Page "Lykaion" Paragraph 14

The athletic competitions at Lykaion, held every four years, receive occasional mention in the literary record.

Authors are in disagreement as to when exactly the games were first instituted: Aristotle is said to have ranked the Lykaion games fourth in order of institution after the Eleusinia, the Panathenaia, and the Argive games, while Pausanias argues for the Lykaian competition ’ s priority to the Panathenaia.

Pliny the Elder, an imperial Roman polymath, states that the games at Lykaion were the first to introduce gymnastic competition.

The ancient Greek lyric poet Pindar records the victories of several athletes in his Victory Odes, and two inscribed stelae recently excavated from the Lykaian hippodrome provide information about the events, participants, and winners at the games.