The Ancient Olympics Were a Tribute to Zeus

 The Greeks hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896. Before that time, no one had held Olympic Games since AD 393, when the Romans conquered the Greeks and banned the games. Today’s Olympics draws athletes from around the world to participate in friendly competition.

Unlike today’s Olympic Games, the games held in ancient Greece were to honor Zeus, the father of all Greek gods. Ancient Greeks held multiple sporting events throughout the year. The Olympics (Olympia), the Pythian Games (Delphi), Nemean Games (Nemea), and Isthmian Games (near Alexandria) are believed to have started by the close of the sixth century BC, with the Olympics the most famous of the four.

Like its modern counterpart, the Olympic Games of antiquity took place every four years. Before its end, nearly 800 Olympic champions took part in the games, according to historians. All of the Greek sporting games, including the Olympics, began with a ceremonial truce called Ekecheiria, which means “holding of hands.” This truce, inscribed on a bronze disc and displayed in Olympia, allowed athletes and fans to travel safely throughout the city while creating peace among the warring Greeks.

Some of the events held in antiquity were the same as the games held in the modern Olympics. For example, foot races, wrestling, javelin throwing, discus throwing, boxing, jumping, and the pentathlon were also events in ancient times. At some point, the games included events for boys, and later, athletes competed in races in partial armor. Athletes also competed in chariot racing and horse racing in the hippodrome south of the stadium.

In the footraces, competitors ran one length of the track at Olympia. The race was called a stade, named after a track measuring 150 to 200 meters. The word stadium derives from stade. Other races included the diaulos, a two-length race measuring 400 meters; and the dolichos, a long-distance race comparable to modern 1,500- or 5,000-meter races.

Some of the ancient events were completely different from today’s Olympic events. For instance, pankration (a combination of wrestling, boxing, and kicking) was a brutal combat sport with no rules. Pankration champions earned nicknames from their signature moves. For example, one fighter took the name “Fingertips” because of his penchant for breaking his opponent’s fingers. The Olympics also hosted chariot races and horse races.

According to Greek myth, heroes and gods competed at the first Olympic Games at Olympia. Zeus wrestled Kronos, his father. Apollo beat Ares in a boxing match and outran Hermes. The god credited with founding the Olympic Games, Herakles, won several pankration events. In reality, the first Olympic champion was a man, not a god. A cook named Coroebus of Elis won a sprint in 776 BC.

Furthermore, the games were a part of a religious festival. The Greeks held the first Olympic Games in a place sacred to them, the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia. The Greeks named the sanctuary after Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in mainland Greece and home to gods and goddesses in Greek mythology. Instead of gods competing with each other, men from all over the Greek Empire who shared the same religious beliefs competed in honor of the gods.