Jacob
Language Arts
THE FIRST OLYMPICS
Do you know who won the first Olympics? They may have started earlier than you thought. Ancient Greece had many ways of showing of entertainment and religion. The Olympics were one of those along with a few other games. They had many forms of eligibility, to compete and to watch the Olympics; they had prizes, both official and unofficial. There were many different competitions and there were many interesting facts. The Olympics were, in other words, very different than the professional sports of today.
There were many other games and even more sacrifices to the Gods. That was because The Greek's religion said that they should respect their Gods. One of these competitions was the Olympics; they took place every four years (called an Olympiad). Some of the other games included the Pythian games held near Delphi in honor of Apollo (the god of prophecy, music, light, medicine and hunting), the Isthmian games in honor of Poseidon (the god of water), and the Nemain games at Nema in honor of Zeus (the God of Gods), like the Olympics.
The Olympics started a long time ago. The Olympic games were first recorded in 776 B.C. Truces were called during wars so that all may travel safely to Mt. Olympus, where the games were held. The Olympics continued through the period when the Romans took over until the Roman Emperor Theodosius I in 394 A.D. They were founded again as the "Modern Olympics" in 1896 A.D. in modern Greece.
Not all people were allowed to compete in the Olympics, or even to watch. To compete, the first requirement was that you had to be of honorable Greek descent. The second was that you had to be a man. Women would die if they went into the stadium. In horse racing only nobles were allowed to participate. The only requirements of watching were that you were unarmed and a male. Women could be owners in the chariot race and also watch it because it was held outside the stadium.
The prizes were many, both official and unofficial. There were no valuable official prizes but the winner won great glory. The only official prize was a wreath of olive branches. There were unofficial prizes awarded by the individual city-states. Sometimes citizens chipped in for a cash prize or the winner was excused from taxes for an Olympiad.
There were many different competitions in the fist Olympics (in the end it lasted for 5 days). The first day was devoted to sacrifices to the god Zeus. The main event was the pentathlon, which consisted of 5 events (hence pent). Whoever won 3 of those events was considered the winner of the pentathlon. The events were (in no specific order) the foot race (the longest was 360 meters), the discus throw, the long jump (from a standing position), the javelin throw (the javelin was used for hunting), and wrestling (no holds were barred). Some other events were boxing, horse racing (by the wealthy), chariot racing, and the last event was a race in full armor.
There were many interesting things about the first Olympics. The athletes competed completely nude. The word gymnasium comes from the Greek word gymnos, which means naked. The very first winner recorded in the Olympics was Korebos. He was from the town of Ellis. Also homing pigeons were used to carry the news of winners of the Olympics.
In conclusion I believe that the modern Olympics were much different from now. Now athletes compete for a gold medal but back then everyone competed for the honor of glorifying their God. Now we can't be happy with helping others, we have to become famous for it.
| Clipart of The Olympics | Pictures of Mt. Olympus and the Surrounding Area | Pictures of Modern Olympics | MISC. |
http://www.7metasearch.com/scripts/search/7metasearch/results.asp?q=Pictures+of++Ancient+Olympics
Sources:
Pamela Odijk, The Greeks, The Macmillain Company Of Australia PTY LTD, 1989
"Olympian Games" World Book Encyclopedia CD Rom Deluxe Edition.
www.didyouknow.com/sport/olympic.htm
http://sunsite.utk.edu/special/olympics/classical/games.html
http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/ancientolympics.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/20622/the.htm
http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au/olympic/olympic.htm
To Take A Quiz on what you have learned go to http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa021798.htm