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THE OLYMPIC GAMES
The Olympic Games
The Olympic Games lasted for nearly 1,200 years. They were a place where ancient rival city states could do battle peacefully.
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The word athlete comes from the ancient Greek meaning ‘someone who competes for a prize’.
Contests between the fittest men had taken place for centuries before the Olympic Games started. But these were local affairs. The Olympic Games became special because it attracted people from all over the ancient Greek empire.
The Olympic Games may have come about through the ancient Greek idea of truce. You have to remember that, at this time, wars between cities in Greece were common. For a month before the Olympic Games started, all of the Greek cities would stop warring with one another and take part in games held on neutral territory in the countryside, at the sanctuary for Zeus at Olympia (known as the Altis). By attracting Greeks from all over the ancient Greek world, the games also helped to hold the Greek empire together.
 1 What remains of the sculptures from the pediment on the temple of Zeus.
The games develop
The first recorded games at Olympia date from about 776 bc, although they were held for a long time before this, perhaps
as early as the 10th or 9th century BC. But we do know that from 776 bc games were held in Olympia every four years for almost 1,200 years.
At first the Olympic Games lasted just one day and there was just one event – the 200 m sprint from one end of the race track to the other – and known as the staDion (picture 3, page 43). The stadion race track can still be seen in Olympia.
But as the years went by the games lengthened to last five days and include eight competitions: chariot racing, boxing, wrestling, running, armed combat, discus, archery and javelin. The Olympic Games were held every four years, and the period between the games was called an olympiaD.