Ancient Olympic Games

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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. 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. Another date might be 426 AD, when the next emperor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Greek temples. 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

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:

• from Athens:
  • Aurelios Zopyros (Junior boxing)
• from Sparta:
  • Acanthus of Sparta (Running: diaulos)
  • Chionis of Sparta (Running: stadium, diaulos. Long and Triple Jump)
  • Cynisca of Sparta (first woman to be listed as an Olympic victor)
• from Rhodes:
  • Diagoras of Rhodes (Boxing 79th Olympiad, 464 BCE) and his sons Akusilaos and Damagetos (Boxing and Pankration)
  • Leonidas of Rhodes (Running: stadium, diaulos and hoplitodromos)
• from Croton:
  • Astylos of Croton (Running: stadium, diaulos and hoplitodromos)
  • Milo of Croton (wrestling)
  • Timasitheos of Croton (wrestling)
• from other cities:
  • Koroibos of Elis (Stadion)
  • Orsippus of Megara (Runner: diaulos)
  • Theagenes of Thasos (Pankration)
• non-Greek:
  • Tiberius (steerer of a four-horse chariot)
  • Nero (steerer of a ten-horse chariot)
  • Varastades, Prince and future King of Armenia, (last known Ancient Olympic victor (boxing) during the 291st Olympic Games in the fourth century.

Ancient Olympic Games Media

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  The palaestra of Olympia, a place devoted to the training of wrestlers and other athletes

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  The exedra reserved for the judges at Olympia on the south embankment of the stadium. Today, this is where the Olympic flame is passed on to the first torchbearer of the upcoming Olympic Games.

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  This model shows the site of Olympia, home of the ancient Olympic Games, as it looked around 100 BC. British Museum

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  An artist's impression of ancient Olympia

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  The Discobolus, a Greek statue from the 5th century BC, representing a discus thrower. The image shows a Roman marble version of the now-lost bronze original.

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  The Parthenon in Athens, one of the leading city-states of the ancient world

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  Three runners featured on an Attic black-figured Panathenaic prize amphora. 332–333 BC, British Museum

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  A section of the stone starting line at Olympia, which has a groove for each foot

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  Palaestra scene. Attic red-figure plate. c. 520–510 BC

Related pages

• Olympic Games

Other websites

• The Ancient Olympic Games Virtual Museum (requires registration) Archived 2004-06-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Ancient Olympics (General and detailed information)
• The Ancient Olympics (A special exhibit)
• The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games Archived 2008-05-01 at the Wayback Machine
• The Origin of the Olympics
• The Original Olympic Movement Since 776 B.C.
• List of Macedonian Olympic winners (in Greek) Archived 2004-05-17 at Archive.today
• Webquest The ancient and modern Olympic Games Archived 2012-06-18 at the Wayback Machine

Olympic Games
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Athens 2004 — Turin 2006 — Beijing 2008 — Vancouver 2010 — London 2012 — Sochi 2014 — Rio 2016 — Pyeongchang 2018 — Tokyo 2020 Games in italics will be held in the future, and those in (brackets) were cancelled because of war. See also: Ancient Olympic Games