Ancient Olympics

Imagine traveling back to 776 BCE, where the first of all Olympic games started at Olympia, Ancient Greece. Of many things in the city-state of Olympia, Ancient Greece, the Ancient Olympics were most famous and known. Through 776 BCE to 393 AD, the Ancient Olympics took place in Olympia, Ancient Greece. The Ancient Olympics show Ancient Greek religion, daily life, and is important for people to understand why we have the modern Olympics to celebrate good health and strength. Before the Games, athletes would have to train for 10 months and travel to the annual Olympic site where they would compete for a total of five days. At the Ancient Olympics, only men who spoke Greek would be allowed to compete. Women were forbidden to watch and
Chariot races were wooden carts pulled by 2-4 horses driven by one man. This was the only sport that women could wind because the winner was the horse owner, not the drivers or riders. The pentathlon was for athletes to compete in 5 different events. These different events were long jump, discus, javelin, running, and wrestling. The discus is a flat, heavy disc, made from stone, iron, or lead. The javelin is a metal-tipped wooden spear as long as a man’s body. For discus and javelin, the winner was decided by who threw the farthest. In the long jump, a man holds weights in both hands, jumps, and swings the weights behind him to get the maximum momentum. Compared to the ancient Olympics, the modern Olympics’ pentathlon contains pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding, and cross country
Winners are announced after the match, however, they get their prizes on the last day of the Games. Champion athletes were known as heroes and brought fame and glory to their home city-state. They sometimes had statues forged of their win, big gifts granted to them, poems were written about them, and some athletes even got jobs and free meals for the rest of their life. Unlike the modern Olympics, the Ancient Olympics did not find keeping records very important, but some incredible athletes are remembered. Milo of Croton was a champion wrestler who won 10 times and trained by lifting a calf every day, even when it grew into a bull. Aegeus of Argos won long distance race at Olympia, then ran home to Argos, 60 miles away, nonstop. The Ancient Olympics eventually ended in 393 AD, when Roman emperor Theodosius banned them. Emperor Theodosius changed worship of gods to beliefs in Christianity. The buildings at Olympia were torn down, and eventually, the city was buried under earthquakes and flood. Finally, in 1896, the modern Olympics start to take place at Athens,