sides raised by an embankment. Its western end lies open giving free access to visitors, who here as at all Greek festivals might enter freely without payment. The actual track is 181·30 metres long. Finish and start are alike, marked at either end by a pair of stone pillars between which lies a row of stone slabs with parallel grooves and sockets precisely similar to those found at Olympia, save that there are only eleven divisions and that the parallel grooves are somewhat closer, about four inches apart. The fact that traces of lead were found in some of the sockets confirms the view that iron posts were fastened in them. The pillars possibly belong to an earlier time than the slabs, when start and finish were still marked by lines drawn in the sand between the pillars. The stone slabs seem to have been added in Macedonian times when the stadium was improved, and a record of this reconstruction is preserved in an inscription which states that one Philon of Corinth having undertaken a contract for providing the starting lines (?sp?a?a) and having failed to fulfil his contract within the specified time was condemned by the Agonothetes and Hellanodicae to pay a fine of 500 drachmae.^[439] A still later, possibly Roman arrangement for the start is seen in five half pillars placed at either end in front of the stone sill which they were obviously intended to supersede (Fig. 42). On each side these pillars have a shallow groove intended apparently to hold some form of barrier or starting gate, such as we find used in the Roman Circus.^[440] A further difficulty is caused by the remains of four small stone platforms which stood immediately in front of the stone sills, two at each end between the outside pillars and the edge of the course. Their use is quite unknown; but the fact that they completely block the grooved starting lines immediately behind them proves that they belonged to some later arrangement. Possibly they are remains of an intermediate arrangement between the stone sill and the pillars, or possibly they served for starters and judges in later times.

Another interesting feature of the course is that it was marked off on either side at distances of a plethron (100 feet) by small square pillars. These pillars would have been very useful for races in which, as in the girls’ race at the Olympic Heraea, only a portion of the course was run. They may also have served for measuring the distance in a javelin or diskos throw. The finish of the course was obviously at the east end, round which alone the rows of seats extend. Between the actual finish and the seats is a further space some 16 metres deep, which may have been used like the curved sphendone of later times for events like wrestling which did not require much room. The three sides of the rectangle were surrounded by a stone border a little less than a yard from the embankment and seats. This contained an open runnel supplied with water by a pipe at the north-east corner of the stadium, and opening out at intervals of 30 yards into oblong basins, like those found at Olympia.

The seating arrangements like the starting lines bear traces of different periods; in contrast to Olympia it seems that from early times a certain number of seats were provided, if we may dignify by the name of seats the five rows of small stones cemented with mud which enclose the eastern end of the course. Beyond the points where these terminate are numerous tiers of seats on either side built of large blocks of dressed stone. The irregularity in the number and dressing of the stones shows that they were not constructed all at the same time. Some of them bear the inscriptions of the dedicators, which seem to date from the Macedonian period to the close of the Roman Republic. But even these seats cease entirely in the western half of the stadium, where as at Olympia spectators can only have stood or reclined on the banks. Staircases give access at intervals to the seats. In the centre of the seats on the northern side is an arched passage communicating with a square enclosure on the other side of the embankment. The enclosure was possibly the place of assembly for officials and competitors who entered the stadium in state through the arch-way. On the southern side of the stadium close to the finish are four stone blocks some 15 feet long and 16 inches high which were probably the seats of the Hellanodicae. Lower down, opposite to the arched passage, there are remains of a curved seat which may also have served for officials. It is rather more than 40 yards from the finish, and if the javelin or diskos were thrown from the finish, would have been a convenient seat for judges in these events. It seems likely too that, at all events after the erection of the later seats, wrestling and other events of the sort took place opposite these seats and not at the east end of the course. Behind this curved seat a broad staircase leads to a platform half-way up the seats. Here, Cavvadias conjectures, stood the table on which the prizes were placed, here the herald proclaimed the victor’s name and city, and here the victors received their crowns from the hands of the Hellanodicae. From this point too we may suppose, when the games for the day were finished, the Hellanodicae followed by the victors started in a triumphal procession, and passing through the official entrance on the north side, made their way to the temple of Asclepius to render thanks and pay their vows to the patron of the festival.

