The Ancient Olympics

Every 4 years, one of the world’s countries hosts the Olympic Games. But you may not know that the Olympics were started in 767BC, in Ancient Greece.

The first Olympic Games were held in a valley at the base of Mount Olympus. They were held in honour of the Olympian god, Zeus. The very first Olympic event was a 200m race which was won by Coroebus of Elis.

There were 2 types of running events – one was in the nude and the other was done in armour. There were also other events like spear throwing (which is what we call javelin), wrestling, discus, long jump, boxing, chariot racing and pankration (which is a single combat fight). There were not many team events.

Only men were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. Women were not allowed watch the games, one reason being because the men competed in the nude for some events. Although it was possible for a women to win an Olympic event without even competing. This did happen once. You see, in a chariot race, not only does the person competing win but so do the owner of the horses. A woman won because she owned the horses that won in the chariot race.

The Ancient Olympic Games were held in August every four years and there was never a cancellation. Hundreds of men would come from city-states all over Greece. If any of the city-states were at war with one another, the war would be temporarily stopped just for the games.

Athens in the Olympics:

Like other city-states, Athens competed in the Ancient Olympic Games. The Athenians were not as physically advanced as the Spartans but they had a bigger and better intellectual capacity. The competitors from Athens never cheated in the Olympic Games and they often co-operated well with others from the same city-state.

There was no 2^nd and 3^rd place in the Ancient Olympics, there was only a 1^st. If you won an event, you would receive a crown made of olive branches, cut from a sacred tree at the Temple of Zeus. The winner would be considered a hero in their city-states and often a parade was held in their honour. The winner would also receive free food, oils, an annual stipend, theatre seats in hometown parades, statues and they would also become famous throughout their city-state.