The Hellanodikai (, literally meaning Judges of the Greeks; sing. Ἑλλανοδίκας ) were the judges of the Ancient Olympic Games, and the success of the games was attributed to their efforts. It was their sacred duty to maintain the standards and legacy of the games, as well as uphold the rules.
The Hellanodikai (, literally meaning Judges of the Greeks; sing. Ἑλλανοδίκας ) were the judges of the Ancient Olympic Games, and the success of the games was attributed to their efforts. It was their sacred duty to maintain the standards and legacy of the games, as well as uphold the rules.
== History == One Hellanodikas was a type of Greek public official termed generally the agonothetes (English transliteration), , Agōnothetai, meaning game organisers), magistrates chosen specifically for the purpose of establishing and maintaining public games. The method of selection depended on the type of government of the founding state. Different states might give particular names to the agonothetes of particular games; for example, the agonothetes of the Pythian games at Athens were called athlothetes. As Athens was a democracy, they were democratically elected. The origin of the agonothetes of the Olympic games is lost in prehistory. The legendary Hercules, founder of the games in Doric legend, would have been the first legendary agonothete. However that may be, the agonothetes of the historical Olympic games were the Hellanodikai. Originally, perhaps, if only in legend, there may have been only one Hellanodikas, but this expanded, reaching as high as twelve members and then settling on ten in 348 BC. They supervised individual events, with a senior Hellanodikas as an overseer.
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