Title: Ancient Olympics – Ancient Olympic Games, History of Ancient Olympic, Games, Greek Olympics
Headings: Ancient Olympics
Olympics » Ancient Olympics
Ancient Olympics

Content: According to Greek mythology, Peloponnese is the island of Pelops, the founder of the Olympic Games. Olympia, Greece is the sanctuary site for the ancient Greek gods. The central part of Olympia was dominated by the majestic temple of Zeus. The ancient games enjoyed a secular tradition and aimed at securing good relations between the cities of Greece and showing physical qualities and evolution of the performances accomplished by the youth. The Olympic Games were held in four years intervals at the ancient stadium in Olympia that could accommodate more than 40,000 spectators. The surrounding areas around the ancient Olympic stadium were continuously developed until the 4th century BC and were used as training grounds for athletes or to serve as homes for the Olympic judges. The Ancient Olympics were not international in the modern sense of the term as they allowed only free men who spoke Greek to participate in the Games. The games none the less had a slight international spirit as they included participants from other Greek city-states. The Olympic Games originally consisted of just one competing event, the ‘stadion’ or ‘stade’ race. It was a short race covering the distance of 180 or 240 meters or the length of the stadium.