The Ancient Olympic Games were a religious and
athletic festival held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia,
Greece among representatives of several city-states and kingdoms of Ancient
Greece. These games featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing
events. During the games, all conflicts among the participating city-states
were postponed until the games were finished. The origin of these Olympics is
shrouded in mystery and legend; one of the most popular myths identifies
Heracles and his father Zeus as the progenitors of the Games. According to legend,
it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established
the custom of holding them every four years.
A legend persists that after Heracles completed
his twelve labors, he built the Olympic Stadium as an honor to Zeus. Following
its completion, he walked in a straight line for 200 steps and called this
distance a "stadion" (Greek: στάδιον, Latin: stadium,
"stage"), which later became a unit of distance. Another myth
associates the first Games with the ancient Greek concept of Olympic truce (ἐκεχειρία,
ekecheiria). The most widely accepted inception date for the Ancient Olympics
is 776 BC; this is based on inscriptions, found at Olympia, listing the winners
of a footrace held every four years starting in 776 BC. The Ancient Games
featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus
and javelin throws, a foot race, and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, pankration,
and equestrian events. Tradition has it that Coroebus, a cook from the city of
Elis, was the first Olympic champion.
The Olympics were of fundamental religious
importance, featuring sporting events alongside ritual sacrifices honoring both
Zeus (whose famous statue by Phidias stood in his temple at Olympia) and
Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia. Pelops was famous for his
chariot race with King Oenomaus of Pisatis. The winners of the events were
admired and immortalized in poems and statues. The Games were held every four
years, and this period, known as an Olympiad, was used by Greeks as one of
their units of time measurement. The Games were part of a cycle known as the
Panhellenic Games, which included the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games, and the
Isthmian Games.
The Olympic Games reached their zenith in the
6th and 5th centuries BC, but then gradually declined in importance as the
Romans gained power and influence in Greece. While there is no scholarly
consensus when the Games officially ended, the most commonly held date is 393
AD, when the emperor Theodosius I decreed that all pagan cults and practices be
eliminated. Another date commonly cited is 426 AD, when his successor,
Theodosius II, ordered the destruction of all Greek temples.
