Title: The Olympic Games in Ancient Greece – Brewminate
Headings: The Olympic Games in Ancient Greece
The Olympic Games in Ancient Greece
Olympia
Equestrian Events
Combat Sports
Running
Jumping
Pentathlon
The Olympic Victors
Archaeology at Olympia
Suggested Readings
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Content: The Olympic Games in Ancient Greece – Brewminate
The Olympic Games in Ancient Greece
Posted on December 8, 2017
by MAMcIntosh
By the British Museum (Greece and Rome) / 08.08.2015
Every fourth year between 776 B.C.E. and 395 C.E., the Olympic Games, held in honor of the god Zeus, the supreme god of Greek mythology, attracted people from across Greece. Crowds watched sports such as running, discus-throwing and the long-jump. Olympia
The sporting events at Olympia were the oldest and most important of the four national Greek athletic festivals. The games were held on an official basis every four years from 776 B.C.E., but they probably originated much earlier. Greek myth credited the hero Herakles with devising the running races at Olympia to celebrate the completion of one of his twelve labors. Olympia was the most important sanctuary of the god Zeus, and the Games were held in his honor. Sacrifices and gifts were offered, and athletes took oaths to obey the rules before a statue of Zeus. The games were announced by heralds traveling to all the major Greek cities around the Mediterranean, and hostilities were banned during the period around the Games to safeguard those traveling to and from Olympia. The games at Olympia continued with minor interruptions into early Christian times and were the inspiration for the modern Olympic Games, first staged in Athens in 1896. Equestrian Events
Chariot racing was the most popular spectator sport in ancient times.