The ancient Olympic Games (, ta Olympia.), or the ancient Olympics, were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of ancient Greece. They were held at the Panhellenic religious sanctuary of Olympia, in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The originating Olympic Games are traditionally dated to 776 BC. The games were held every four years, or Olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. These Olympiads were referred to based on the winner of their stadion sprint, e.g., "the third year of the eighteenth Olympiad when Ladas of Argos won the stadion".Tony Parrottet, The Naked Olympics (2004) at 145. Pausinias uses such references frequently in Description of Greece. E.g., "I found that the combat took place when Pisistratus was archon at Athens in the 4th year... of the Olympiad in which Eurybotus, the Athenian, won the footrace." Pausinias, Description of Greece 2.24.7. They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule in the 2nd century BC. Their last recorded celebration was in AD 393, under the emperor Theodosius I, but archaeological evidence indicates that some games were still held after this date.Hamlet, Ingomar. "Theodosius I. And The Olympic Games". Nikephoros 17 (2004): pp. 53–75. See also M.I. Finley & H.W. Pleket, The Olympic Games: The First Thousand Years (1976) p. 13. 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.
During the celebration of the games, the Olympic truce (ekecheiría) was announced so that athletes and religious pilgrims could travel from their cities to the games in safety. The prizes for the victors were olive leaf wreaths or crowns. The games became a political tool used by city-states to assert dominance over their rival city-states. Politicians would announce political alliances at the games, and in times of war, priests would offer sacrifices to the gods for victory. The games were also used to help spread Hellenistic culture throughout the Mediterranean. The Olympics also featured religious celebrations. The statue of Zeus at Olympia was counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Sculptors and poets would congregate each Olympiad to display their works of art to would-be patrons.
The ancient Olympics had fewer events than the modern games, and for many years only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate,David Sansone, Ancient Greek civilization, Wiley-Blackwell, 2003, p.32 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.Mark Golden, Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 58, No. 1 (APRIL 2011) pp. 1–13 As long as they met the entrance criteria, athletes from any Greek city-state and kingdom were allowed to participate. The games were always held at Olympia rather than moving between different locations like the modern Olympic Games. Victors at the Olympics were honored, and their feats chronicled for future generations.
Origin myths
To the ancient Greeks, it was important to root the Olympic Games in mythology, the center of everyday life.Kyle, 1999, p.101 During the time of the ancient games their origins were attributed to the gods, and competing legends persisted as to who actually was responsible for the genesis of the games.Kyle, 1999, pp.101–102 The patterns that emerge from these legends are that the Greeks believed the games had their roots in religion, that athletic competition was tied to worship of the gods, and the revival of the ancient games was intended to bring peace, harmony and a return to the origins of Greek life.Kyle, 1999, p.102–104
These origin traditions have become nearly impossible to untangle, yet a chronology and patterns have arisen that help people understand the story behind the games.Kyle, 1999, p.102 Greek historian Pausanias provides a story about the dactyl Heracles (not to be confused with the Heracles who was the son of Zeus and joined the Roman pantheon) and four of his brothers, Aeonius, Epimedes, Iasius and Idas, who raced at Olympia to entertain the newborn Zeus. 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).Spivey, 2005, pp.225–226Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5.7.6–9 The other Olympian gods (so named because they lived permanently on Mount Olympus) would also engage in wrestling, jumping and running contests.Spivey, 2005, p.226
Another myth of the origin of the games is the story of Pelops, a local Olympian hero. Oenomaus, the king of Pisa, had a daughter named Hippodamia, and according to an oracle, the king would be killed by her husband. Therefore, he decreed that any young man who wanted to marry his daughter was required to drive away with her in his chariot, and Oenomaus would follow in another chariot, and spear the suitor if he caught up with them. Now, the king's chariot horses were a present from the god Poseidon and therefore supernaturally fast. The king's daughter fell in love with a man called Pelops. Before the race however, Pelops persuaded Oenomaus' charioteer Myrtilus to replace the bronze axle pins of the king's chariot with wax ones. Naturally, during the race, the wax melted and the king fell from his chariot and was killed. 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. It was from this funeral race held at Olympia that the beginnings of the Olympic Games were inspired. Pelops became a great king, a local hero, and he gave his name to the Peloponnese.
