The Ancient Olympics

The Olympic games originated in Athens in 776 B.C. The more popular modern day Olympic games began nearly 2300 years later in 1896. The games no longer represented a religious festival, but a sports competition instead. The games can be studied via multiple aspects such as political, social, and economic, but this paper will concentrate on the economic aspect of the games and more specifically, the macroeconomic impacts the games possess.

The Olympics have shown over the decades that they can be affected by political conflict. However, it seems that this is the point of the Olympics, to illustrate national pride, by competition. Bloodshed should not be the way for pride of one’s country to be shown, but it should be shown through competition, in the words of the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de

Miller’s purpose for writing the book Ancient Greek Athletics is to teach the audience about ancient Greek Games and how this important subject can teach us more about our own world. He accomplishes this goal by using the artifacts he has studied along with the history itself to guide the audience in their journey toward appreciating Greek heritage. In this book, Miller addresses the Olympic Games that began more than twenty-five hundred years ago. I learned many different things throughout this book including: the participants, all the different athletic

“Although the ancient Games were staged … from 776 BC through 393 AD, it took 1503 years for the Olympics to return” (The Games). The Olympic Games were very important to the Greeks just like the Games are a huge spectacle for the world now. The Games were always important to the Greeks because the Olympics tied into their religion. The Greeks used the Olympics to worship their gods by showing their strength and gifts that the gods had given them. Once the Greeks lost their empire, the Olympics died off. Modern day people did not warm up to the idea of the Olympics until the 1900s. Once they warmed up to the idea of the Olympics, they took off with it, and it is now a global spectacle. The Olympics has a rich history, significant purpose,

The Ancient Olympic Games took place during a time of prosperity for the nation of Greece. In fact, they contributed to the success of the Greek Empire. The Olympic Games reinforced the power of ancient rulers, brought peace with the surrounding nations, and created a reliable way to track time. These ancient games have had such an influence, that they are still continued in our modern society.

The olympic games were held every four years and lasted for five days. The first day was for sacrifices and the festivals, while the judges and competitors took oaths of fair dealing. The next three days were competition days, men competed in running, jumping, wrestling, horse and chariot, and pankration. The final day was for sacrifices, and a banquet was held for the winners. The winners received a crown of wild olive. Days before the Olympics people from all over Greece traveled to Olympia and camped on the plains. During this time wars were stopped or postponed three months in advance so everyone could travel to the games safely. The entertainment of the Olympics games brought Ancient Greek civilization together.

There are quite a few factors that shaped the modern-day Olympics from 1892 to 2002. Pierre de Coubertin states that he wanted to create the Olympics to spread world peace. He does this by substituting war for friendly sports competitions (doc 1). Of course, there were some bumps in the road while trying to achieve this utopia. Some factors that have changed the Olympics are the allowing of women being able to compete in the Olympics, women’s suffrage, nationalism, wars, and economic conditions (doc 2-7).

As running was the most popular of the events of the games, in 724 BC a second running event was added, the diaulos foot-race, which ran two lengths of the stadium. Gradually, as the games gained popularity, other events were added also, including wrestling, boxing, equestrian events, discus and jumping. Over time, development in Greek society constructed different variations of many of the basis games, expanding the event and gaining popularity. The Pankration, a combination of wrestling and boxing, was added and quickly became the one of the most challenging sports played. The Pentathlon event was also added in 708 BC and incorporated 5 separate games; Discus, Javelin, Jump, Running and Wrestling. As the games developed and events were added, the duration of them became longer. By 5th century BC, the games had extended to a 3-day event, and again to cover 5 days. They were held every 4 years, and were always played at the site of Olympia. With the consistent expansion of games came the development of prizes for worthy victors of the each competition. These became more extravagant and desirable as the games gained

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 Olympics can be traced back as far as 776 BC. The games were devoted to the Olympian gods and took place in Olympia, which according to Greek myths is on the island of “Pelops”. The first ever Olympics were also held every four years during a religious festival and they

Following alongside these events was also the creation of the coliseum, which the people in this present day also find to be very important to sports and athletics, obviously with more of them

Although the original ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 B.C, Homer’s Iliad indicates they may have existed as early as the twelfth century BC. The Games were then continued for twelve centuries and were devoted to Olympian deities. Olympia turned into the site of these memorable ancient Olympic games that scattered the seeds for the largest global sporting events of current times, the Modern Olympics. The location of the Ancient Olympics is situated in the western part of Peloponnese. The Ancient Olympic Games continued until 393 A.D when Emperor Theodosius I of Rome discontinued them. There were not any more Olympic games for fifteen hundred years before they were resurrected in 1896 in the city of Athens. The man in charge of the recreation of the Olympic games was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who introduced the thought in 1894. He proposed to stage the games in Paris in 1900 but representatives, from thirty-four nations were so captivated with the idea that they persuaded him to move the Games up to 1896 and have Athens serve as the host.

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.

While there are clear contrasts between the ancient and the modern Olympics there is still the respect for the athlete striving to perform at the highest level. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest carnival of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are displays of nationalism, commerce, and politics. These important elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention, as the first Olympics was in 776 BC in Ancient Greece. After 1503 years, in 1896 the Olympic Games were recreated as what we know today. The Ancient Games were once dedicated to the Olympian God, Zeus Olympios and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia, which is also how the word ‘Olympics’ originated from. The modern Olympics is the largest international sporting event, which feature both summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of respectable athletes from over 200 different nations compete against one another. There are clear contrast between the modern and ancient forms of the Olympic Games regarding uniforms, participants, religion, events, politics and the concept of amateurism. However both the Ancient Greeks and the people in the modern world still respect and admire the athletics achievements of the participants making the Olympics the most highly regarded contest in sport.

One exceptionally significant custom of the Greeks still observed today is the Olympics. These ancient games incorporated a concept of free athletic competition without bloodshed. If the Greeks