Ancient Olympic Games

athletic competitions in Ancient Greece

The Ancient Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions held between the city-states of Ancient Greece. They used to be called the Olympic Games (Greek: Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες; Olympiakoi Agones) until the modern day Olympic Games started. The Ancient Olympic Games began in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece.[1] Prizes at the games were olive wreaths, palm branches and woollen ribbons. The ancient Olympics were played in the honour of the God Zeus.

Women were not allowed to participate or even to see the competitions.

There is no agreement on when the Games officially ended, but many historians think it is 393 AD, when the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius I declared that all Pagan religious practices should end.[2] Another date might be 426 AD, when the next emperor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Greek temples.[3] The stadium in Olympia got buried by landslides and other natural disasters. After the Olympics stopped, they were not held again until the modern Olympic Games were started in 1896 in Athens.

Famous athletes change

 
The Bases of Zanes were paid for by fines taken from people who cheated at the Games

Here are athletes that competed at the Games:

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  1. "Ancient Olympic Games". Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006. Microsoft Corporation. June 20, 1997. Archived from the original on May 4, 2006. Retrieved December 27, 2006.
  2. However, Theodosius' decree contains no specific reference to Olympia (Crowther (2007), p. 54).
  3. Crowther (2007), p. 54
  4. Tiberius, AD 1 or earlier - cf. Ehrenberg & Jones, Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius [Oxford 1955] p. 73 (n.78)
  5. 369 according to Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece by Nigel Wilson, 2006, Routledge (UK) or 385 according to Classical Weekly by Classical Association of the Atlantic States

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