The Ancient Olympic Games, originally referred to as simply the Olympic Games (
Greek: Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες; Olympiakoi Agones) were a series of
athletic competitions held between various
city-states of
Ancient Greece. They began in 776 BC in
Olympia,
Greece, and were celebrated until 393 AD. The prizes were olive wreaths, palm branches and woollen ribbons. The origins of the Ancient Olympic Games are unknown, but several legends and myths have survived. One of these involved
Pelops, king of
Olympia and eponymous hero of the
Peloponnesus, to whom offerings were made during the games. The
ChristianClement of Alexandria asserted, "[The] Olympian games are nothing else than the funeral sacrifices of Pelops." That myth tells of how Pelops' overcame the King and won the hand of his daughter
Hippodamia with the help of
Poseidon, his old
lover, a myth linked to the later fall of the house of
Atreus and the sufferings of
Oedipus. Read more...
The Ancient Olympic Games, originally referred to as simply the Olympic Games (
Greek: Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες; Olympiakoi Agones) were a series of
athletic competitions held between various
city-states of
Ancient Greece. They began in 776 BC in
Olympia,
Greece, and were celebrated until 393 AD. The prizes were olive wreaths, palm branches and woollen ribbons. The origins of the Ancient Olympic Games are unknown, but several legends and myths have survived. One of these involved
Pelops, king of
Olympia and eponymous hero of the
Peloponnesus, to whom offerings were made during the games. The
ChristianClement of Alexandria asserted, "[The] Olympian games are nothing else than the funeral sacrifices of Pelops." That myth tells of how Pelops' overcame the King and won the hand of his daughter
Hippodamia with the help of
Poseidon, his old
lover, a myth linked to the later fall of the house of
Atreus and the sufferings of
Oedipus. Read more...