A further stage in the development of the stadium is seen in the stadium of Delphi, the best preserved and the most romantic in its situation of all Greek stadia. It lies on a rocky shelf to the north-west of the sacred precinct at the foot of the cliffs of Parnassus, which rise sheer above it to a height of 800 feet, and looking down over the valley of the Pleistus and the Crisaean plain. As at Olympia, there seems to have been no permanent stadium till the second half of the fifth century.^[441] In Pindar’s time the athletic competitions took place in the plain below, where, for want of sufficient room at Delphi itself, the hippodrome must have continued to exist.^[442] It seems probable that the change took place between the years 448 and 421 B.C. when the control of the festival was in the hands of the Phocians. To construct a stadium on the steep slope of the mountain it was necessary to build a massive retaining wall, and the date of this wall is approximately fixed by a fifth-century inscription built into it forbidding the introduction of wine into the dromos.^[443]

The stadium as we see it to-day is mainly the work of Herodes Atticus, who is said by Pausanias to have reseated it with marble, as he certainly did at Athens.^[444] The French excavations, however, show that Pausanias’ statement can hardly be accurate. The seats are not of marble but of local stone, and are apparently quite complete. There is no sign of any marble facing having existed, and not a trace of marble has been found in the stadium. If marble was used at all, it can only have been for special parts of the seats. Yet even without marble the appearance of the stadium is sufficiently imposing. The actual track is bounded at either end by a stone sill similar to those found at Olympia and Epidaurus. The stone sill is composed of 17 or 18 sections, and the parallel grooves are about 3-1/2 in. apart. The length of the track is 177·5 metres, and its breadth varies from 25-1/2 metres at the ends to 28-1/2 metres in the centre. The object of this curve, which we find at Athens and in a much less marked degree elsewhere, was to give a better view of the whole course to the spectators. The west end terminates in a shallow curved sphendone 9-1/2 metres deep, and the east end is similarly curved, though the curve is interrupted at the south by the main entrance to the stadium from the precinct below. In this eastern end there stand four pillars of poor and late workmanship which seem to have formed a triumphal entrance for officials and competitors. The two sides and the western sphendone are surrounded by rows of stone seats raised on a stone basement 5 feet high. There are six rows of seats on the south and west, twelve on the north, affording places for some 7000 spectators, though many more could find room on the slopes above the stadium to the north. Flights of steps at the east end gave access to two corridors which ran right round the stadium, above and below the tiers of seats. The latter were further divided by flights of steps placed at regular intervals. There were thirteen of these on either side, dividing the stadium into twelve equal lengths of half a plethron, and these divisions may have served like the similar divisions at Epidaurus for purposes of measurement. Another detail which recalls the stadium of Epidaurus is a seat of honour occupying the centre of the first two rows of seats on the north side.

Such was the Pythian stadium as restored by Herodes Atticus. Before his time it must have been something much simpler. The curved end and the stone seats did not exist. Instead, the northern slope was roughly levelled and an embankment raised above the southern retaining wall, so that the track seemed to lie in a trough, from which fact it derived its popular name the Lakkoma or “hollow.” In the intervals between the festivals it can have been used but little; it was overgrown with weeds, perhaps it was used for pasturage. Hence, as the time for the festival approached, the stadium had to be set in order, and the work was let out on contract. We have various records of these contracts. In 338 B.C. one Helixius obtained the contract for work on the Pythian stadium. In the accounts of the Archonship of Dion (258 B.C.) a number of items of work are enumerated in connexion with the gymnasium, stadium, and hippodrome, which throw invaluable light on the details of these institutions.^[445]

