The same uncertainty prevails as to the order of the events, and still more as to their distribution into days. The attempts which have been made to prove that the order was the same as that preserved in two fragments of the Olympic register must, in my opinion, be regarded as failures. The order for the fifth century as given in the Oxyrhynchus papyrus is as follows:—(1) Stade-race, (2) Diaulos, (3) Dolichos, (4) Pentathlon, (5) Wrestling, (6) Boxing, (7) Pankration, (8) Boys’ foot-race, (9) Boys’ wrestling, (10) Boys’ boxing, (11) Race in armour, (12) Chariot-race, (13) Horse-race. The list omits the mule chariot-race (ἀπήνη) and the race for mares, which were discontinued after 444 B.C. Phlegon’s list for Ol. 177 (72 B.C.) agrees with this except that the boys’ pankration is added after the other events for boys, and the four new equestrian events after the horse-race in their order of introduction.
The principle adopted in this list is obvious. The competition is divided into athletic and equestrian. The athletic part is divided into events for men and events for boys. Each division is arranged in the order, real or fictitious, in which the various events were introduced. The only exception is the race in armour, which is placed after the boys’ events, owing to its late introduction, its peculiar character, and the fact that it was the last event on the programme. The arrangement is perfectly simple and logical, but it does not follow that it was the order adopted in the sports. We have seen that in 468 B.C. (Ol. 78) a change was made in the order, and we know that the Hellanodicae had power to alter the order under special circumstances. In Ol. 142, at the request of Cleitomachus, who was competing both in boxing and in the pankration, they placed the pankration before the boxing.[296]
From the general uncertainty a few facts emerge:—
1. Plutarch definitely states that at Olympia the boys’ competitions took place before any of the men’s,[297] and there is no reason for disbelieving his statement. In framing a register it may be natural to place the most important events first; in arranging a programme it would be a ludicrous anti-climax to do so.
2. The foot-races all came on the same day, and probably before any other of the competitions for men. Their order is doubtful. Pausanias in his account of Polites[298] implies that he won the dolichos first, then the stade-race, lastly the diaulos. But practical considerations make this unlikely. Unless a considerable time elapsed between the events it is hard to imagine a three-miler proceeding at once to win a 200 yards and a quarter! Learned writers who have discussed the question all seem to have forgotten that in the stade race and perhaps in the diaulos there was a round of preliminary heats, which may well have complicated the order.[299]