Olympic Games: Encyclopedia II - Olympic Games - Ancient Olympics

Olympic Games - Ancient Olympics

The origin of the ancient Olympic Games has been lost, although there are many legends surrounding its origins. One of these legends associates the first Games with the ancient Greek concept of εκεχειρία (ekecheiria) or Olympic Truce. The first recorded celebration of the Games held in a sacred valley, approximately five hundred kilometres south-west of Mount Olympus, was in 776 BC, although this was certainly not the first time they were held.

From then on, the Games slowly became much more important throughout ancient Greece, reaching their zenith in the sixth and fifth centuries BC. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honouring both Zeus (whose colossal statue stood at Olympia), and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary chariot race, in whose honour the games were held. The number of events increased to twenty, and the celebration was spread over several days. Winners of the events were broadly admired and were immortalised in poems and statues. The Games were held every four years, and the period between two celebrations became known as an Olympiad. The Greeks used Olympiads as one of their methods to count years. The most famous Olympic athlete lived in these times: The sixth century BC wrestler Milo of Croton is the only athlete in history to win a victory in six Olympics.

The Games gradually lost in importance as the Romans gained power in Greece. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Olympic Games were seen as a pagan festival and in discord with Christian ethics, and in 393 the emperor Theodosius outlawed the Olympics, ending a thousand year period of Olympic Games.

During the ancient times normally only young men competed. Performers were usually naked, not only as the weather was appropriate but also as the festival was meant to be, in part, a celebration of the achievements of the human body. Upon winning the games, the victor would get not only the prestige of being in first place but also a crown of olive leaves.

During competition for some of the events, many of the participants would use oils to keep their skin smooth, as well as provide an appealing lustre to anyone who saw them.

Even though the bearing of a torch formed an integral aspect of Greek ceremonies, the ancient Olympic Games did not include it, nor was there a symbol formed by interconnecting rings. These elements were introduced during the 1936 Berlin games.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ancient Olympics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki