Olympiad

An Olympiad is a period of four years between two celebrations of the Olympic Games. An occurrence of the Summer or Winter Olympic Games is often commonly called an Olympiad.

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For the ancient Olympics, the Olympiad was a period of four years starting with the games at Olympia. By modern reckoning, the first recorded Olympiad started in the year 776 BC.

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Historians

As from 776 BC Olympic Games were presumably held without fail, Greek historians used the Olympiads as a way of reckoning time that did not depend on the time reckonings of one of the city-states. (See Attic calendar.) The first to do so consistently was Timaeus of Tauromenium. Nevertheless, since for events in the early history of the games the reckoning was used in retrospect, even though Greek historians gave them dates later, it is not clear which events occurred during which Olympiad.

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Start of the Olympiad

An Olympiad started with the games, which were held at the beginning of the Olympic new year, which fell on the full moon closest to the summer solstice. (After the introduction of the Metonic cycle about 432 BC, the start of the Olympic year was determined slightly differently.)

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Era

Though Olympic games were held before Coroebus, his is the first Olympiad recorded. Therefore the reckoning in Olympiads starts in 776 BC. In the third century AD the games had dwindled to the point where historians are not certain whether after 261 they were still held every four years. Some winners are recorded though, until the last olympiad in 393. In 394, Roman Emperor Theodosius I outlawed the games at Olympia as pagan. Though it would have been possible to continue the reckoning by just counting four-year periods, by the middle of the fifth century AD reckoning in Olympiads had fallen into disuse.

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Examples

• 776 BC First year of the First Olympiad.
• 775 BC Second year of the First Olympiad.
• 774 BC Third year of the First Olympiad.
• 773 BC Fourth year of the First Olympiad.
• 772 BC First year of the Second Olympiad.
• 771 BC Second year of the Second Olympiad.

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• 1 BC 4th year of the 194th Olympiad.
• 1 1st year of the 195th Olympiad.
• 2 2nd year of the 195th Olympiad.

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• 393 1st year of the 293rd Olympiad.
• 394 2nd year of the 293rd Olympiad.

By extrapolation:

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• 1893 1st year of the 618th Olympiad.
• 1894 2nd year of the 618th Olympiad.
• 1895 3rd year of the 618th Olympiad.
• 1896 4th year of the 618th Olympiad / First year of the First Olympiad of the Modern Era.

Anolympiad

Though the games were held without interruption, on more than one occasion they were celebrated by others than the Elei?ns. The Elei?ns declared such games Anolympiads (non-Olympics), but it is assumed the winners nevertheless were recorded.

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Ancient Olympics: REDIRECT Ancient Olympic Games...

Olympia: Olympia is an ancient city in Greece, in antiquity site of the Olympic Games. Olympia is also a province which is south of Olympia, see Province of Olympia. Due to its fame, a number of cities and places in other parts of the world have been named after it:...

776 BC: REDIRECT 770s BC...

Olympiad related Images and Photos (experimental)

"26th Olympiad " July/Aug 1996

"26th Olympiad " Saturday Evening Post Cover July/Aug 1996

Poster for the Paris Olympiad