The Olympic Games were held at the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia, in the western Peloponnese. Tradition dates the first games to 776 BC; from then on Greeks counted years in Olympiads, the four-year periods between games.
The myth
In one version the games were founded by Heracles, who paced out the length of the stadium: 600 feet, about 192 metres. In another, they were established by the hero Pelops, who had won a chariot race to marry Princess Hippodamia: the Peloponnese is named after him.
The sacred truce
Before the games, heralds left Olympia to announce the ekecheiria, the sacred truce, across the Greek world: travellers to Olympia could not be attacked. It did not stop every war, but it was widely respected. Today the UN symbolically revives it before each Olympics.
The programme
In the classical period the games lasted five days in midsummer, timed to the full moon.
| Day | Programme |
|---|---|
| 1 | Oath of athletes and judges before the statue of Zeus; boys' contests |
| 2 | Chariot and horse races in the hippodrome; pentathlon |
| 3 | Great sacrifice of a hundred oxen to Zeus on the day of the full moon; boys' foot races |
| 4 | Foot races, wrestling, boxing, pankration, race in armour |
| 5 | Crowning of the victors and banquet |
Events
- Stadion: a sprint of one stadium (about 192 m), the oldest and most prestigious event; the winner gave his name to the Olympiad.
- Diaulos (two stadia) and dolichos (long-distance race, about 20-24 stadia).
- Pentathlon: running, long jump with hand weights, discus, javelin, wrestling.
- Wrestling, boxing with leather thongs on the hands and pankration, an almost rule-free fight in which only biting and eye-gouging were banned.
- Hoplitodromos: a race in helmet and shield.
- Chariot races with four horses (quadriga) and horse races: the winner was the owner, not the driver.
Athletes
Only free Greek-speaking men could compete. Athletes competed naked, their bodies oiled. They trained for ten months and spent a month at Olympia under the eye of the judges, the Hellanodikai. Cheats paid fines used to make bronze statues of Zeus, the Zanes, lined up at the stadium entrance with the culprit's name.
The prize at Olympia was only a wreath of wild olive, cut with a golden sickle from the sacred tree. But at home the victor received huge honours: statues, free meals for life, sometimes money, and odes by poets such as Pindar. The most famous was Milo of Croton, six times wrestling champion; the boxer Diagoras of Rhodes and his sons were legendary.
Women
Married women could not watch the games, on pain of death. A woman could, however, win as a horse owner: the Spartan princess Cynisca won the four-horse chariot race in 396 and 392 BC. Unmarried girls competed in the Heraia, races in honour of Hera.
Other games and the end
Alongside the Olympics there were three other Panhellenic games: the Pythian at Delphi for Apollo, with a laurel wreath, the Isthmian at Corinth for Poseidon and the Nemean for Zeus, with wreaths of pine and wild celery. The Olympics continued under Rome; the last recorded games were in AD 393, shortly before Emperor Theodosius banned pagan cults.
The modern Olympics
The Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin revived the games: the first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896, in the Panathenaic Stadium rebuilt in marble. The marathon was won by the Greek Spyridon Louis. The Olympic flame is still lit at Olympia with the sun's rays and a parabolic mirror, and the Greek team always leads the opening parade. Athens hosted the Games again in 2004.
See also Olympia and ancient Greek religion.