The Ancient Olympics

The Ancient Olympics began being very simple and didn’t have many sports or events involved. In fact, the very first olympics was held on just one day and contained one event called the stade (Barton). The stade was an event where several racers lined up and ran the equivalent of a 220 yard dash (Barton). However this changed rather quickly. After a few Olympic Games, seven to twenty-four length stades were added as endurance contests. After running races came the pentathlon. This was a five in one event consisting of running, wrestling, discus throwing, javelin throwing, and long jumping (Barton). The winner of this event ultimately became the grand champion of the Olympics and received many perks such as free food, housing, no taxes, and

This caused the creation of a new stadium for the games to be played in called the hippodrome. The previous stadium was too small for chariots and horses to be raced in, so the entire Olympic Games were moved to this stadium after chariot races were added in 680 BC (“The Chariot Race”). “At Olympia, the horses ran twelve rounds, which is about 14 kilometers” (Clarysse). This only included the four horse and two horse chariot races. The horse rider event was much different then than it is in today’s world. Back then, neither the saddle nor stirrups had been invented, so riders had to hold on with only their hands (Clarysse). So this was not only a race between horses, but also a strength and skill competition among riders. The horses in this event ran a distance of 1.2 kilometers (Clarysse). Another challenge in this event is that during the final stretch, riders must get off their horse and run along side it. The final event added in the Ancient Olympics was called the pankration. This was the crowd favorite, and the toughest event in the Olympics. It was basically a fight to the death, or to the point where one contender gave up. “It permitted kicking, punching, strangling, and even breaking

The Olympics were held at Olympia every year, and people from all over the Greek Empire came to watch. During its height in popularity, “Scholars estimate that perhaps more than 50,000 people travelled to Olympia for a single Games” (A Spectator’s Guide). Some people travelled for days on end just to watch the Games. For most of these people, this meant crossing through dangerous enemy territory. Because of this, an Olympic Truce was established. “The truce meant that during the Olympics, Greek states all agreed to let anyone who wanted to go to the Olympics to pass through” (A Spectator’s Guide). This made the trip safer, and promoted friendliness during the Games among enemies. By this time, the Olympics lasted five days, so most spectators stayed all five days to watch the entire thing. On the third day of every Olympics, every spectator took part in a giant feast. In this feast, hundreds of cows were sacrificed to the Greek God Zeus so spectators could eat meat because it was so rare (A Spectator’s Guide). The five days of the Olympics were basically a giant, five day long party for viewers. Not to mention, only men were allowed in the stadium, and women had to stay outside of it. The reason it was so important for Greeks to attend the Games was that they believed coming to it made them a ‘true Greek’ (A Spectator’s Guide). After every Games, they felt they were true to their national identity and could return