Ancient Olympic Games

The Ancient Olympic Games were an athletic and religious celebration held in the Greek town of Olympia from (historically) as early as 776 BC to 393 AD.

Origin

The historical origins of the Ancient Olympic Games are lost in the fog of time, but several legends and myths survive.

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One of these tells of the hero Heracles, who won a race at Olympia and then decreed that the race should be re-enacted every four years, while another claims that deity Zeus had instated the festival after his defeat of the Titan Cronus.

Related Topics:
Heracles - Zeus - Titan - Cronus

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Another myth tells of King Iphitos of Elis, who consulted the Pythia – the oracle of Delphi – to try and save his people from war in the 9th century BC. The prophetess advised him to organise games in honour of the gods. The Spartan adversary of Iphitos then decided to stop the war during these games, which were called Olympic, after Mount Olympus, the mountain on which the Greek gods were said to live.

Related Topics:
Iphitos - Elis - Pythia - Oracle - Delphi - 9th century BC - Sparta - Mount Olympus

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Other Greeks claimed the games were held in honor of Pelops, king of Olympia and eponymous hero of the Peloponnesus. King Oenomaus had challenged his daughter Hippodamia's suitors to a race, under pain of killing the loser. The Fourteenth suitor, Pelops, invoked the help of Poseidon, his old lover, who provided him with divine horses and chariot. Pelops then bribed Oenomaus' charioteer Myrtilus, who switched the lynchpins from Oenomaus' chariot with pins made of beeswax: predictably the lynchpins melted during the race and Oenomaus was killed. Pelops married the princess but not before murdering Myrtilus, whose curse later resulted in the fall of the house of Atreus and the suffering of Oedipus.

Related Topics:
Pelops - Peloponnesus - Oenomaus - Hippodamia - Poseidon - Myrtilus - Atreus - Oedipus

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Whatever the origin, the games were held to be one of the two central rituals in Ancient Greece, the other being the Eleusinian Mysteries.

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