The Olympics

The Greeks started the Olympic Games almost 3,000 years ago in 776 BC. They were held for four years for nearly a thousand years until they were stoped in 393 BC. In order to take part in the Olympic Games, athletes had to be free men who spoke Greek. To join the Olympics you also had to be young or young looking. Athletes were supposed to be only men but there are records with at least one woman winning an event. Before the start of the games the athletes had to make a promise to Zeus that they had been training for ten months. The winners of the games were considered heroes. They got olive branches for winning, but also became famous. Sometimes they got large amounts of money from their home town. The Olympic Games were held in Olympia.

                                                                      

                                                                    Above: Picture of ancient Olympia

They were held there to honor the 12 gods that lived in Mount Olympus. Athletes would travel to Olympia from far away city-states in Greece to compete. When the Olympics started it had a lot less events compared to the amount of events we have today. At the first Olympics there was only one event. The event was running they had to run the lenght of the stadium the stadium was 200 metres. It wasn't until the 14th Olympic Game when they added a second event. It was a lap around the stadium which was 400 metres. After years a lot  more events were added like wrestling,boxing,chariot racing and pentathlon. The pentathlon was where all the 5 events  scores were combined to see who came first second and third. The events were running,long jump,discus throw,javelin throw and wrestling.

                                                                    

                                       Above: The palaestra of Olympia, A place devoted to the training of wrestlers and other athletes

In boxing you could hit the other player while they were down and the match didn't stop until one person gave up or died. It wasn't a great idea to kill you opponent as the dead boxer was given the victory. Also women were not allowed in the Olympics because the men did not wear clothes when they competed. Everyone wanted their own city-state to win. When the winning athletes returned to their city-state they were treated like heroes.