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Olympic Games Through the Years

The origin of the Olympic Games is linked to many ancient myths, but historically their founder is said to be Oxylos, whose descendant Ifitos later revived the games.

According to tradition, the Olympic Games began in 776 BC when Ifitos made a treaty with Lycourgos the king and famous legislator of Sparta and Cleisthenes the king of Pissa. The text of the treaty was written on a disc and kept in the Heraion. The "sacred truce" called for a cessation of hostilities throughout the Greek world for the duration of the Games.

Victors were crowned with the cotinus, a wreath made from a branch of a wild olive tree, a prize established by order of the Delphic oracle.

The Olympics were held every four years during the month of July or August. The interval between two Olympic Games was called an Olympiad. In early times the Games lasted a single day and comprised one event, the running of one Stadion. But gradually more events were added. By the 5th century BC the games lasted for five days, with ten events: running, the pentathlon, jumping, discus, "ekebolon" javelin, wrestling, boxing, the pancration, chariot racing, and horse racing. All Greeks who were free citizens and had not committed murder or heresy had the right to take part in the Olympic Games. Women were not entitled to take part, except as owners in the horse races, and were strictly prohibited from watching the games.

The procession of the athletes and the judges began at Elis and arrived in Olympia where it was received by crowds and spectators. The ceremonies began with the official oath by the athletes at the altar of Horkios Zeus, in the Bouleuterion, that they would compete with honour and respect the rules. The victors enjoyed great honour and on return to their cities, their compatriots pulled down part of the walls for them to enter. They were also given special privileges and high office.

The institution of the Olympic Games lasted for 12 continuous centuries and was abolished in 393 AD (the 293rd Olympiad) by order of Theodosios I when the functioning of all idol-worshiping sanctuaries was forbidden. In 426 A.D., during the reign of Theodosios II, the destruction of the Altian monuments followed.

The national, racial and spiritual unity of the Greeks was forged thanks to the Olympic Games. It combined the deep religious spirit along with the heroic past of the Greeks according to universal and philosophical values.

Efforts to revive the modern Olympic Games reached a peak at the end of the 19th century with the decisive contribution of the French Baron Pierre De Coubertin and the Greek Dimitrios Vikelas. The first contemporary Olympic Games took place with great pomp in 1896 in Athens, in the Panathenaic Stadium.

The headquarters of the International Olympic Academy are now in Olympia along with the altar of the Olympic flame, which is transferred every four years to the city that hosts the Olympic Games. The lighting of the flame takes place at the altar of the Temple of Hera and it is done with the convergence of sunlight onto a metal reflector. This process is part of a ritual combination that includes the prayer and the hymn to Apollo. The high priestess enters the stadium holding the lit torch, which she then hands over to the first runner in order for it to start its long journey around the world.