AKAHOME ESELEBOR

HISTORY 111 RESEARCH PAPER

THE HISTORY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

THE HISTORY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Every four years, about half of the worlds population watches the global spectacle
known as the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games have long held the position as the
anticipated sporting event in the world. Its a showcase of the top athletes from almost every
nation on the planet. Despite the fact that the main purpose of the creation of the Olympics
was to appease Zeus, its transformation from a religious ceremony to the modern global
phenomenon it has now become, is quite remarkable.
The Olympics began in 776 B.C.E as a religious celebration of the Greek God- Zeus. Held
in Olympia, the games were open to any free-born male Greek in the world (women would
later be allowed to compete in the modern Olympic Games). Olympia was chosen as the
location for the Olympiads because it was among the most religious parts in all of Greece so it
was only fitting that a religious ceremony in honor of Zeus be held there. Also, Olympia was
geographically convenient and as thus could easily be reached by ship; allowing Greek citizens
as well as spectators come in from Iberia, Egypt and other parts of the world.

Olympia and the ancient Greek world

Unlike the modern games, which are held in varying nations and locations, the ancient
Olympiads were always held in Olympia.
Ancient Greeks viewed a victory in the Olympiads as the ultimate achievement for any
man. The winners in the events were awarded with crowns made out of olive leaves and the
choice to have their statue erected in Olympia. In some cases, the victorious athletes became
local celebrities:
Although he did not receive money at the Olympics, the victor was treated much
like a modern sports celebrity by his home city. His success increased the fame
and reputation of his community in the Greek world. It was common for victors
to receive benefits such as having all their meals at public expense or front-row
seats at the theater and other public festivals. One city even built a private gym
for their Olympic wrestling champion to exercise in. (Perseus.com)
Unlike todays games, there was no reward for the athletes who came in second and third
place. Their names were not even recorded in the history books.
Athletics were a fundamental part of education in ancient Greece. They believed that
the development of the body along with the mind was crucial in a persons wellbeing. The
competitors trained in specific gymnasiums known as Xystos, which had various gymnasiums
for different competitors and event types. The training which was administered by former
Olympic champions serving as coaches, mainly focused on practicing the skills of their sport.
Runners practiced by running around the tracks in heavy armor in order to build endurance and

strength. Boxers and fighters sparred safely with their coaches. After training, the athletes used
a tool called a strigil to scrape off the mixture of oil, sweat and sand from their bodies.

A bronze strigil

Also, since most of the athletes daily lives consisted of rigorous physical labor such as farming
and stone cutting, they were able to maintain their fitness during the off-seasons.
The ancient games which only featured short footraces would later grow and gain more
events. The footrace was the sole event for the first 13 Olympiads. Over time, the Greeks
added longer footraces, and separate events. The pentathlon and wrestling events were the
first new sports to be added, in the 18th Olympiad (Perseus). In his book detailing the history
of Greece, Greek traveler and geographer from the second century, Pausanias explains the
progression and addition of events to the games:
And in the 14th Olympiad afterwards the double course was introduced, when
Hypenus, a native of Pisa, won the wild olive crown, and Acanthus the second.
And in the 18th Olympiad they remembered the pentathlon and the wrestling.
And in the 23rd Olympiad they ordained prizes for boxing. And in the 25th
Olympiad they had a race of full-grown horses. And in the 8th Olympiad late they
introduced the pancratium and the riding race. The horse of Crannonian

Crauxidas got in first, and the competitors for the pancratium were beaten by
the Syracusan Lygdamus, who has his sepulchre at the stone quarries of
Syracuse. And I don't know whether Lygdamus was really as big as the Theban
Hercules, but that is the tradition at Syracuse. And the contest of the boys was
not a revival of ancient usage, but the people of Elis instituted it because the
idea pleased them. So prizes were instituted for running and wrestling among
boys in the 37th Olympiad. And in the 41st Olympiad afterwards they invited
boxing boys. And the race in heavy armor was tried in the 65th Olympiad as an
exercise for war, I think; and of those who ran with their shields Damaretus of
Herum was the victor. (5.8.7)
Despite the fact that the games were supposedly created as a religious festival in honor
of Zeus, it was not as sacred as it ought to be. The games were not really all about the showcase
of amateur athletics we were all meant to believe. Some of its popularity came as a result of
the excessive drinking, eating and partying that occurred at the games. All athletes were made
to compete in the nude to dissuade cheating and eradicate physical restrictions but just like the
modern games, the ancient games were not short of cheating and political influence. Athletes
used several vices to gain the competitive edge over their counterparts. Practices such as oiling
their bodies for wrestling fights, purchasing multiple chariots in the horse races and bribing
opponents were hardly uncommon in the ancient games. To make up for the high amount of
cheating in the games, cheaters were severely punished or fined. The ancient Greeks saw
cheating as a show of disrespect to the gods so punishments such as whipping, disqualifications
and heavy fines were served to the offenders. The money collected from the fines was also

