First and Last of the Olympic Games:
Like so much of ancient history, the origins of the Olympic Games are shrouded in myth and legend (see: Games, Rituals, and Warfare). The Greeks dated events from the first Olympiad in in 776 B.C. -- two decades before the legendary founding of Rome.
In A.D. 391 the Emperor Theodosius ended the games.
Location and Dating of the Ancient Olympics:
Olympics as a Religious Occasion:
The Olympics were a religious event for the Greeks. Olympia was a site dedicated to Zeus. There was a gold and ivory statue of Zeus, by Pheidias, inside the Zeus' temple at Olympia. 42-feet high, it was one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.
While matrons were forbidden to attend the Games, the presence of the priestess of Demeter was required.
It was sacrilege to commit a crime, like accepting payment, corruption, and invasion during the Olympic games.
Victory at the Olympic Games:
An Olympic victor was crowned with an olive wreath (laurel wreath was the award for the Panhellenic games at Delphi) and had his name inscribed in the official Olympic records. Some Olympic victors were fed for the rest of their lives by their poleis, although they were never paid. They were considered heroes who conferred honor upon their city-states.
According to Emeritus Classics Professor Matthew Wiencke, when a cheating competitor was caught, he was disqualified. In addition, the cheating athlete, his trainer, and possibly his city-state were fined -- heavily.
Participants:
Participants included all free Greek men, except certain felons, and barbarians during the Classical Period. By the Hellenistic Period, professional athletes competed. Married women were not allowed to enter the stadium during the games and might be killed if they tried. A priestess of Demeter was present, however. There may have been a separate race for women at Olympia.
Ancient Olympics: Main Sports:
The ancient Olympic sporting events were:
- Boxing
- Discus (part of Pentathlon)
- Equestrian Events
- Javelin (part of Pentathlon)
- Jumping
- Pankration
- Pentathlon
- Running
- Wrestling
Origins of the Ancient Olympic Games:
One Olympic origins story is connected with the tragedy-ridden House of Atreus. Pelops held the games after he won the hand of his bride, Hippodamia, by competing in a rigged chariot race against her father, King Oinomaos of Pisa.
Ekecheiria:
Dartmouth's Olympics site [formerly at minbar.cs.dartmouth.edu/greecom/olympics/anecdote.php], "Olympic Anecdotes", says "the truce [ekecheiria] was, in effect, an interim of civic and military neutrality in honor of Zeus, the supreme judge and arbiter and source of wisdom...." The Olympic sacred truce or ekecheiria wasn't, however, a truce in the sense we usually think.
The Olympic Games Importance:
Representatives of each polis (city-state) could attend the ancient Olympics and hope to win a victory that would confer great personal and civic honor. So great was the honor that cities considered Olympic victors to be heroes and sometimes fed the victors for the rest of their lives. The Olympic festivals were also important religious occasions and the site of the Olympics was more a sanctuary to Zeus than a city proper. In addition to competitors and their trainers, poets, who wrote victory odes for the winners, attended the games.