One (later) myth, attributed to Pindar, states that the festival at Olympia involved Heracles, the son of Zeus: According to Pindar, Heracles established an athletic festival to honor his father, Zeus, after he had defeated Augeas in one of his labors.
History
Prehistory 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. 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. The Minoan culture centered on Crete engaged in gymnastics, with bull-leaping, tumbling, running, wrestling and boxing shown on their frescoes. The Mycenaeans adopted Minoan games and also raced chariots in religious or funerary ceremonies. The exact relation between the early Minoan and Mycenaean sporting activities and the later Greek practicies remains elusive. 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. In the Iliad there are chariot races, boxing, wrestling, a foot race, as well as fencing, archery, and spear throwing. The Odyssey adds to these a long jump and discus throw. writes that, while the Bronze Age visual images are typically hard to interpret due to their lack of context and poor condition, Homeric epics provide a detailed description of athletic competitions and the events involved, although, per , the question is how much of this "is an authentic memory of Mycenaean times, and how much comes from life in eighth-century Greece."
First games
Aristotle reckoned the date of the first Olympics to be 776 BC, a date largely accepted by most, though not all, subsequent ancient historians.Nelson, Max. (2006) "The First Olympic Games" in Gerald P. Schaus and Stephen R. Wenn, eds. Onward to the Olympics: Historical Perspectives on the Olympic Games (Waterloo), pp. 47–58. See also, for example, "Olympic Games, in The Classical Tradition (2010) p.654. To this day, this is the conventional given date for the inception of the ancient Olympics and, while this specific date of origin cannot be verified, it is generally accepted that the games date from some time in the eighth century BC. Archaeological finds confirm, approximately, the Olympics starting at or soon after this time.
Archaeology suggests that major games at Olympia arose probably around 700 BC. Christesen's important work on the Olympic victor lists shows that victors' names and details were unreliable until the sixth century. Elis's independent state administered it, and while the Eleans managed the games well, there sometimes was bias and interference. 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.. See also Finley & Pleket, pp.98-99.
Olympiad calendar The historian Ephorus, who lived in the fourth century BC, is one potential candidate for establishing the use of Olympiads to count years, although credit for codifying this particular epoch usually falls to Hippias of Elis, to Eratosthenes, or even to Timaeus, whom Eratosthenes may have imitated.Plutarch, Numa Pompilius 1.4Dionysius, 1.74–1–3. Little remains of Eratosthenes' Chronographiae, but its academic influence is clearly demonstrated here in the Roman Antiquities by Dionysius of Halicarnassus.Denis Feeney in Caesar's Calendar: Ancient Time and the Beginnings of History. (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: the University of California Press, 2007), 84. The Olympic Games were held at four-year intervals, and later, the ancient historians' method of counting the years even referred to these games, using Olympiad for the period between two games. Previously, the local dating systems of the Greek states were used (they continued to be used by everyone except historians), which led to confusion when trying to determine dates. For example, Diodorus states that there was a solar eclipse in the third year of the 113th Olympiad, which must be the eclipse of 316 BC. This gives a date of (mid-summer) 765 BC for the first year of the first Olympiad."The Athletics of the Ancient Olympics: A Summary and Research Tool" by Kotynski, p.3 (Quote used with permission). For the calculation of the date, see Kotynski footnote 6. Nevertheless, there is disagreement among scholars as to when the games began.See, for example, Alfred Mallwitz's article "Cult and Competition Locations at Olympia" p.101 in which he argues that the games may not have started until about 704 BC. Hugh Lee, on the other hand, in his article "The 'First' Olympic Games of 776 B.C.E" p.112, follows an ancient source that claims that there were twenty-seven Olympiads before the first one was recorded in 776. There are no records of Olympic victors extant from earlier than the fifth century BC.
According to the later Greek traveler Pausanias, who wrote in 175 AD, the only competition held at first was the stadion, a race over about .See Perrott, p.138, and "Olympic Games" in The Oxford Classical Dictionary (2003), p.1066. The word stadium is derived from this event.
Early history
Several groups fought over control of the sanctuary at Olympia, and hence the games, for prestige and political advantage. Pausanias later writes that in 668 BC, Pheidon of Argos was commissioned by the town of Pisa to capture the sanctuary from the town of Elis, which he did and then personally controlled the games for that year. The next year, Elis regained control.