Olympia Games, Site and Festival

When were the Olympic games founded

776 BCE

Why were the Olympics founded

• Festival held to honour Zeus

• Held within the sanctuary at Olympia

The Olympics are held once every _ years

4

When are the first Olympic games held

• Beginning of the first full moon after the summer solstice on June 21st

• Sometimes in July or maybe the second full moon, which would make it August

The Olympics were originally extended only to participants from _

Peloponnese

Who are not aloud to compete

• Women

• Slaves

Could women and slaves spectate

We are not sure

The Olympics were more than

Just a sporting event

• People brought gifts and gathered from all over

Why was there a sacred truve in place prior to the games

To allow safe travel to Olympia

Large procession from _ to Olympia to open the games

Elis

No accommodation at Olympia in its earliest days; people slept in

Open air, or perhaps under tents

In its height (5th century BCE), maybe up to _ people in attendance

100,000

The Olympics was originally a

One day festival with only one event (stadion)

• In addition to the religious observances

What were the two events to be added that followed the stadion

• Double stadion (dialos)

• Distance race (dolichos)

What two events followed the track events

• Wrestling

• Pentathlon

What sport followed wrestling and the pentathlon

Boxing

What sport followed boxing

Four-horse chariot race

What sport followed the four-horse chariot race?

Pankration

What was the pankration

• Unarmed combat sport combining boxing and wrestling

• Almost no restrictions

• Means “all of power”

What sport followed the Pankration

Race for men in armour (hoplitodromos)

What role did trumpeters have in the games

• Summoned the athletes

• Indicated the last lap in horse racing

What role did heralds have in the Olympics

• Proclaimed silence (essential for religious rites)

• Announced the contestants

• Probably made a variety of announcements

Who is the one to mention and bring up the trumpeters and heralds

Pausanias

What is the altar

• In the Altis near the entrance that leads to the stadium

• Eleans sacrifice to one of the gods

• Custom for the trumpeters and heralds to stand on it while competing

What was discussed in Plutarch’s Moralia

• Events in the Pythian Games at Delphi with some comparison with Olympia

What happened on day 1 of the Olympic games?

• Taking of the oath in the council chamber

• Competition for heralds and trumpeters

• Vetting the athletes?

What happened on day two of the Olympics

• Equestrian events

• Pentathlon

What happened on day 3 of the Olympics

• Rites for Pelops

• Great sacrifice, high point of the festival

• Feasting on meat from the sacrifice

• Boy’s contests?

What happened on day 4 of the Olympics

• Track events

• Heavy events

• Hoplitodromos

What was the potential order for the track events

• Dolichos

• Stadion

• Diaulos

What happened on day 5 of the Olympics

• Awards ceremony

• Banquet for victorious athletes

What day was the full moon

Day 3: Rites for Pelops

The Olympic Victor Lists, Chronologies, and Chronicles are all evident in

• Literary texts

• Inscriptions

• Papyri

• Oral tradition

Who gave us the earliest evidence for the texts from Olympia?

Hippias of Elis

What is the earliest evidence of written Greek

Dipylon Vase

• “whoever of all these dancers now plays most delicately, to him this….”

We should not assume that the early stages of the Olympic Games were

Identical to the format we see at their highest point

There could well have been athletic events occurring at

Pisa centuries prior to the establishment of the Olympic festival

What was the palaistra

Wrestling and combat sports arena

What did the Zanes do

Function as a warning to athletes against the use of bribery, late arrival

What was the significance of the making of the kotinos crown prize

A young boy cut the branch whose parents were still both living

• Evidently a fertility rite of some antiquity

Other names for the periodic games

• Panhellenic games

• Crown games/stephanitic games (stephanos)

What was the victory crown for the Olympic games made of

Olive

What was the victory crown for the Delphic/Pythian games made of

Laurel

What was the material of the victory crown for the Isthmian games

Pine

What was the victory crown made out of for the Nemean games

Wild celery

Where was the Delphic/pythian games held

Delphi

Where was the Isthmian games held

Corinth

Where was the Nemean games held

Nemea or Argos

Which god was honoured at the Delphic/Pythian games

Apollo

Which god was honoured at the Isthmian games

Poseidon

Which god was honoured at the nemean games

Zeus and Heracles

Which games was not considered a part of the Periodos

Panathenaic games

Explain the Panathenaic games

• Held in Athens

• Every 4 years

• In honour of Athena

• Some events only open to Athenian citizens

Why were the Panathenaic Games distinctive

• Victors awarded emblematic large vessels (amphorae) full of olive oil

How long did the Olympic Games go on without interuption

Twelve hundred years

Who abolished the games

Emperor Theodosius