Olympic Games: Facts and Myths
- You'll read on the web that the games started in Olympia in 776 b.c. but that date is just the first RECORDED instance of games. Homer, in the 14th century b.c. describes funereal games that mimic many of the early olympic ones.
- The games at Olympia were just a quarter of the Panhellenic Cycle. Nemea, Delphi and Isthmia were the other locations. You can visit each of these sites, see evidence of the religious importance of the games, and even the attempts to control cheating.
- At the Panhellenic games, "the victors' only award was a wreath: olive at Olympia, laurel at Delphi, wild celery at Nemea, and pine originally and again later at Isthmia, with dry celery during the Classical and Hellenistic periods." (source)
- Cheating and bribery were rampant, as was nationalistic fervor. Roman Emperor Nero was allowed into the games; he paid huge bribes, then "won" the chariot race despite falling from his chariot. Cheating was so prevalent that monuments were set up on the roadway leading to the stadium commemorating the fallen athletes.
- The Games included religious festivities and sacrifices, poetry and art.
- The main events at each of the games were chariot racing, boxing, wrestling, boxing, pankration, stadion and various other foot races, and the pentathlon.
- Athletes had to arrive at the games one month in advance to train. They couldn't drop out without being fined or flogged.
- You've heard of the naked part of the ancient games. They are believed to have started when Orsippus of Megara's girdle slipped off his pulsating loins as he was winning the footrace. Figuring it was his nakedness that made him fleet of foot, runners ever after ran naked.
- There was no Olympic Torch Relay in antiquity. The Nazis started this tradition.
- The last ancient Olympics were held in 393 a.d. Shortly after the games were banned by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosios I on account of the carnival-like atmosphere which had come to surround them. Theodosios II ordered the destruction of the temples, so you won't see much more than a pile of rubble where they stood.
The Olympics and the Frugal Traveler's Dilemma
The Olympic Games in 2004 were held at Athens. Today, the energetic traveler can check out the Athens Panathenaic Stadium, a natural hallow transformed into a stadium by a guy named Lykourgos in 330-329 BC for the athletic competitions of the Great Panathinaea Festivities. The modern restoration of the Stadium was conducted by G. Averof in time for the restoration of the games in 1896. In 2004 the stadium will be used as the finish for the Marathon and for the archery competition. You can visit it free.
I can suggest some other ways for the wanderer to find out about the Olympic traditions. In fact, did you know that you can actually don a toga this summer and run in an olympic-style race in an ancient stadium? Or see one ancient method of controlling the start of a sprint, precipitated by complaints of cheating? Or maybe you'll just want to take a long hike and see the stadium at Delphi, which no longer allows you to sit in the stands, as I understand.
Go on to Visiting the Ancient Panhellenic Games Sites: Nemea, Delphi and Isthmia.
