The ancient Greeks put great emphasis on physical fitness and intellectual ability. Gymnasiums, stadiums and training facilities were built by the city-states and many athletic and musical contests were held where both mind and body would be tested. The most prestigious of these were the Olympic Games. The winning athletes of the various events brought fame and honor to their home city and were sometimes even deified for outstanding athletic accomplishments. They were exempted from taxes and received free meals for the rest of their lives.
The first games were held in 776 B.C. and continued for nearly five centuries. There were strict rules to which entrants had to adhere. The games were open only to free Greek males. Slaves and non-Greeks could not compete, nor could any man who had committed a crime or stolen from a temple. Married women could not enter the Olympic stadium or attend the games, although young girls and the priestess of the goddess Demeter were welcomed.
The punishment for any woman found attending, was to be thrown off Mount Typaeum. Anyone attempting to corrupt a judge or an opponent was punished by whipping.
The Olympic Games were initially a one-day event, but by the fifth century B.C. they had been expanded to five days. The schedule was as follows:
-Day 1: a competition for trumpeters and heralds. The winners had the honor of sounding the start of all events and announcing the names of victors. Athletes and officials made sacrifices to their own particular patron gods.
-Day 2: boys' races, wrestling, boxing matches took place. The pankration, (a sport combining wrestling and boxing skills) for boys was also held.
-Day 3: this day was for the equestrian events and the pentathlon, a combination of five contests- jumping, running, javelin, discus and wrestling,
-Day 4: the day began with the sacrifice of 100 oxen to Zeus by the athletes, officials, priests and others. The ceremonies were followed by men's wrestling, boxing, running, and pankration events.
-Day 5: on the final day all the victors gathered in the Temple of Zeus wearing red headbands and carrying palm branches. A crown of wild olive leaves was placed on the head of each victor. Heralds announced the victors' names and their home city. Then a great feast was held in honor of the victorious athletes.
Because of the general dedication to physical fitness, many famous Greek citizens attended or even participated in the early Olympics: Socrates, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and Hippocrates were known to have been attendants.
The Olympic Truce ( in Greek, ekecheiria, literally the "holding of hands"), was in effect during each festival. It was an important aspect of the Olympics. It allowed travelers to attend the events in safety. It also cut down in the rivalry and disputes which regularly appeared between the city-states. When the warring parties gathered for the competitions, they often realized they had more in common with their adversaries than they had remembered, and breaches were healed.
While the truce was in force, legal disputes and the carrying out of death penalties were suspended. It also had a beneficial political function. Alliances were often formed and inter-state disagreements resolved. The Olympic Games helped maintain the peace between the city-states of Ancient Greece.
After Rome invaded Greece in 146 B.C., the Games began to decline. In 393 A.D., the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian who considered the Olympics a pagan festival, abolished them.
The Olympic Games were revived and made international in 1896. The Winter Games were added in 1924. World Wars I and II forced cancellation of the Games in 1916, 1940 and 1944. They resumed in 1948 and have been held on a regular basis ever since.
And so, a great and ancient tradition continues and develops. May it also continue to solve disputes, heal breeches, and promote brotherhood as it did during its origins in Ancient Greece.
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