First the course itself and the surrounding embankments (t? st?f??ta) were thoroughly cleared of weeds and rubbish. This clearing (?????a?s??) cost 15 staters. Then the track and the jumping-places (t? ??ata) were dug up and rolled (s????? ?a? ???????) at a further cost of 110 staters, and finally it was covered with 600 medimnoi of white sand, which, at 1-2/3 obols per medimnos, amounted to 83 staters 4 obols. Next a barrier (f?????) was erected round the course at a cost of 5 staters, and a scaffolding of seats costing 29 staters. The small amount spent on the last item proves that the erection was merely a temporary structure, probably of wood, intended not for the whole body of spectators, but merely for a few distinguished persons. 36 staters were expended on the starting lines and turning posts (?apt??e?), and 8 staters on the arrangements for the pentathlon, presumably those for throwing the diskos and the javelin. Further, 77-1/2 staters were spent—if the restoration of the inscription is correct—on arrangements for the boxers, a considerable sum in proportion to other items, which suggests that some sort of raised platform may have been erected to enable as many as possible to view this extremely popular event. A stage, too, was erected for musical competitions, and a triumphal arch, or ?????, probably on the site occupied afterwards by the four pillars described above.

The temporary character of these arrangements is indicated sufficiently by their cost. The stater was equal to two Aeginetic drachmae of 96 grains, and equivalent approximately to two shillings of our money, though its purchasing power was considerably greater. In the time of Pericles an Attic drachma of 67 grains was a day’s wage for an artisan; in the third century its purchasing power was probably less. Allowing half a drachma as the wage for a labourer, we find that the clearing of the course and embankments took 60 men a day’s work.

The recent restoration of the Panathenaic stadium^[446] for the revived Olympic games has enabled us to realize something of the splendour which it owed to its reconstruction by Herodes Atticus in the second century of our era. Previous to the fourth century B.C., the Panathenaic games seem to have been held at some spot in the deme of Echelidae which lay between the Peiraeus and Athens. No traces of this stadium have yet been found, and it is probable that the arrangements were as simple as those existing in early time at Olympia. We gather from Xenophon that there was no artificial barrier to keep spectators off the course; in his treatise on the duty of a cavalry officer he recommends that horsemen should be placed in front of the crowds at reviews and races to keep them in order, but at sufficient intervals not to interfere with the spectators’ view.^[447] The first permanent stadium was constructed by Lycurgus in the second half of the fourth century, in a deep ravine on the left bank of the Ilissus. The land was the property of a patriotic citizen Demias, who as a mark of respect to Lycurgus presented it to the state. Other citizens followed his example: one Eudemus, who lent a thousand yoke of oxen for the work, was rewarded by a public vote of thanks. The work consisted in closing up the southern end of the ravine by an embankment and levelling the ground for the course, which was further separated from the spectators by a low wall, behind which ran a conduit for carrying off the rain-water. The finish and start were probably marked out as at Olympia by lines of stone slabs, but there were no seats for spectators except for officials and distinguished visitors. We hear of repairs made in the stadium at various times, but it probably maintained substantially its original form till the time of Herodes Atticus. Most of the remains discovered belong to his reconstruction.

The arena which was enclosed by a marble parapet measured something over 205 metres long by 33 metres broad. It ended in a semicircular sphendone which was separated from the actual running track by the stone starting line of which remains have been found. As, however, no trace has been discovered of the corresponding line at the other end, it is impossible to determine definitely the length of the course. It must have been approximately 177 metres. At either end of the starting line stood a stone pillar, and between these pillars stood four curious double-headed herms. Two of these have been found almost intact, and portions of the other two have also been found.^[448] They consist of square pillars about 6 feet high, on which stand back to back two heads, one bearded, the other beardless, sometimes said to represent a youthful Apollo and a bearded Dionysus. The heads, which are of rude and unfinished workmanship, are probably second-century copies of early originals. The pillars are divided to the height of 3 feet by a narrow slit through which, it has been suggested, may have passed the rope used in starting the races. The position of these herms along the starting line reminds one, however, of the somewhat similar rows of pillars at Epidaurus and Priene. The pillars at Epidaurus, it will be remembered, had likewise grooves on either side, though these did not as at Athens extend right through the pillars. In view of this resemblance it seems probable that both grooves and slits served for fixing either a sort of starting gate or a barrier used to enclose the course when dangerous exhibitions, such as fights of wild beasts, took place. Such shows it is known were exhibited in the stadium. The Emperor Hadrian on one occasion presented 1000 wild animals for this purpose. It was probably to secure the safety of the spectators on such occasions that the seats surrounding the whole arena were raised on a marble basement nearly 6 feet high. Above this rose 46 rows of marble seats, capable of seating at least 50,000 spectators. At the point where the curve of the sphendone began on the northern side a vaulted passage led underneath the seats and through the hill into the valley beyond. This passage may have served originally like the secret entrance at Olympia for the entrance of officials and competitors. In its later and more elaborate form it was probably intended by Herodes for the introduction of wild beasts, like the similar vaults in Roman amphitheatres. The principal entrance was at the other end of the stadium, near the Ilissus, where, it seems, elaborate Propylaea were erected, while the whole effect was greatly enhanced by a marble Doric colonnade which crowned the hills above the upper seats of the sphendone.

