Context
Olympia, birthplace of the Games
Stéphane Mourlane
In ancient Greece the Olympic Games were the most important of the pan-Hellenic games. They are probably older than the Isthmian Games in Corinth, the Nemean Games at Nemea and the Pythian Games at Delphi. Some say they were created in 776 BC to commemorate Pelops' victory over Oenomaos, King of Pisatis, whose daughter he wanted to marry. The birth date itself can only be approximate because Pelops was a mythical character and other myths claim they were started by Heracles and Zeus. Whatever the truth, from about that time the Olympic Games were held every four years and continued for at least another thousand.
The Games seem to have evolved at the same time as the city, the emblematic state structure of the Greek world. For a long time the games were for Greeks only, then in the wake of conquests their influence spread, passing under the rule of the Romans. They highlighted the values of Greek civilisation: effort and above all agon – a much honoured civic tradition of rivalry and emulation – were both highly rated, and became the basis for sports competitions.
But the games were also, perhaps above all, a religious event. The Olympic site in the Peloponnese had been holy since the Mycenean era (2000 to 1600 BC). The Altis (sanctuary) contained the temples of Zeus and Hera, the sports stadium and palaestra or boxing and wrestling area. The first five days of the games were given over to religious events, indeed the competitions were originally tributes to the gods.
The Olympic Games also had a political dimension. Usually there was a truce: for a month before and after the games athletes travelling to Olympia were protected, as was the small city of Elis where the games were held. The games were often a good opportunity for diplomatic negotiations as well, or for alliances and treaties to be announced. Even more, they boosted the prestige and influence of the cities whose athletes did well. The winners, often coming from a city's elite, were covered in glory when they returned: statues were raised in their honour, odes and songs praised them, their wealth was guaranteed and sometimes a political career opened up to them. At Olympia itself, however, the winners were only given a crown of laurels, whatever sport they practised.
Throughout their existence, the olympic games had the same programme of competitions: horse races, chariot races, the pentathalon (discus, javelin, long jump, running and fighting), running, sometimes armed and fighting (wrestling and the pankration, a form of martial arts). The athletes ran naked in competitions which were for men only, women not being allowed into the stands.
Despite loosing their religious connotation, the spread of Christianity across the Roman Empire sealed the fate of the Games which were seen as pagan: in 393 AD, they were banned by the emperor Theodosius, the temples destroyed and replaced by churches. The site suffered the ravages of nature, caused particularly by two nearby water courses. Although the games were recorded in works of literature, notably Pindar's victory odes, the site was discovered only in the 18th century. The first archaeological excavations were German, started in 1875. A Frenchman, Pierre de Courbertin, was inspired by them and revived the games at the end of that century.
Bibliography :
De Carbonnières Philippe, Olympie. La victoire pour les dieux, Paris, CNRS éditions, 2003, 127 p.
Decker Wolfgand, Thuillier Jean-Paul, Le sport dans l’Antiquité. Égypte, Grèce, Rome, Paris, Picard Antiqua, 2004, 266 p.
Finley Moses I., Pleket, H.P., 1000 ans de Jeux olympiques, Paris, Perrin, 2004, 240 p.
Paleologos Kleanthis, Olympia and the Games of Antiquity, London, Ephesus Publishing, 2005, 255 p.
