The ancient Olympic Games were held every four years between BC and AD, although some sources suggest that unofficial competitions took place before this. At their heart the Games were a religious festival, held in honour of Zeus. The Olympic Games were the oldest of four national athletic festivals known as the Panhellenic Games.
Each was celebrated under the patronage of a god. Important local games were also held at Athens as part of the Panathenaic festival. The poet Pindar said that the Greek hero Herakles created Olympia.
It is more likely that the Games developed from funerary games held in honour of local heroes. Click here to see images in full size. Olympia is a fertile grassy plain on the north bank of the River Alpheios. Although it seems isolated now, the Alpheios was navigable in antiquity and a number of inland routes passed through the site. The coast was only fifteen kilometres away, meaning that a sea approach was also possible.
Once the Games were established, the sanctuary began to develop. New buildings were needed to house the athletes and games officials. The Altis was adorned with temples, altars, statues, treasuries and halls. The Temple of Zeus housed one of the Seven Wonders of the World, a 13 metre high gold and ivory statue of the god.
It was made by the great fifth century BC sculptor Pheidias. In the year of the Games, messengers would travel throughout Greece and the colonies announcing the start date and inviting people to attend.
All wars had to cease until the Games were over to allow people to travel to Olympia safely. Preparations for the Games began a year in advance, when the athletes started training.
Two months later, the judges started their planning. The competitors were required to live and train at Elis for the month before the Games, under the strict watch of the judges. Two days before the start, the whole company set out in procession to walk 58 kilometres along the sacred way from Elis to Olympia.
During the walk they would stop to sacrifice a pig and perform rites at the Fountain of Piera. And that all city states entered a temporary truce in the months before and after the Olympics. The event was held every four years during the midsummer full moon. This particular date was chosen so that the sporting events could be held even as night fell. The years that came in between the Olympic Games were called Olympiads. An Olympiad was named according to the athletes that were victorious in the previous gamed.
The first ever Olympiad was named after Coribus of Elis for winning a foot race. Olympiads are often an important chronological marker for historians since any major event during the ancient world was often associated with a specific Olympiad period. Based on this, the first ancient Olympiad was the years to BC. Currently, we count our Olympiads according to the first modern count marked during the Olympics. In the Ancient world, only male Greeks were allowed to compete.
Those accused of heinous crimes and sacrilege were prohibited from entering. Honorable play and competition were pivotal during the ancient Olympics, and all competing athletes were to move to Elis or Olympia a month before the official games began.
The audience also followed similar rules in eligibility. No one accused of crimes and sacrilege was allowed to watch the games. Furthermore, women were not allowed to watch games involving nude men, and such a privilege was only allowed to the Demeter priestess.
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