THE OLYMPIC GAMES - A
HISTORY
Prefacing the article below
In the year 2004, when I
was a contributing author for the
HELLENIC VOICE Newspaper, in Boston, Mass, I published
the article you will read below regarding the Ancient
Olympic Games, in
Olympia Greece.
Using
my pen name, Penelope Stiva AKA: Evi Martyn, the
article drew national attention and acclaim for its
historical accuracy and details that were brought forth.
My
article was published, Wednesday, February 5, 2004 under
ARTS,
CULTURE AND EDUCATION, special to the Hellenic Voice.
Here is how it begins:
" When a new Olympiad began in all the
furthest
corners of the planet, when the divine flame began
its long trip from its cradle, we Greeks felt proud
for something of ours that became a worldly event."
By: Evi Martyn
Founder/Hellenic Culture Advocacy
The ancient
Olympic Games: A history
PART I
Location:
According
to contemporary researches, the location of the Olympic Games was originally
the place where the ancient Greeks worshipped Mother Earth, just like the
location of Delphi and many other ancient matriarchal societies. In the same
location, it is believed they also worshipped Rhea, the wife of Kronos and mother of Zeus, in whose honor they conducted the
Olympic Games.
Olympia
during the ancient times was the biggest and the most famous altar of
Peloponnesos equal to that of Delphi. There were several building temples and
art works and many installations for the worshippers and everything that would accommodate
the Games. The Olympic Games was a famous event. Although the general area was uninhabited, Olympia belonged to the closest big city. That was the city of Ilis and
earlier the city of Pissa.
The
ancient history is embellished with many different versions as to the beginning
of the Olympia. Some believe that they were established when the people arrived
in the area of Crete with their leader Hercules (no relation to the famous
hero). Others believe it was when Pelopas came in the area after he won a race
against the king of Pissa and he was awarded not only the entire region and
kingdom, but also the daughter of the king as his wife. The “event” is
immortalized on the eastern pediment of the temple of Zeus in Olympia on a
sculpture of the 5th Century BC.
However
to put an end to all versions and find a historical sequence, we must focus on
the 9th century around 884 BC.
It appears that an arrangement between the rulers of three cities. Ilis,
Sparta and Pissa, was reached and it was decided to acknowledge the area of
Ilis as the official place for the games. From then on, the Olympic Games were
held every five years, after the completion of four years from the previous
games. They were named Olympiads and were always held in the summer.
The
first registered Olympiad dates back to 776 BC.
Along with the date of registration, they also inscribed the names of
the winners on the columns of the temple of Zeus.
Preparing for
the Games
The
Olympic Games have been the most glorious and renowned of the classic years.
The publicity of the event was a major undertaking. Various noblemen
(Sponthofori) from the city of Ilis traveled all over Greece in order to publicize
the event and at the same time to invite the best of youth to come to Olympia
and compete. They also invited the “theorous” official representatives of each
city and the public.
That
marked the beginning of a preparatory period in Greece, which had the dual
significance of showing off the athletic prowess of the youth and of
demonstrating the wealth of each city and its people. It also served as a means
of public relations for the Greek citizens -
people meeting people, famous generals, renown politicians,
philosophers, artists, craftsmen, artisans, etc. Everyone would be there, it was a grand
event.
The Games
The
games were always held in the summer after the first full moon of the summer
solstice. The spectators suffered
greatly due to being in the hot sun all day. According to the expert
historians, the games were always in the middle of July – possibly because the long day
provided more time for the games, taking into consideration that the
games lasted only one day until the year 472 BC. Later, they extended the time to three days
and by the year 468 BC, it was five. In
the beginning, the Olympia included only running, but eventually, they added
more games. It is worthy of mentioning here that running had its roots in real
events. In the old days, they used runners as messengers to announce the war
news as far as victory or defeat. The messengers were obliged to cover the distances on foot and not
on horses so they would not be noticed.
Consequently, they had to train in running so they could
provide their service during war time.
In Part II, we will focus on
the Participants and the Events of the ancient Olympic Games.
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