The History of the Olympics
Curated from: thoughtco.com
Ideas, facts & insights covering these topics:
6 ideas
·469 reads
7
Explore the World's Best Ideas
Join today and uncover 100+ curated journeys from 50+ topics. Unlock access to our mobile app with extensive features.
The date of the first Olympics contested
Based on records of stade-length races, the ancient Olympic games started in 776 B.C.E. But that era is not well-documented, so the actual date of the first Olympic Game is still contested.
The ancient Greeks told conflicting stories of the origins of the ancient Olympics. The stories were interlaced with mythology and history.
17
164 reads
The House of Atreus Theory
One Olympic origins story involved one of the members of the House of Atreus.
Pelops was desperate to win in a chariot race against King Oinomaos of Pisa because he wanted to marry the king's daughter, Hippodamia. So Pelops replaced the king's chariot's lynch-pins with ones made of wax, and during the race, the pins melted, throwing the king from his chariot and killing him. Pelops then married Hippodamia and commemorated his victory by holding the first Olympic Games.
15
67 reads
The Herculus Theory
Another theory attributes the Olympic games to the Greek hero Hercules.
Hercules held the games to honour his father, Zeus after Hercules took revenge on King Augeas of Elis for not keeping to his promise.
15
80 reads
The Cronus Theory
Pausanias says the Olympic origins stem from Zeus' victory over Cronus.
A common thread in the origin stories of the Olympic games is that the games came about because of a personal or competitive victory that was supposed to honour the gods.
14
45 reads
Frequency of the Games
The Ancient Greeks held the Olympics every four years, known as an Olympiad. The Olympics were a religious event for the Greeks. A temple dedicated to Zeus stood on the site of Olympia.
Representatives of each city-state could attend the ancient Olympics. Cities considered Olympic victors as heroes. Poets attended the games and wrote victory odes for the winners.
14
51 reads
The participants in the Olympics
All free Greek men could be potential participants in the Olympics. By the Hellenistic Period, professional athletes competed.
Olympic sporting events included boxing, discus, equestrian events, javelin, jumping, pankration, pentathlon, running, and wrestling. Olympic winners were crowned with an olive wreath and had their names inscribed in the official Olympic records.
14
62 reads
IDEAS CURATED BY
Avery B.'s ideas are part of this journey:
Learn more about sports with this collection
Importance of rest and recovery
Effective workout routines
Proper nutrition for muscle building
Related collections
Similar ideas
2 ideas
Welcome to the Ancient Olympic Games
olympics.com
6 ideas
The all-time greats of the Ancient Olympic Games
olympics.com
4 ideas
14 Cool Facts About The Olympics That You Might Not Know
champions-speakers.co.uk
Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Personalized microlearning
—
100+ Learning Journeys
—
Access to 200,000+ ideas
—
Access to the mobile app
—
Unlimited idea saving
—
—
Unlimited history
—
—
Unlimited listening to ideas
—
—
Downloading & offline access
—
—
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates