Greek Influence On Olympia

The site of Olympia was located at the intersection of two rivers, the Alpheus and the Kladeos, this would have enabled people from Greek colonies to easily reach Olympia from the Mediterranean (see source 1) to participate or watch the games. As the ancient games were always held here the athletes had the chance to become accustomed to the site and train here. The site consisted of temples, altars, athletic facilities and civic buildings (see source 2). The religious buildings were at the center of the site, which tells us religion was at the heart of the ancient Olympic Games, unlike the modern Games, and the most important part of the games. The sanctuary known as the Altis is were the religious buildings were found, such as the Temple of Zeus, where the athletes would swear an oath before the statue of Zeus, Temple of Hera and the altar, where the sacrifices were made (see source 3). The altis was at the foot of the Hill of Kronos, named after Zeus’ father, this would have been useful for outsiders to navigate their way to Olympia, and it also acted as a look out point and provided limestone for buildings and spring water (see source 4).The Altar of Zeus marked the spot where Zeus struck his thunderbolt it is made up of a conical pile of ashes (see Source 5), accumulated from sacrifices made to Zeus, this again shows us how religion came
At Olympia there was the gymnasium, athletes could practice here to warm up for their events. The courtyard of the gymnasium had space to practice javelin and discus. At Olympia there was also a palaistra (see source 11), this is where training in combat and jumping took place. Athletes could train here when there was bad weather; there was an exercise room with a punch bag and an indoor training area for wrestlers. A focus of the ancient Olympics was to prepare men for warfare and get them fit, whereas this is not a focus of the modern