used in a religious way: The money from these fines was used to construct bronze statues of
Zeus. These statues were placed along the tunnel that leads to the stadium. Each statue's
inscription told the cautionary tale of the offense. The athletes walked past these statues as a
reminder of the importance of obeying the rules (mapsofworld.com). Some athletes even left
their hometowns to find success in others because some states offered more rewards to their
winners than others. Certain athletes used their new found wealth and popularity to obtain
political positions. A loser rarely returned to his hometown out of shame, mockery and the fear
of retaliation by his community.
The Romans arrived in the Hellenistic age and made their mark on the Olympiads. Some
of the Roman emperors who appreciated the Greek culture and tradition brought their own
twists to the events and also helped in refurbishing the buildings and arenas. The influence of
the Romans grew in the Olympics which led to the addition of gladiator fights and other sorts of
blood sports. The Romans took away the little that was left of the sanctity of the games. The
Olympiads that were created in honor of Zeus had become nothing but a simple source of
entertainment for the Romans:
The glory of the Olympic festival died with the glory that was classical Greece,
although the Games lived on in a debased form under the Romans. In fact, the
economic and cultural revival and political stability of the Roman occupation
marked a brief renaissance of the Olympic Games, albeit Roman-style. The
Games ceased to be a sacred festival and became more like gladiator contests
increasingly violent and bloody. Boxers added iron to their gloves to appease the

thirst of the crowds for blood. The Games also became "international" under the
extensive umbrella of Roman citizenship now enjoyed by regions as far removed
as Egypt. What once was the exclusive province of free-born Greeks now named
Roman slaves among their ranks. (pe04.com)
In 324 AD, Christianity became prominent in the Roman Empire and the Romans ruled over
some parts of Greece, the popularity of Christianity spread across the nation. As a religious
belief in Christianity, pagan religions and the worship of statues and idols are against the
commandments which made the Christians rebel against the games. About 70 years later,
Theodosius, a Christian emperor of the east Roman Empire completely banned the Olympic
Games after 293 Olympiads and ended the millennium year old tradition.
It was not until the 19th century before the Olympics would even be mentioned again.
As countries began to realize the importance of physical education, they sought after ways to
revive the Olympic Games. European countries showed the most interest in ancient Greece and
its cultures so they sent in archaeologists to research and gather their findings:
In the mid-1800s, interest in ancient Greece was on the rise as well. In 1829, a
team of French archaeologists investigated the site of ancient Olympia, which
had been discovered 1766 by an English antiquarian. From 1875 to 1881, the
German government conducted full-scale excavations of ancient Olympia. The
German team published regular reports of their findings, which fueled the
growing interest in Olympia and the ancient Games. (perseus.com)

The research of the French archaeologists particularly intrigued Pierre de Coubertin, a French
educator who sought to bring back the Olympic Games. Regarded as the father of the Modern
Olympic Games, Coubertin was also a very talented sportsman who participated in various
sports like fencing, boxing and horse-riding. His need to revive the Games stemmed from his
belief in Moral energy and Olympism. He defined the four principles of Olympism as: being a
religion: adhere to an ideal of a higher life, to strive for perfection; to represent an elite whose
origins are completely egalitarian and at the same time an aristocracy with all its moral
qualities; to create a truce with a four-yearly celebration of the springtime of mankind; and to
glorify beauty by the involvement of the arts and the mind in the Games(Olympic.org). He
believed that meaningful physical activity helped increase our moral and ethical values. And on
that notion, he created the Independent Olympic Committee in 1894 and appointed Dimitrios
Vikelas as its head. In 1896, the first Olympic Games of the modern era took place in Athens,
Greece. Only 15 countries participated, as the games were not properly advertised. The next
two Olympiads after that were rather poor and it was not until the end of the events of the 1st
World War that the Olympics would become globally recognized for its propagation of NeoOlympism- a term created by Coubertin which emphasized the pursuit of peace and
intercultural communication through international sport(Coubertin).
Even though been more than 2700 years have passed since the first Olympiad took
place, the Olympic Games are still the most captivating and uniting global event in the world
today. The Olympics, which were once a religious celebration in one nation has become a
worldwide global event. The last Olympic Games which were held in London featured about
10,800 athletes from 204 countries participating in 26 events. With Brazil set to host the next

edition of the Olympic Games, it is certain that Pierre de Coubertins dream of unity through
international competition is well on its way to actualization.

Works Cited
"Ancient Olympics FAQ ." Ancient Olympics FAQ. Perseus Digital Library Project, 13 Aug.
2004. Web. 19 May 2013. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/faq1.html>.
"Cheating in the Ancient Olympics Games." Cheating in the Ancient Olympics Games. N.p., n.d.
Web. 19 May 2013. <http://www.mapsofworld.com/olympics/ancient-olympics/ancientolympic-games-cheating-and-fines.html>.
Daniels, Maria. A Bronze Strigil. 1960. Photograph. Harvard Art Musuem, Massachusetts. The
Perseus Project. Web. 18 May 2013.
<http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/faq6.html>.
"Olympia and the Ancient Greek World." Map. The Perseus Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May
2013. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/faq2.html>.
"Olympic Games History - Olympic-Legacy.com." Olympic Games History - OlympicLegacy.com. Olympic-Legacy.com, n.d. Web. 19 May 2013.
<http://www.pe04.com/olympic/olympia/index.php>.
Pausanias. Description of Greece, with an English Translation. Trans. W. H. S. Jones, H. A.
Ormerod, and D. Litt. London: W. Heinemann, 1918. Print.
"Pierre De Coubertin." Pierre De Coubertin. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2013.
<http://www.olympic.org/content/museum/mosaic/sport-equipment/pierre-decoubertin/>.