Ancient Olympic Games

[4][5] The games likely came to an end under Theodosius II, possibly in connection with a fire that burned down the temple of the Olympian Zeus during his reign.

The ancient Olympics had fewer events than the modern games, and for many years only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate,[7] although there were victorious women chariot owners.

Moreover, throughout their history, the Olympics, both ancient and modern, have occasionally become arenas where political expressions, such as demonstrations, boycotts, and embargoes, have been employed by nations and individuals to exert influence over these sporting events.

He crowned the victor with an olive wreath (which thus became a peace symbol), which also explains the four-year interval, bringing the games around every fifth year (counting inclusively).

After his victory, Pelops organized chariot races as a thanksgiving to the gods and as funeral games in honor of King Oenomaus, in order to be purified of his death.

Areas around the Mediterranean had a long tradition of physical activities, even though they did not seem to hold regular competitions, with the events being probably the preserve of kings and upper classes.

[17] The earliest evidence of athletic tradition in Greece come from late Bronze Age artistic representations, such as from the island of Crete and Thera, and Archaic literary texts.

[18] The Minoan culture centered on Crete engaged in gymnastics, with bull-leaping, tumbling, running, wrestling and boxing shown on their frescoes.

[21] The heroes of Homer's epics, composed around 750 BC and held to represent a late Bronze Age society, participate in athletic competitions to honor the dead.

Also, despite modern illusions, the famous Olympic truce only mandated safe passage for visitors; it did not stop all wars in Greece or even at Olympia.

Some say all females were excluded from the sacred precinct where the games took place,[39] while others cite Pausanias who indicated that parthenoi (maidens) could view the competitions, but not gynaikes (married women), who had to remain on the south side of the river Alpheios.

In 1994, a bronze plaque was found inscribed with victors of the combative events hailing from the mainland and Asia Minor; proof that an international Olympic Games continued until at least 385 (the 291st Olympiad).

[4][5] Areas of note: 2: Prytaneion, 4: Temple of Hera, 5: Pelopion, 10: Stadium, 15: Temple of Zeus, 20: Gymnasium, 21: Palaestra, 26: Greek Baths, 29: Leonidaion, 31: BouleuterionOlympia lies in the valley of the Alfeiós River (Romanized as Alpheus) in the western part of the Peloponnese, today around 18 km (11 mi) away from the Ionian Sea but perhaps, in antiquity, half that distance.

[50] The Altis, as the sanctuary as was originally known, was an irregular quadrangular area more than 180 meters (590.5 feet) on each side and walled except to the North where it was bounded by the Mount Kronos.

The name Altis was derived from a corruption of the Elean word also meaning "the grove" because the area was wooded, olive and plane trees in particular.

But I suppose that setting all these things off against the magnificence of the spectacle, you bear and endure.The ancient Olympics were as much a religious festival as an athletic event.

[59] Every city-state worshiped the same pantheon of gods, although each one often gave more emphasis on a limited group of deities and celebrated religious festivals based on various calendars.

That was made possible on the basis of a common language, a body of shared myths and legends, their religious observance and fondness in athletic festivals, which functioned as important factors for the Greek self-definition.

As a result, a small number of religious festivals assumed a panhellenic character and were reserved for members of all Greek city-states; the oldest of them being the Olympic Games.

The appeal of settling with an Olympic champion helped to populate the colonies and maintain cultural and political ties with the city-states near Olympia.

[65] Thucydides wrote of a situation when the Spartans were forbidden from attending the games, and the violators of the truce were fined 2,000 minae for assaulting the city of Lepreum during the period of the ekecheiria.

[66][67] The games faced a serious challenge during the Peloponnesian War, which primarily pitted Athens against Sparta, but in reality touched nearly every Hellenic city-state.

[9]Apparently starting with just a single foot race, the program gradually increased to twenty-three contests, although no more than twenty featured at any one Olympiad.

[72] Competitors had access to two gymnasiums for training purposes: the Xystos (meaning 'scraped'), an open colonnade or running track,[73] for the runners and pentathletes, and the Tetragono for wrestlers and boxers.

[26] Pausanias says that the first naked runner was Orsippus, winner of the stadion race in 720 BC, who simply lost his garment on purpose because running without it was easier.

[77] The 5th-century BC historian Thucydides credits the Spartans with introducing the custom of "publicly stripping and anointing themselves with oil in their gymnastic exercises".

It is thought that competitors ran in lanes marked out with lime or gypsum for the length of a stade then turned around separate posts (kampteres), before returning to the start line.

To what extent the diskos was standardized is unclear, but the most common weight seems to be 2 kg (4.4 lbs) size with a diameter of approximately 21 cm (8 in), roughly equivalent to the modern discus.

[96] The competition was held on a single day,[97] but it is not known how the victor was decided,[98][99] or in what order the events occurred,[84] except that it finished with the wrestling.

[105] Due to the winner being the benefactor, it was also possible for a particularly wealthy person to improve their odds by bringing multiple teams to the races; according to Plutarch, the record belongs to Alcibiades, who brought seven chariots to a single competition, winning the first, second, and either the third or fourth place at once.