The Olympic Games By: Elizabeth Wagar

What are the Olympic Games? They were held in honor of Zeus every four years in Olympia The first Olympic games were held in July 776 B.C.E. Four years between the games is known as the olympiad The Olympic Games ended in 394 C.E. because Greece was conquered by Romans The Roman Emperor Theodosius I cancelled them because he thought it offended the Christian religion

Evolution of the Olympic Games At first there was only the 186 yard sprint (dromos) at the Olympics The purpose of this race was to pay homage to Zeus For 50 years dromos was the only athletic event but then other races were added When the Spartans took interest the Olympics had a variety of contests Athlete comes from the greek word athlos which means contest

Evolution of the games continued The games became so big that it had expanded to five days and all the fighting in Greece stopped A national truce allowed all the athletes to travel safely to Olympia to be in the Olympic games. This was known as the Sacred Truce Contestants had to be of Greek lineage

Evolution of the games continued Women were not allowed to compete so they created their own games called the Heraea in honor of Hera These were held every five years

The Stadium The running races took place on a wide track known as the stadium Stadium comes from the Greek word stade The runners fitted their toes into grooved marble slabs A blast of a trumpet signaled the beginning of the race The clay surface was covered with sand to give the runners traction

The Legend “According to the Greek legend, the track measured six hundred feet because this was the distance that the legendary super-hero Heracles could run with one lungful of air.” (He must be one strong dude)

The Pancratium The pancratium was a wild free for all event so the people who participated in the event could do whatever they wanted One dude named Milo of Crotono became a hero to all Greece because he won the pancratium seven times

The Other Events There was also discus, hurling of the javelin, wrestling and boxing The wrestling events that took place in an arena are called the palaistra Another event was chariot racing it was a dangerous event The crowd was encouraged to wage bets on their favorites A lot of the best horses came from Macedonia Kind of like the hunger hunger games

The Other Events Continued There was one event called the pentathlon There was five events in this Two hundred-yard dash, a discus throw, a long jump, a javelin, and wrestling

Good Sportsmanship The rules of the game were very precise Athletes and their trainers took an oath at the altar of Zeus to Practice good sportsmanship and stuff The judges swore that they would accept no bribes. Anyone who was found guilty of breaking the rules they were eliminated and had to pay a fine The money was used to erect a copper statue of Zeus (zanes) which were engraved with the athletes who was guilty

What they got when they won When the games were over the judges would go to the Temple of Zeus The athletes who won got garlands of wild olive branches cut with a golden knife from the trees of the sacred olive grove (its not a regular olive grove its a sacred olive grove) that grew near the temple Even Zeus got a wreath After the ceremony the winners and other contestants had a feast

When They Got Back Home Upon the victors return he traditionally drove a chariot pulled by 4 white horses through a special opening made in the city wall Olympic champions were considered heroes in their native city- state The victor would place the wreath on one of the patron gods of his city Afterwards there was a banquet in honor of him Some champions enjoyed free meals for life (I wish I could have a free meal for life Man You get all of this just for winning the Olympic games

The Other Games There were other important festivals that included sports events such as Panhellenic Games which means all greek so all greeks could play in the Panhellenic Games The Pythian Games were held in honor of Apollo It was every 4 years in the middle of each olympiad at Delphi It was famous their competitions of the lyre and flute Every 2 years athletic games were held at nemea and Corinth Nemean victors wore wreaths of wild parsley or celery Isthmian Games were held in honor of poseidon won wreaths of pine needles

The Other Games Continues Athens was the site of the Panathenaic Games Most participates in this were from Attica but others were welcomed A winner was given an amphora (clay jar) filled with olive oil It was given because the main products in Athens were clay jars and olive oil The amphora was painted of the event in which it was won This is where our modern tradition of awarding large cups to the winners of sporting tournaments Local festivals offered other awards such as pottery jars filled with wine, armor, weapons, and sometimes money

The Revival of the Olympic Games The tracks and arenas in Olympia soon fell into ruins It was worse when two violent earthquakes The games were forgotten until 1875 when the ruins of Olympia were uncovered by archaeologists The discovery of the ancient site aroused an interest in the Olympic Games among scholars Baron Pierre de Coubertin was a french noblemen he was so inspired by the olympic games he worked tirelessly to convince nations from around the world to create a modern series of athletic contests Thanks to him people were in Sochi

That dude had a really big mustache

Questions 1. Where is Olympia 2. Why did the first Olympic Games take place 3. Describe the stadium at Olympia 4. What was the Pancratium 5. Describe the racing events at the games 6. What cultural events took place at the games 7. What was the highest honor an Olympian athlete could win 8.How were the victors honored in their cities 9. What are some other games that took place in Ancient Greece? 10. How do the modern Olympics maintain the old traditions of the early Greeks