Ancient Olympia

The sanctuary of ancient Olympia is linked to many different myths related to the divinities that were worshipped there and the heroes who founded the Olympic Games. According to the ancient Greek poet Pindar, Heracles, the son of Zeus, established an athletic festival to honor his father, after he had accomplished his labors for King Eyrystheus. He run the Stadion race,a race of 190 meters (623,36 feet), supposedly measured after the feet of Hercules.

Once upon a time, athletes would travel for a week to reach Olympia, the home of the Olympic Games. These Games were the most important and prestigious ritual in ancient times, followed by the Pythian, Nemean and Isthmian Games.

The first written records of the ancient Olympic Games date back to 776 B.C, when a cook named Coroebus from Elis won a 192 meter (630 feet) footrace called the Stadion (the origin of the modern word “stadium”).

A major principle of that time was the Olympic Truce or Ekecheiria established through the signing of a treaty between 3 Kings of Peloponnese to allow safe participation in the ancient Olympic Games for all athletes and spectators from these Greek city-states, which otherwise constantly engaged in conflict with each other.

The ancient Games lasted for 5 days and included rituals,processions and animal sacrifices on the altar of Zeus, as well as athletic events, such as running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration and equestrian events at the stadium and the hippodrome.

When the Games stopped, the sanctuary declined and was later destroyed by barbarian invasions and natural causes.

Today, both the archaelogical site and the museum offer a vivid picture of the splendour and glory of a civilisation that continues to give so much to the modern world -not just in sporting action but ethics, ideals and sportsmanship.The Olympic flame is still lit here at the altar of Hera for the modern games.