The stadium at Priene^[449] presents similar difficulties to those at Epidaurus and Athens. It appears to have been constructed at the same time as the lower gymnasium in the second century B.C., but to have been considerably modified in later times. It is built inside the south wall of the town, and is supported along the south side by a massive retaining wall. The ends are square, and the seats are placed along the north side only. There are twelve rows of marble seats, the lowest of which rest on a marble basement 3-1/2 feet high. The marble seats are only found in the centre, extending for a distance of about a third of the course. Beyond them at either end the spectators must have sat on wooden seats or on the embankment. In the absence of any sphendone, the ceremonial part of the games, the proclamation of the victors, and presenting of prizes must have taken place in the centre of the course. Above the seats is a terrace, behind which is a Doric colonnade extending the whole length of the stadium. The starting lines at the west end have been discovered; but excavations at the east end have been fruitless. The western starting line shows traces of an earlier and of a later arrangement. The earlier arrangement is represented by eight square slabs in which are cut sockets for posts of wood or metal, such as are found at Olympia and elsewhere, but there is no sign of the slabs marked with parallel grooves between the pillars. Just behind this line of slabs is a row of ten pillar bases standing on a stone sill, in which is cut a runnel extending the whole length of the sill with two short offshoots in the centre. This runnel, which clearly served to carry off some of the water which naturally drained down into the stadium, must have been covered by stone slabs between the pillars. Only small fragments of the pillars have been found; but these seem to indicate that there were longitudinal grooves down the sides which may have served for some form of barrier or starting gate. The total length of the stadium is 191 metres; perhaps the actual course was as at Delphi about 177 metres.

It is unnecessary to describe in detail the remains of the numerous other stadia which have been found in Greek lands; but a few peculiarities which they present may be noted as illustrating the development of the stadium and the way in which the Greeks adapted themselves to the character of the ground. At Messene advantage was taken as elsewhere of a shallow valley.^[450] The stadium consists of two parts—an old embanked part, forming the actual racecourse, and an unusually elaborate sphendone. In the former the sides of the valley were carefully banked up into terraces, but no stone seats were provided and no attempt was made to render the two sides parallel. The sphendone was considerably narrower than the actual course and of unusual depth, the sides of the semicircle being continued for some distance in straight parallel lines. It is seated with stone, and the height above is enclosed in an elaborate square court surrounded on three sides by colonnades, which are continued along both sides of the course. A similar narrowing of the entrance of the sphendone occurs at Ephesus,^[451] where the curve of the sphendone is produced on either side so as to project into the course. This elaboration of the sphendone is clearly connected with its use for musical and dramatic performances, and marks the declining importance of athletic competitions. At Aezani one end of the stadium was rounded; the other was straight, and formed the stage of an elaborate stone theatre. Finally, the last stage in the evolution of the stadium is reached at Aphrodisias in Caria.^[452] Here the course is symmetrical with a sphendone at either end, and the whole is surrounded by a colonnade and wall, through which fifteen openings along one side afford entrance to the spectators’ seats, and various underground passages give access through the side of the hill to the arena. It is only in its proportions, its narrowness as compared with its length, that such a stadium differs from the Roman amphitheatre. Indeed, we learn that the large stadium at Laodicea was actually converted into an amphitheatre.^[453]

