PART TWO
                       OF
             " The Sponsor "

According to Historians and Archeologists Lycurgus
was the first who tried to finance the construction of
a stadium.  While in charge of the city's administra-
tion (300-306 BC), the renowned orator attempted to
construct the ancient stadium beside the hill of 
Ardittos.
This particular location was selected because it was
near the Ilisos River and was deemed suitable for the
building of a stadium.

However, the broader area remained in its original
state and only the sports area was surrounded by a
stone wall.

Four and a half centuries later, in the year 131 AD,
Herod Atticus was given the responsibility of organi-
sing the prizes for the Panathenaia, Athens most famous games, and so he undertook the construction 
of the marble stadium.

Born in 103 AD Herod Atticus was the offspring of a
very wealthy family from Marathon in Attica. His
grandfather, Ipparchos, had a property worth 100 
million sertetii ( approximately 10 tons of gold).

So, Herod had enough to be considered one of the
richest men in Athens. He proceeded to construct a
stadium with a capacity of 50.000 seats.

This stadium was so impressive that Philostratus and
Pausanias considered it  " the wonder of the age."

Herod also helped ancient Olympia financially and 
provided a solution to the problem of the area,i.e.
the water sufficiency. Due to the great turn out of the
Games, it was impossible to quench the thirst of the million of spectators in the middle of the summer.

So, he had a huge water reservoir constructed with 
his own money, providing thus a definite solution
to the problem.

p.s.  As I stated before Atlanta Georgia , is a Pioneer,
        when in 1996 the Olympic Games that took 
        place there were fully covered by sponsors, for
        the first time in the history of the Games.

 By :  EVI MARTYN 
            Founder of HELLENIC CULTURE ADVOCACY
            Mme Martyn did the full research of these Historical facts