Stadium of Lykourgos

In the 4th century BC the Athenian statesman Lykourgos (Lycurgus) built an 850-foot (260 m) long stadium of poros stone.^[12] Tiers of stone benches were arranged around the track. The track was 669 feet (204 m) long and 110 feet (34 m) wide.^[11] In the Lives of the Ten Orators Pseudo-Plutarch writes that a certain Deinas, the owner of the property where the stadium was built was persuaded by Lykourgos to donate the land to the city and Lykourgos leveled a ravine.^[13][14] IG II² 351 (dated 329 BC), records that Eudemus of Plataea gave 1000 yoke of oxen for the construction of the stadium and theater. According to Romano the "reference to the large number of oxen, indicating a vast undertaking, and the use of the word charadra have suggested the kind of building activity that would have been needed to prepare the natural valley between the two hills near the Ilissos."^[14] The stadium of Lykourgos is believed to have been completed for the Panathenaic Games of 330/329 BC.^[19] Donald Kyle suggests that it is possible that Lykourgos did not build but "renovated or embellished a pre-existing facility to give it monumental stature."^[20] According to Richard Ernest Wycherley the stadium probably had stone seating "only for a privileged few."^[15]

Reconstruction by Herodes Atticus

Herodes Atticus, an Athenian who rose to the highest echelons of power in Rome, was responsible for numerous structures in Greece. In Athens he is best known for the reconstruction of the Panathenaic Stadium.^{[21][lower-alpha 2]} Tobin suggests that "Herodes built the stadium soon after [his father] Atticus's death, which occurred around A.D. 138. The first Greater Panathenaia following his father's demise was 139/40, and it is probable that at that time Herodes promised the refurbishment of the stadium. According to Philostratus, it was completed four years later, which would have been in 143/4."^[21] These dates (139/140-143-144 AD) are now widely cited as construction dates of the stadium of Herodes Atticus.^[23][12][17] Welch writes that the stadium was completed by 143, in time for Panathenaic festival.^[10]

The new stadium was built completely of ashlar masonry^[24] in Pentelic marble,^[11][12] using minimal concrete.^[24] The stadium was built at a time of resurgence of Greek culture in the mid-2nd century. Although the stadium was a "quintessentially Greek architectural type",^[10] it was "Roman in scale" with a massive capacity of 50,000,^[15] which is roughly the same as that of the Stadium of Domitian in Rome.^[24] Stadia of the Classical and Hellenistic periods were smaller.^[24][8] According to Welch there is a possibility that criminals were executed in the stadium, however, no evidence exists.^[25]

A marble throne from the prohedria (front row seating) of the stadium is kept in the British Museum. One side of the throne includes a relief showing an olive tree and a table on which rests set of wreaths and a Panathenaic amphora. The front leg is in the form of an owl.^[26] Ten similar thrones have been found around Athens.^[27]

Herodes Atticus built it as "an architectural means of self-representation, and it did something analogous. The architecture of the building makes allusions to the Classical past while remaining unmistakably modern. It is Roman in scale, but it self-consciously rejects the distinguishingly Roman features of monumental facade and extensive vaulting."^[24] The seats of the cavea were decorated with owls in relief, which symbolize Athena.^[24] Katherine Welch wrote in a 1998 article "Greek stadia and Roman spectacles":^[28]

Though traditional in building materials and construction technique, the track included modern features that were specifically designed to accommodate Roman entertainments. [...] It may thus be argued that the Panathenaic Stadium of Herodes Atticus, who was both Athens' leading son and a Roman consul, represents a middle ground between two conflicting cultural expectations. Its architectural for was self-consciously old-fashioned, yet in scale and function the building was thoroughly modern. Herodes Atticus built a new Panathenaic Stadium whose architecture reflected the prevailing nostalgia for Classical Greece but whose functions reflected the new realities of Roman power. While the building continued to be used chiefly for athletic competitions, its running track was also a place where during the imperial cult festival wild animals were slaughtered and hardened criminals (gladiators) fought, bled, and died.

Abandonment

After Hellenistic festivals and bloody spectacles were banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I in the late 4th century, the stadium was abandoned and fell into ruin. Gradually, its significance was forgotten and a field of wheat covered the site.^[23] During the Latin rule of Athens, Crusader knights held feats of arms at the stadium. A 15th century traveler saw "not only several rows of white marble benches, but also the portico at the entrance of the Stadion, which he calls the North entrance, and the Stoa round the koilon, which he calls the South entrance."^[29] The derelict stadium's marbles were incorporated into other buildings. European travelers wrote of "magical rites enacted by young Athenian maidens in the ruined vaulted passage, aimed at finding a good husband."^[16]

Modern reconstruction

Influence

The Panathenaic Stadium influenced the stadium architecture in the West in the 20th century. Harvard Stadium in Boston, built in 1903, was modeled after the Panathenaic Stadium.^[51][52] Designated as a National Historic Landmark, it is the first collegiate athletic stadium in the United States. Deutsches Stadion in Nuremberg, designed by Albert Speer, was also modeled on the Panathenaic Stadium.^[53][54] Speer was inspired by the stadium when he visited Athens in 1935.^[55] The stadium was designed for some 400,000 spectators and was one of the monumental structures of the Nazi regime. Its construction began in 1937, but was never completed.