Ancient Greek History

Jordyn Rolli
Dr. Magee
HNRS 103
5 May 2017
The History of the Olympic Games; Honoring Unity Although a great number people in the 21st century believe that the concept of ‘tradition’ merely prevents the progression and advancement of the present world, not all traditions perpetuate ignorance. At the heart of most long-standing established practices lies an idea that at least one person did not want the rest of the world to forget. The different types of traditions range from lighthearted family parties to global competitions; the greatest of which is the historically famous Olympic Games. The Olympic Games first began in ancient Greece in the early Christian era (Benagh). Although the Games began in Greece as a formal way to pay respects
Historians estimate that the ancient Olympic Games have origins dating even further back than the first written record of the Games in 776 B.C (History.com Staff, 2009). During the summer of 776 B.C., written record shows that a highly structured festival occurred in Olympia, featuring many arts and one single athletic footrace. The ancient Olympics were held every four years between August 6th and September 19th during a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus. The festival held such a great level of importance to the people of that time that ancient historians measured time in four-year increments, known as Olympiads (Williams, 2010). The festival occurred during Greece’s pre-Christian time period, a time of which many historians refer to as, “The Golden Age” (Benagh). The Olympiad was much less of a competitive sporting phenomenon than the modern Olympic Games represent today. The ancient Games were more of a cultural festival honoring religion and the arts than a competitive athletic event, only overlapping with the modern day contest with the events of wrestling and track (Allison, 1994). According to ancient records, the first ever footrace in the Olympics was a mere 200 yards, about the length of the stadium. The first ever recorded champion of an Olympic event was the champion of this race, a cook by the name of Coroibus of Elis (Benagh). As
The modern Olympic Games were created with the mindset of, “sound mind in a sound body” (Choi, 2009). This idea, an old Roman saying, is the ideal that the modern Games wished to encourage to promote friendship between nations. The modern Olympic Games have only been cancelled three times since their revival: during World War I and World War II. The massive amount of bloodshed, carnage, and disunity that was occurring during this time meant that the tradition of the Olympic Games was both not feasible and not a priority of the time. The 1916 Olympic Games were cancelled due to World War I. The 1940 and 1944 Olympics were cancelled due to World War II, but resumed in 1948 and continued every four years until the International Olympic Committee decided to put the Summer and Winter Olympics on different calendar years. The Summer Games were scheduled for 1996 and every four years after that, and the Winter Games were scheduled for 1994, only two years after the previous Games, and were to continue at four year intervals (Hellenic Information Society). Since World War II’s interruption of the Olympic Games, the tradition has never been fully cancelled. However, they have been boycotted by multiple nations set on making political statements, usually on the account of