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Ancient Olympic Games The Olympic Games are wrapped in numerous myths and legends and have a long bright history. The ancient Greek Olympics used to take place once per four years at Olympia, a district of Elis. The first Olympic Games occurred in 776 B. C. and the last in A. D. 393, when the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I stopped them.
The Olympics were started like a part of religious festivals and celebrations of the power of Zeus, the dominant King of the Pantheon of Gods. The Greeks from all the Empire used to gather next to the Sanctuary of Zeus located at Olympia Mountain to talk and to discuss their religious ideas. As an entertaining event of such meetings, the ancient Olympic Games became a competition of men in strength and power. Also, the Olympics were politically important for the country because for the duration of the preparations, the games and following rich feasts and celebrations of the victories, there was no warfare and other confrontations in all of Greece and its colonies. Only male free born Greek citizens were allowed to participate the competitions of the ancient Olympics, who were coming to the games from anywhere in the Empire and colonies like Egypt, Italy, Sicily, Libya, etc.
There were sever rules for women: they were not only withdrawn from participation, married women were not permitted even to visit the games, under the death penalty. There were special separated athletic competitions for women, which were held in honor of the goddess Hera. Before the Olympics all the athletes had to train during ten months. Athletics in general had a big influence on peoples minds: improving the body was supposed to be not less important than studying and improving the mind. According to works of Plato, developing of athletics strengthened military abilities of the Greeks very much. Even without the aim of participating of the Olympics, many young people used to have training sessions in palestra (special wrestling schools) to become stronger and able-bodied.
Such schools became important social element in the country. The professional athletes preferred to get ready for the games under the supervision of special athletic trainers, who could arrange individual program of physical exercises, correct some faults of body positions during the performance and even offer some sorts of diet for better fitness. The most attention used to be paid on the harmony of movements and the sportsmen used to practice with flute music. All the participants of the games had to arrive to Olympia in 30 days before the games time and to have a month of hard trainings together with the other competitors. For this time they were under control of special instructors and had to obey many rules, like eating only cheese and water. Therefore, a lot of expenses were required form the family of a participant for such a long preparation to the games, and also for the celebration in case of victory.
If an athlete won, great feasts used to be arranged in his home town with a lot of honor to the winner, his family, and also to almighty Zeus and other Gods for favoring him. At the early games the religious celebration of honoring Gods used to be carried on for only one day, but at later games, as the number of events and participants had been increasing, the ceremony continued for up to five days. The first Olympics started like a big festival with the sacrifice of rams and lambs, rituals and carnivals. The stadium of the first games, the Hippodrome, was located in a valley next to the temple of Hera, surrounded with a garden of olive trees. That is why an olive branch became a sacred symbol of the games. Besides, there was a circle of fires near the temple, which used to be kept burning year round.
Those fires gave source to the tradition of keeping the Olympic flame burning and delivering of it from one Olympic city to another. At the games from 776 B. C. till 724 B. C. , the first and only athletic event was the single foot race called stade. The legend about Hercules, the God of Physical Power, was taken as a base for the length of the race (approximately 200 meters).
The legend says that Hercules could run that far with one breath. In the Hippodrome the starting points were set for the competitors, so every each of them was in equal condition. Coroebus of Elis, who won the stade race in 776 B. C. , is the first recorded winner of the Olympics. Starting with the 13 th Olympics, the races like "discuss" (2 stadion, or 400 yards) and then the "dolichos" (24 stadion, or 3. 3 miles) were added to the games. The competitors had to run circles around the stadium.
Other type of races was hostile, a race with armor. Each race used to have preliminary competitions for the best runners to qualify the finals. Soon other kinds of competitions appeared. In 708 B. C. pentathlon and wrestling were added to the Olympics.
In Iliad of Homer the references to pentathlon elements like javelin, discus, jumping, and running could be found. The fifth element of this contest is unknown. The athletes were competing in distance and targeting when throwing of javelin and this competition was the closest to military training. The winner in throwing discus could receive it as a prize, because it was made of bronze. Jumping exercises consisted of long jumps, but within the time the other types of jumps, like triple jumps, etc. , were included. Wrestling and, later on, boxing had origin from the legend about the fight of Zeus and his father Kronos for reigning on the Earth.
It ended with victory of Zeus. Wrestling competitions were differentiated by to age and weigh. Before the fight the competitors used to places oil on their bodies. The aim of the fight was to hit the opponents shoulders to the ground.
After 3 falls a winner was announced. Boxing had almost the same scheme of the competition, the opponents used to fight till one of them would give up. In later Olympics, a combination of wrestling and boxing called pankration was included to the games. The chariot racing, originated from the myth about King Cenomaus and his daughter, appeared as one of the later events. Rich owners of the chariots used to hire professionals for the races, and then exactly the owners were receiving prizes as winners. But chariot races were not very much important for the games, because they did not really demonstrate the strength and power of a human.
Therefore, within the time in total 23 Olympic sports were introduced, but all of them together have never been held at the same Olympics. Each event had a special value to the games and used to bring interest and excitement for the numerous spectators. The winners of the first Olympics received a sacred olive tree branch: according to the belief, the energy and strength for life of the olives could pass to the recipient from the branch. Later on the traditional olive wreath appeared.
But also there were material prizes, like money or meals. There were also unofficial prizes for winners like the allowance to live free of charge or without paying taxes. At later Olympics, the winners used to appreciate not the material side of the awards, gained honor and glory became the most valuable. The fall of the culture of sports and the Olympics has started before the Roman occupation of Greece. The rise of various arts and literature in the country began distracting public attention from athletics, especially the youth got more interested in reading and doing fine arts. Instead of physical training programs, various philosophical schools and teachings started receiving popularity.
In the 2 nd century A. B. the Romans conquered Greece, and the Olympics lost its importance, honor and spirit. During the times of the Emperor Nero, Roman soldiers transformed stadiums into amphitheatres, and for their enjoyment, instead of athletes, the slaves were fighting against wild animals.
Nothing has been left from sacred traditions and grace, from noble spirit of competition at the Olympics. Finally, after more of one thousand years of glorious history, the ancient Olympic Games were abolished by the Christian Emperor, until the legend was reborn and received triumphant continuation in our times as modern Olympic Competitions. Bibliography: "Ancient Olympic Games." The Unofficial Olympic Website. Oct. 2004 < web > Hubert B. and Hudzik S. (1998) "The Ancient Olympic Games." History and Thought of Western Man. Oct. 2004 < web > "The Ancient Olympics." A Special Exhibit of the Perseus Digital Library.
Oct. 2004 < web > "The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games." UP Museum. Oct. 2004 < web >
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