Language/Modern-greek-1453/Culture/The-Ancient-Olympic-Games

From Polyglot Club WIKI
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This lesson can still be improved. EDIT IT NOW! & become VIP
Rate this lesson:
5.00
(one vote)

The Ancient Olympic Games
Greece-map-button animated.gif

The Olympic Games[edit | edit source]

The Olympic Games (Greek: Ὀλύμπια) were sports competitions between competitors from the Greek cities of antiquity.

It is the most important of the pan-Hellenic games of ancient Greece and the most important religious celebration in honor of Olympian Zeus, the father of the gods.

It was held in Ancient Olympia every four years from 776 BC. and was organized until 393 A.D. when the Roman emperor Theodosius abolished them permanently.

The people of Ilia managed to maintain the undiminished interest of all Greeks for the Olympic Games, thanks to a set of rules that regulated the organization, participation and training during them: the Olympic Games were held after the summer solstice every four years.

Among the rules the most important were the following:

  • Enforcement of a truce.
  • Right of participation only to Greek citizens.
  • Special rules for the procedures of training and conducting the games ...

The Holy Truce defined in all the Greek states the non-conquest of Olympia but also the cessation of all hostilities when the period of the games began.

As soon as the month of the games came, this truce was proclaimed in all Greek municipalities by special preachers appointed by the curators of the sanctuary of Ilia.

During the Classical period, all Greeks from various city-states could participate in the Olympic Games of mainly Greece and its colonies, which stretched from Gibraltar and Greater Greece (Lower Italy and Sicily) to the Black Sea.

During the Hellenistic period, the games became international.

Everyone, free and slaves, even barbarians, was allowed to watch the games.

Only women were strictly forbidden. For anyone who dared to violate this order, there was the death penalty.

At the Olympics, women had the right to participate only as owners in equestrian competitions, where the owner of the horse was awarded and not the rider. Thanks to this institution, many women were declared Olympians.

However, a woman who belonged to a great athletic family and longed to show off winners in her own stadium, did not hesitate to dress like a man and pass through the spectators of the games. She was Kallipateira, daughter of the famous Rhodes Olympian Diagoras, sister and mother also winners of the Olympics. It was this kinship with special athletes that made the Greek judges forgive her the offense and allow her honorably to watch the matches.

The winner was crowned with an olive branch, he acquired the right to assign a sculptural image with his name to Heraion and he was offered a share of the cow that had been sacrificed to Hera.

The Hellenic Judges were responsible for awarding the prizes to the winners and for imposing punishment and fines on the violators of the regulations that is, the judges of the Greeks. To promote the games and ensure a flawless final spectacle, they supervised the athletes during the training month, they selected those who were well prepared and rejected those with low performance.

Their judgment was not only about the issue of physical performance, but also the character and ethos of the athletes.

During the games they lived in the Hellenic Court, a large building in the city market, and wore purple tunics to stand out.

The reward of the winners was Kotinos, a crown of wild olive branch.

The competitions[edit | edit source]

The simple street fight, the "stadium", the fight that was a very popular sport boxing violent and often deadly fight, Pankration, the most difficult sport in the Olympics. It was a combination of wrestling and boxing.

"The pentathlon" consisted of five individual competitions, "running, jumping, wrestling, discus throw and javelin."

"The chariot race" was held in a special stage, the "racecourse", of unknown dimensions today.

Initially, the Olympic Games lasted only one day. Later, the program was expanded and enriched with a number of sports and festive events that accompanied the celebration, lasting five days, in which a large number of athletes and spectators gathered.

The top Olympians of antiquity[edit | edit source]

Νίκες (victory) Αθλητής (Athlete) Πόλη (city) Αγωνίσμα (trials)
12 Λεωνίδας Ρόδος Στάδιο

Δίαυλος

Οπλίτης, δρόμος

10 Ηρόδωρος Μέγαρα Σαλπιγκτές
8 Ερμογένης Ξάνθος Λυκίας Στάδιο

Δίαυλος

Οπλίτης, δρόμος

7 Άστυλος Κρότωνας ( Italie ) Στάδιο

Δίαυλος

Οπλίτης, δρόμος

7 Χίονις Σπάρτη Πάλη
6 Μίλων Κρότωνας ( Italie ) Πάλη
6 Ιπποσθένης Σπάρτη Πάλη
5 Αίλιος Γρανιανός Σικυώνα Δίαυλος

Οπλίτης, δρόμος

Πένταθλο

5 Δημήτριος Σαλαμίνα Στάδιο

Πένταθλο

5 Διογένης Έφεσος Σαλπιγκτές

 

Video[edit | edit source]

Other Lessons[edit | edit source]

Contributors

Vincent, Maintenance script and Marianth


Create a new Lesson