Victorious athlete: The Vaison Daidoumenos
About this video
This short clip looks at a statue of a victorious athlete, the Vaison Daidoumenos, whose name means tying something around his head. He is tying on the red woollen ribbon given to winners, because in the ancient Olympic Games there were no material prizes, only ribbons, crowns, the right to set up a statue, and fame.
You'll be able to
- explain what the athlete in the statue is doing and why.
- describe what winners received at the ancient Olympic Games.
Key words
- Daidoumenos
- A Greek word meaning someone tying something around his head; here, a victory ribbon.
- victor
- The winner of a contest.
- sanctuary
- A sacred site, such as Olympia, where the games took place and statues were set up.
Transcript
this is actually a statue of an athlete who won at one of the major contests in ancient Greece died Oona Munoz literally means tying something around his head and what he's actually doing is tying a red woollen ribbon around his head because the ribbon was something that was given to victors in the ancient games it may come as a surprise to know that in the ancient Olympic Games there were no material prizes the athletes were given simply the ribbons and crowns and the privileges setting up a statue of themselves in the sanctuary at Olympia what mattered to athletes in antiquity was Fame and celebrity
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