The Olympic Games

It is said that the Olympic Games began in the year 776 BCE. Although in the epics of Homer, who we believe lived before that date, we see that sporting games were organized, the date of 776 BCE was accepted by everyone, because it is from that date that we have the first writings about the Olympics. Sporting disciplines such as wrestling, boxing and the race to run fastest were already known both in Egypt and in Mesopotamia, but it was on that date of 776 BCE that we see for the first time the names of the winners written in the lists of honour.

These names are written in a text by Hippias, a philosopher and sophist who lived in Elis, the city where the stadium of Olympia stands. The towns, which were independent city-states, prepared their athletes for 4 years and sent them to Olympia, a village in the Peloponnese 15 km from the Ionian Sea, where the stadium dedicated to the god Zeus was the largest and where many spectators could come. The games took the name Olympics from the name of this village. The games were repeated every 4 years until the year 393 CE, when the emperor Theodosius announced that the Christian religion would be the religion of the Roman state, and since the athletes had to compete naked, he did not allow any more Olympics to be held.

The athletes had to be free Greeks, born of a normal family and not of adultery. They had to have no public offence that could stain their lives. They had to be over 18 and not slaves. At first the games lasted a single day. After the year 472 BCE more games were added and the Olympics lasted 5 days. The night of the third day had to coincide with the full moon. At the start of the games the athletes had to swear that they would be honest and would compete for the honour of their towns and of Zeus. The famous poets and philosophers had to read their works.

Then the games began: the pentathlon, chariot and horse races, discus throwing, the long jump (in those days they did not run up to jump), wrestling, running several times round the stadium. Note that the word stadium comes from the root 'stad', and the measure of a stade was about 185 metres. In certain cities this measure could vary between 165 and 192 m. On the last day crowns of olive leaves (not laurel leaves) were placed on the heads of the winners. The winners could also obtain good positions in the government of their city. Since the branch of olive leaves symbolized peace, crowning the winners with a crown of olive leaves symbolized friendship and peace between the towns, which were often at war.

On the other hand the word stadium meant to stand. Only the high dignitaries had marble seats. All the people watched the games standing around the stadium. So the word stadium was formed not by the athletes but by the spectators. Those who threw the discus had to rub their hands with earth so that the discus would not slip. This way of rubbing the hand with sand is used today by athletes who lift heavy weights. Since the athletes were naked, women could not enter the stadium. If a woman, out of curiosity, ever watched the games, she could be tried and punished with death.

They could not even approach the stadium. Only the priestesses of the goddess Demeter could watch the games. Like the athletes, the judges (referees) too had to swear to the honesty of the decisions they would give. If today we have some rules for sporting games, it was surely the rules mentioned above that played a great part. Although the official date of the end of the Olympics is the 4th century CE, with the emperor Theodosius, the end had already begun with the Roman invasion of the Greek lands from the year 148 BCE. Interest in these sporting games declined against the Romans' new interest in gladiators and more savage games.

It is said that even the philosophy of Socrates drew the young men away from certain sporting activities. When excavations began at Olympia in 1875, Baron Pierre de Coubertin got it into his head to revive these historic games under the name of Olympics. Apart from the two world wars, these events have been repeated every 4 years, each time in a different country. The five rings seen on the Olympic flag symbolize the five continents, and the ritual of carrying the torch from Olympia to the city where the games will be held began with the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, based on an invention of the Nazi party.