Athletic Activity in the Ancient World, An Outline

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).

To being with, as I explained earlier, the Olympic games go back to the Greeks. The Greeks were the ones that

The Olympics is a cultural event still going on today. The Olympics in Greek Mythology was honored all to Zeus. It represents the true warriors, athletes, and men of the country. It first started when Zeus, God of the sky, defeated Kronos in a battle for king and royalty. The event happened every four years for the Olympics. The Nemean games happened every other year at the shrine of Zeus. Again to honor him, in a city called Nemea, a place in Peloponnesus. Those were the two of the four games. The others were Isthmian Games and the Pythian games. The competition had athletic and musical contests. The first ever games held were in 573 BC. Greeks enjoyed lots of sports and competitions. Archeologists have found lots of artifacts from these times and noticed that the athletes worked hard to earn the right to be known as, “the great one,” or the ablest. Gymnasiums were discovered by archaeologist all over the cities and were used for training like jumping, running, wrestling, boxing, javelin throwing, and conditioning. Their trainers were called paidotribes because they helped them get stronger and have lots of stamina. If the rules were not followed they would get whipped. These games and events

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

In the ancient Olympic Games, there were only six different events to compete in. The original events were boxing, pankration, wrestling, running, equestrian and the pentathlon (Top End Sports). The first event ever held was the “stade” which is a 192-meter foot race. A cook named Coroebus won it becoming the first Olympic champion.

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

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.

The Ancient Greeks had many sports, which were mainly played by men. Some of these sports were wrestling, the discus throw, and running. These sports were amalgamated into an event called the Olympics. The Olympics still exist, even though some of the sports may have altered. This worldwide event is named after the very same event that happened in Ancient Greece. In the next few paragraphs you will learn about two of the most illustrious Greek sports.

Historians have found that the ancient Olympics were a blend of physical competitions and religious celebration. Each Olympic Games began with a sacrifice and a vow to Zeus by the competitors to promise fair competition. Amid wartime, Greek competitors were permitted safe travel to the Olympics to contend. Greeks were competitive individuals who loved the idea of "agon," or competition. Being viewed as the best through the competition was regarded very highly in their times. The prideful Greeks began the Olympics because their faith in the glory of competition and to respect the divine beings with their abilities. The Olympics were considerably more than an amusement, they gave contenders a shot at immortality. Contenders were saints who, in

In 776 B.C. the first Ancient Olympic Games was played in Olympia, Greece. The games were not just a games but a festival that honored the Greek god Zeus. Though the main purpose of the games soon came to be a way of men getting fit and city-states to show power since in the traditional Greek view the Greek gods championed a winner of each race. Popular sports that were played were track-and-field, boxing, wrestling, pankration, pentathlon, and horse-and-chariot racing. Some popular races in track-and-field that were played were the stadion race (a running race), the diaulus (there-and-back race), and the dolichos (long-distance race). Competing in the nude came about by two different stories. The first story says that a runner lost his

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 invented the olympic games in honor of their gods. The Isthmus games took place every two years at the Isthmus of corinth. The Pythian games where held every four years near Delphi. The most famous games took place every four years at Olympia, South-West of Greece. The ancient olympics are estimated to have begun in the early 700 BC, in honor of Zeus. Women were not allowed to watch the games and only Greek nationals could participate. When the games first started they were one-day festivals of athletics and wrestling. In 472 BC they were expanded to five days with many events. We do not know the exact order of events, but the first day was devoted to sacrifice. In the middle

Sometime during the 6th century B.C. the Olympian gods began to yield in importance to the mystery cults. Their beliefs changed again at the rise of Christianity. The Olympic Games started on Mount Olympus, held every four years as a celebration to honor Zeus. There the athletic games and contests of choral poetry and dance were invented. The games where held from 776 B.C. to A.D. 393. They originated on the plain of Olympia in Elis, and in the town of Olympia.

The first revival of the Olympic Tradition is said to be around 776 B.C., when the Delphic oracle instructed the king, Iphitos of Elis, to hold festivities to honor the gods. At the time, there was a plague throughout Greece, so by honoring the gods with the Olympics, the Greeks hoped to end the plague (Perrottet 188). The very first Olympics consisted of only one event: the 200-meter race. It would take 52 years for another event, the 400-meter race, to be added (Cousineau 92).