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The religious roots of the ancient Olympics have left a lasting impression on the current games. Greeks placed a high value on the Olympic Games because of the reverence with which they held Zeus, their patron deity (Perrottet). In the beginning, the Olympiad was more about honoring the gods than competing. Olympic competition was highly esteemed, and champions were held in high esteem, much as they are now (Perrottet). At least from a spectators vantage point, the Olympics have served as a unifying force for many years of competition and enjoyment. When the Olympics first began, only Greek males wore nothing but sandals.
The ancient Greeks celebrated the Olympic Games at least since legendary times; however, the exact date of their inception is unknown. Starting with the year 776 BCE, when the first Olympiad was conducted, we have our earliest reliable chronology of Greek history (Perrottet). Why? Following that day, the names of all Olympic victors were entered into a central database (Perrottet). A chef named Koroibos from Elis made history by being the first person to win the Olympics in the One-Stade race (Perrottet). Every four years, on the night of the second (or maybe the first) full moon in August, there were athletic competitions, and the celebrations lasted a whole week.
The games were only open to all independent male Greeks, and they attracted travelers from all across the Mediterranean, such as the colonies in Magna Grecia and the Pontus. As a sign of mutual respect for one another and, most importantly, for the regulations, athletes competed without clothing (Perrottet). Everyone, even enslaved people and women, was strictly forbidden from entering the sanctuary (Perrottet). Female sponsors were accepted for all activities, including teams, athletes, and votive offerings (Perrottet). Each Olympian cycle had separate athletic competitions for women and men. Starting in the year 632, the mens competitions also had special events for boys.
The Olympic Games, from their inception, essentially represented the principles that were to define Greek society for the following 500 years. All hostilities between warring Greeks were suspended for the duration of the games since attendance at the peaceful gathering was compulsory (Perrottet). So that everyone could make it to the sanctuary without fear of being attacked, Olympian officials went on a three-month tour around Greece before the assembly to spread the word and declare the ekecheiria, a halt to all hostilities (Perrottet). The Greek ideal of the free person who strives for perfection in an agon (conflict or contest) guided by reasonable rules was mirrored in the games and will continue to earn the Greeks respect for millennia. Similar to the games, the Greeks daily lives were full of fierce competition between various groups, including in the political sphere, the economy, and the battlefield (Perrottet). They competed by recognizing that the rule of law is supreme and placing a premium on the worth of each person.
There was only the sprint performance race in the first games. However, by the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, other events such as wrestling, boxing, and equestrian competitions had been added, in addition to the pentathlon, which merged running, long jump, discus, and javelin throwing with combat sports, and the pancration, a brutal form of boxing with few, if any, rules (Perrottet). Writing and poetry contests were part of the ancient Olympic Games, which also served as a neutral meeting place for the Greeks to negotiate important political, economic, and military deals. The ancient worlds version of the Super Bowl was chariot racing (Perrottet). There may be as many as 40 chariots in a race, and collisions are frequent. Since only the affluent could afford to keep a chariot and horses, only the elite could ride in them. According to Homers Iliad, chariot races were initially staged at the burial games of heroes. Chariots had been used to transport soldiers into combat. Greek aristocrats and people in business were eager to take first place in the competition. They occasionally took the wheel themselves but often hired a charioteer (Perrottet). The Hippodrome was the venue for these contests. The turning point was perilous because chariot wheels might lock together and cause accidents.
As the chariot races forward, the painter of this vase has done a fantastic job of conveying the sensation of speed. The image depicts a quadriga chariot pulled by four horses, with the charioteers hair and tunic blowing back in the wind. A post, which might mark either the turn or the end of the race, is approaching the chariot (Perrottet). Both of those points would be dramatic high points. The risky and thrilling chariot race was followed by the equally thrilling horse race (Perrottet). Neither stirrups nor saddles had been manufactured at this time; thus, the jockeys rode without protection. The track was already in disarray. Riderless horses that finished first in their heat were also recognized for their accomplishments alongside the winning equine and its owner. Wrestling, boxing, and the all-out style of wrestling known as pankration were huge draws in every Greek game (Perrottet). After proving themselves at Olympia, experts in sports may earn enormous amounts of money across the Greek world.
In order to oversee the events planning and execution, Olympia appointed a group of officials known as Hellanodikai. Ten months were devoted to training for the events, with the last month before the games spent living and training in Olympia. It was a busy picture as thousands of spectators descended on Olympia for the games (Perrottet). People camped wherever they could find a spot to set up their tents. Since the stadium only held so many people, most people could not even see the games (Perrottet). The current Olympic Games are a packed circus, but advancements in transportation, sewerage, design, and crowd management are seldom unbearable for spectators (Perrottet). However, the historic meeting has to be an intense experience.
Ones life would be forever changed if one won an Olympic gold medal. At the end of each competition, a herald would declare the victors and present them with a simple wreath as their prize. All the victors were celebrated in the Prytaneion, and those who triumphed in three or more contests were allowed to have a statue dedicated to their image in the Altis (Perrottet). Winners extended families and hometowns were treated with the utmost respect (Perrottet). The communities of these Olympic champions reveled in their newfound notoriety and heaped upon them honors and privileges such as free meals for the rest of their lives. It is customary for communities to symbolically tear down a section of their city walls to welcome back Olympic champions. After Tiberius victory in the chariot race in 4 BCE, the 211th Olympiad was delayed until 69 CE so Emperor Nero could participate in the chariot race and a special music competition (Perrottet). He had ten horses in his stable, whereas his rivals could only bring four (Perrottet). After the day, he was still named the winner even though he had dropped out of the race, but the results were subsequently erased.
The games were outlawed by Emperor Theodosius I in 393 CE as part of his campaign to eradicate Pagan festivals because of their association with the worship of Zeus. After he ordered the sanctuaries of Olympia to be destroyed, the temple and the Olympic Games were quickly forgotten (Perrottet). However, the contemporary Olympic rebirth started in 1896, 1500 years after Theodosius prohibition. Under the sponsorship and direction of French Baron Pierre de Coubertin (Perrottet), the first modern Olympics were held in Athens.The games were held in Athens, where the Hellenistic Panathenaic Stadium was refurbished for the occasion (Perrottet). Spyridon Louis, a water vendor, became the first Greek to win an event in the modern Olympics when he took home the gold in the Marathon competition.
The Olympic Games were largely influenced by the Greek value society placed on athletic competition. At the Olympics, athletes from the Greek Peninsula converged to test their mettle. The Olympic games have evolved over time. Subsequent Greeks would not have recognized the Olympic Games since they were held many centuries after the first. Over two thousand years have passed since the first Olympic games, according to historians. It was a competition where athletes showed off their skills in honor of Zeus, the supreme deity of the Greeks.
Works Cited
Perrottet, Tony. The Naked Olympics: the true story of the ancient games. Random House, 2004.
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