The Modern Olympic Games

Naked Olympics The Olympic Games are a spectacle that all enjoy all over the world. The Olympic Games are a series of sporting events that are played by people all over the world. These athletes come from all corners of the globe to one place that changes every two years to partake in an epic event. Billions of people sit at home to watch the glory that is the Olympic Games, and some are even lucky enough to go to see the games in person. It seems that the Games always had this majestic feeling dating back to some of the very first Olympic Games, which can be traced to as early as 776 B.C. The Historic Olympic Games took place every four years in Olympia. These Games, however, have some other major differences to the Games of today. Firstly,

It was also about paying tribute to the gods, mainly Zeus. This was done in many different ways, the main way being sacrifice of animals. The sacrificing of the oxen was viewed as one of the most important parts of the games, even more important than the actual games themselves. This was a grand spectacle that many people looked forward to. They looked forward to it because one hundred white oxen were sent to be sacrificed, the animals that were sacrificed were then prepared and given out for the people to eat as part of the ritual. Since meat was expensive, this was a rare time that common men were able to eat and enjoy it. Due to this, the sacrifice was highly anticipated. (Perrottet Sacrifice) The closest thing that is still present todays that is similar to a tribute to the gods is the Olympic Torch which is lit under ceremony in Olympia and then carried to where the Games will be held. The fire today represents all the god qualities that man associates with fire but still go back to its original roots of the gods. The fire is also lit in Olympia, where the first Olympic Games were held, this is to show the connection of the past and the present in relation to the Games. (Olympic

They stitched wounds make splints for broken bones, much like someone could see today at the Olympic Games if that type of treatment was necessary. Then there are the practices that would turn the head of any modern doctor. Such as, hanging someone upside down when they have a dislocated joint or applying leeches to someone’s swelling. (Perrottet Leeches) The doctors back than also relied heavily on the gods for treatment. Dreams were a big aspect of the healing process, the dreams were sent by the god Asclepius. The dreams were to be interpreted and the person much do what is told of them by the interpreter. Due to the fact that dreams played such a large role in the healing of the athletes, there was a dream interpreter at Olympia during the times of the games. The medical staff that was present at the Olympic Games was no more than an ER type of situation due to there being so many limitations to their work, but if any athlete needed more care then could be offered they were then sent to a health sanitarium for more treatment. This compared to today is different, today there are plenty of medical staff ready to take care of any situation that might come up. Along with the highly experienced staff there are many rules that they need to legally follow, like consent rules and such. Whereas, back then