On Prizes and Awards to Contestants in Ancient Greek & Roman Games

In this thesis prizes and awards presented to contestants of games are traced back to the age of Ancient Greece and Rome, and special attention is paid to the eluciation of their forms, origins, myths and legends. Needless to say, such prizes and awardｓ clearly reflect the phases of life in those days. Those which were at once brlliant and simple at the beginning were gradually replaced later by emblems of spiritural and religious meaning, and at last the system of awarding itself was discontinued with the coming of the Dark Age. For convenience' sake subdivisions are made as follows :- 1.Homeric Period B.C. 2000-1000 2.Early Classical Period B.C. 1000-500 3.Later Classical period & Macedonian Period B.C. 500-146 4.Roman Period B.C.146-A.D.325 In the 1st part of the thesis, the writer dealt with the first Homeric Period, using as his next Homer's Iliad, in the Chapter 23 of which splendid detailed descriptions of the funeral games of Patroclus are given. Games described therein are ; 1.Chariot-race 2.Boxing 3.Wrestlilng 4.Running 5.Military combat 6.Archery 7.Javelin-throwing Prizes in these events are summed up as follows :- 1.Furniture - 2 tripods, 2 cauldrons and 20 axes. 2.Cups - a silver cup, and two other kind of cups. 3.Metals - 2 talent of gold, and half talent of gold. 4.Weapons - 2 spears, a shield, a helmet and a sword. 5.Cattle - 2 a mule, an ass, and exen. 6.Woman - women skilled in handicraft. When the social value of these prizes in those days in examined, it is ｆound that they represent nothing but the money of the present day. Many domestic utensils and animals, such as tripods, cauldrons, axes, mules, horses, and oxen were given not as such but because of its monetary value. There was no spiritual and religious meaning whatever. Herein lies a great difference between the prizes in Homeric Period and those of the following Early Classical Period