In all the stadia described the essential part is the rectangular course, bounded at either end by a straight line. Not one of the stadia which have been excavated has revealed any trace of the three pillars or metae forming a line down the middle of the course which were the characteristic features of the Greek hippodrome and Roman circus, and which still figure in the descriptions and plans which our handbooks and dictionaries give of the Greek stadium. The only authority for this arrangement is the note of a scholiast on the well-known description of the Pythian games in the Electra of Sophocles.^[454] He states that there were in the course three stones or square pillars, bearing on one side the respective inscriptions ???ste?e, spe?de, ?????—“Be stout,” “Make speed,” “Turn.” Now it is by no means certain that the worthy scholiast is referring to the foot-race at all; the note on the pillars would be far more appropriate in connexion with the horse-race, in which, as every reader will recollect, the pillar is the cause of the supposed catastrophe to Orestes; moreover, practically the same note is repeated in connexion with the chariot-race by another scholiast, who implies that there were several of these square pillars along the course. But even if the passage is intended to refer to the stadium, it does not follow that the posts are in the centre of the course, and the description would apply equally well to the square pillars which are placed along both sides of the course at Epidaurus, if we suppose them to be inscribed. When in 1870 the first of the double herms at Athens was found, it was at once concluded to be one of these three pillars, but the subsequent discovery of portions of the other three herms almost in situ along the starting line proves this view to be untenable. At the same time, though we must abandon the idea of any line of metae for the Greek stadium, we shall find that in the long race the runners did probably race round two pillars placed in the centre of the starting lines at either end, but these pillars must have been of metal or wood.

The examples described above enable us to trace with some certainty the history of the Greek stadium. In its simplest form it is a long parallelogram, marked by two lines at either end. The spectators stand along the course on raised banks, natural or artificial. Stone seats occur first perhaps in the fifth century at Epidaurus. In the second half of the third century more elaborate stone seats appear near the centre of the course, which seems to have been usually the place of honour. The curved sphendone with its rows of seats does not appear till the Hellenistic period. Finally, when both ends are curved the stadium approaches the type of the Roman circus, and the resemblance is increased by the addition of colonnades either round the sphendone or round the whole course. The development of the actual racecourse is more rapid: the needs of competitors came before the needs of spectators. The starting lines and finish seem to have been first marked by pillars temporary or permanent on either side. These pillars exist at Epidaurus, and survive at a much later period in the Panathenaic stadium. Pillars are commonly represented in athletic scenes on fifth-century vases.^[455] Often they are merely the shorthand symbol used by the vase-painter to denote the buildings of the gymnasium or palaestra. In foot-races and horse-races it is reasonable to suppose that they represent the pillars at the start or finish of the race. They occur chiefly on the red-figured vases, and the usual type is that of a fluted pillar often standing on a square basis. The starting lines with double grooves appear certainly in Macedonian times, though their introduction may well date back to the laying out of the stadia at Olympia and Delphi in the fifth century. The importance attached to the starting lines is proved by their frequent mention in inscriptions. Finally, in Roman times these starting lines were superseded by a row of pillars, between which was fixed some sort of barrier. The details and use of all these arrangements will be more conveniently discussed in connexion with the actual foot-race.

The stadium was used for other events besides the foot-race; but where these took place and what arrangements were made for them we cannot say. The Delphic inscription quoted above proves that special arrangements were made for the jump, for throwing the diskos or javelin, and for boxing. It is reasonable to suppose that the starting lines were utilized for the diskos and the javelin, which must certainly have been thrown along the length of the course. It is probable that at a later period wrestling and boxing matches took place in the sphendone. But in many earlier stadia there was hardly sufficient room at the end for these events, which would have been too far removed from the bulk of the spectators. At Olympia we have seen reason for thinking that they took place not in the stadium but in the Altis. Otherwise it seems likely that they were held in the centre of the stadium, where seats of honour seem often to have been erected. But all this is mere conjecture.