Hadrian and the Imperial Calendar of Athletic Games: Proposal for the Third and Fourth Year of the Olympic Cycle

Abstract

This article aims to provide an alternative reconstruction of the third and fourth year of Hadrian’s calendar of athletic games from the stele in Alexandria Troad, by following the line of research of the stele’s editors, G. Petzl and E. Schwerteheim. The focus will be on Hadrian’s attempt to preserve the Panathenaic games’ traditional timeline in the third year of the calendar at the expense of the Pythian games, which were shifted to the fourth. The article will explore the consequences of the displacement of the Pythian games and of the associated Isthmic games, and will attempt to counter the recurring scholarly objections to the insertion of the Pythian games in the fourth year of the Olympic cycle.