Athletic Activity in the Ancient World, An Outline

The Olympic games were an athletic competition help in Greece around every four years from 776 B.C.E. In 776 B.C.E, the first olympics were held in Athens where many competitors clashed during the sporting events. The olympics then stopped in 393 C.E. due to Theodosius I’s orders on stopping the olympic events. Later during 1896, the modern olympics began to take place. The olympics were different from the ancient olympics in that the competition was shaped due to social, political, and economic reasons.

The first accounts of the Ancient Olympic games trace back to the year 776 BC. Held at Olympia, the games were thought to have been dedicated to the ‘Olympian gods’, Hera, Athena, Apollo and most prodimately, Zeus, the god of the sky and the ruler of the Olympian gods. Ancient myths associated with the beginning games stated that Zeus, the father of humanity, have fought and defeated Cronus in a battle for the throne of the gods. Others predicted demigod Herakles staged the games in Zeus’s honour, as he had assisted him in conquering Elis. Olympia, the site in which the games were held, was located in the Western part of the Peloponnese. The sacred area held numerous temples and sporting facilities, as the site was used for both the Ancient Olympic games

The Greeks set up athletic events in honor of Zeus for which the Olympics was made.

One of the ancient Greek Olympic games was running. The game consists of stade race, which was the preeminent test of speed, covering the Olympia track from one end to the other (200m foot race), the diaulos (400m foot race), and the dolichos (ranging 7 to 24 stades). Anuter ancient Greek Olympic game was jumping. The athletes would use lead stones to increase the jumping distances. They held onto these waits until the end of they jump whair they would throw it backwards. They had biscus which were made of iron or stone, but were thrown similar to how they are now. They had wresoling which was a military exercise that was bone without weapons and only ended when the opponent admitted defeat. They had boxing, Boxers wrapped straps around

Around 3,000 years ago in 776 BC the first Olympic games were held. Of course this soon became a popular and well known event that made many people all over Greece want to see and try it. Unfortunately though, not everybody could participate or even watch the competitors strive to win glory. This caused many people to react in different ways, especially if there were rules that differed between the different genders.

Ancient Olympics originated in a religious way and influenced modern Olympics greatly in many forms. The Olympics were a very important part of Greek culture because it honored their god, Zeus. Gods played an important role in the ancient Olympics but slowly started focusing more on competition. Like today, participating in the Olympics was a great honor and the winners were well rewarded and respected. The Olympics have brought people together for several years to compete and have fun, at least for the viewers. The Olympics started off from naked Greek men, to all genders and ethnicities competing.

Stephen G. Miller, an expert Yale professor in the field of Ancient Greek athletics states that the Olympics were held “in honor of Zeus in the city of Olympia” (Miller). “The element of religion is evident in this historical event. Many people have heard of the concepts of the Greek Gods, but this level of religious involvement is interesting. These games were held “for four days every fourth summer”, a tradition that partially continues to this day (Miller). “Many festivals in ancient Greece were dedicated to the Gods” (Miller). In addition to the Olympic Games, there were also other athletic festivals which included the Pythian Games at Delphi, the Isthmian at Corinth, and the Nemean at Argos (Miller). However, the Olympics at Olympia were “the oldest and most prestigious of the four great ancient Greek athletic festivals.

There was a variety of sports at the games but at the beginning of the games there was running.In the Olympics they were a lot of modern day sports and a lot of track and field events like jumping, discus and and running. They also had a place to worship and practice their religion. For the people watching watching, they could

According to the Olympics Game timeline, the first ever Olympic Games was held in 776 BCE, in Olympia which is in Athens, Greece. They were held there at olympia for 13 years. We don't know how the games began according to Robert Woff, some stories say the Zeus started the game. According to this story, it started out with Zeus and his father, Kronos were wrestling in olympia, who knew it would turn into what it has become. Wrestling wasn’t the only sport in the ancient greek olympics, there were many more that were involved. Some of the original events according to “Ancient sports” are boxing, equestrian events (chariot racing & riding), pankration, pentathlon (discus, javelin, jump, running, wrestling).

The people of Ancient Greece saw the games as a religious festivity and participated in the games in honor of their gods. Men in ancient Greece were infatuated with physical fitness and idolized Zeus because of his strength. Only free men and boys could participate in the games no slaves or servants were allowed to participate. The Olympic games symbolized

In this time, war and arguments were set aside in order to put full focus on the athletes who desperately wanted to prove them selves to their Empire. These Olympics would take place every four years. Originally, the Olympic games were created as a religious festival. In other words they were used to celebrate their god Zeus, who was the father of the Greek gods and goddesses.

The Olympic Games, was once a significant athletic festival that originated in ancient Greece as a religious festival which was revived in the late 19th century as a secular competition to

The Olympic Games began around 776 BC. They were held at Olympia every four years, in honour of Zeus, who was the father and most powerful of all the gods ( Zeus is shown on the coin pictured opposite).

Greek athletics were very popular in the Greek culture. William Baker’s thesis statement was ”For more than a thousand years athletic festivals were an important part of Greek life. Originally mixtures of religious ceremony and athletic competition, hundreds of local festivals were held each year throughout the country and in Greek colonies in Egypt, Sicily, and the banks of the Bosporus.“The argument is how festivals are important to Greek Life. The article starts out with the author talking about the four major athletic festivals, The Pythian Games, The Isthmian Games, The Nemean Games, and the Olympic Games. “By the fifth century B.C. four major festivals dominated the scene, forming a kind of circuit ambitious athletes” “Ambitious” athletes could gain a following in an event by training for and participating in these events creating a circuit for them.

On the first day of Olympics athletes and judges swore the vow and athletes sacrificed to Zeus. There was opening ceremony. Game began by boys` running competition, but there was also wrestling and boxing contests.