How did ancient Olympic Games athletes overcome language and cultural barriers to compete with one another?

The ancient Olympic Games were held in ancient Greece and featured athletes from various city-states who competed in a variety of athletic events. Despite the language and cultural differences between these city-states, the athletes were able to compete with each other through a combination of shared traditions and customs, and the use of interpreters.

While ancient Greece was not a unified nation, it shared a common language and culture, which provided a basis for communication and understanding between athletes from different city-states. Additionally, the Olympic Games were a shared tradition, and athletes would have been familiar with the rules and customs of the event.

In cases where language barriers did pose a challenge, interpreters were used to facilitate communication between athletes and officials. These interpreters were typically multilingual and would have been able to translate between different languages and dialects.

Overall, while the ancient Olympic Games featured athletes from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, the shared traditions and customs of ancient Greece, as well as the use of interpreters, helped to facilitate communication and understanding between athletes and officials.