OLYMPIA AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES

By Epistate

The entrance to the stadium at Olympia. Image from Olympia

One of the most sacred sites in ancient Greece was Olympia, which is a city in the southern area of Greece known as the Peloponnesus and is not to be confused with Mount Olympus, which is much further north. The city was sacred to Zeus, and it is probably best known today for being the site of the ancient Olympic games. Since the Olympic games have finally returned to Greece--and, indeed,the Track and Field competitions were held at Olympia itself--this seemed an appropriate time to write up a little information on the site.

There were actually four famous sites for Panhellenic competitive games, which is why the Olympics took place only once every four years: the Olympic games at Olympia, the Nemean games at Nemea, the Pythian games (named for the Python, a monster slain by Apollo) at Delphi, and the Isthmian games at Isthmia (on the southeast side of the Isthmus of Corinth). The games at both Olympia and Nemea were sacred to Zeus, the Pythian games were sacred to Apollo, and the Isthmian games were sacred to Poseidon.

The famous sculptor Pheidias, who designed the Parthenon in Athens, was commissioned to create a massive gold and ivory statue of Zeus for the temple at Olympia, and the result was so spectacular it became one of the seven wonders of the world, along with the pyramids of Egypt and the hanging gardens at Babylon.

Because the Olympic games were the most prestigious, Zeus became associated with athletes. The 5th-century (B.C.) Greek poet Pindar was known for his odes that drew on stories of the gods, including Zeus, to parallel and praise the athletes who competed in the various games. The ancient travel writer/historian Pausanias, writing in the second century A.D., tells how in the Altis, the sacred grove dedicated to Zeus at Olympia, there were a number of bronze statues of Zeus that had been paid for out of the fines levied on athletes who cheated. I recently read an article in a news magazine that was scandalized by the "recent" upswing in Olympic athletes who cheat, and I couldn't help wondering what the author would have thought of all those statues in the Altis.

If you are interested in Olympia and would like to look at another web page with larger, clearer pictures and different text, try this one at Thinkquest.