Anchent olimpic games

The ancient Greeks believed that music improved coordination and movement, whether for dancing or military drills or even manual labor. So, in addition to personal trainers, professional musicians also played an important role in athletic games. The man on this pelike plays an aulos a double pipe. He accompanies two boxers stepping lively and shadowboxing in synchronization.

One boxing champion named Melankomas of Caria went down in history for his unique fighting technique—he managed to defeat his opponents without ever dealing a blow, or ever being hit himself. Because of his exceptional condition and endurance, he was able to hold up his arms in defense until his opponent eventually became exhausted and submitted. Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora jar , ca. Attributed to the Leagros group. Terracotta, 25 in.

Athens, the venue for the first modern Olympics in , also held athletic games in antiquity. This event became one of the most important festivals of international competition outside the Panhellenic games. The Greater Panathenaia involved traditional athletic, musical, and equestrian competitions, such as the horse race depicted on this prize amphora.

However, it also entailed an eclectic program of more unusual events, including contests in male beauty, dancing in armor, a chariot-mounting and dismounting race while the chariot was in motion! Victors in the Panathenaic games were awarded olive oil harvested from the sacred groves of Athena. This amphora was the prize for a four-horse chariot race, the most prestigious event in the games and the grand finale of the program.

According to tradition, Erechtheus, the legendary first king of Athens, introduced the contest and is even credited with the invention of the quadriga four-horse chariot. As many as amphorae, and the valuable oil they contained, were awarded to the winner of this race—more than for any other competition in the games. Left: Bronze hydria water jar , mid-5th century B.

Greek, Argive. Right: Bronze hydria water jar , early 4th century B. We know from the inscription on the hydria on the left that it was awarded at games held for the goddess Hera at her sanctuary in Argos.

Before the mid-third century B. The hydria on the right has two inscriptions on the lip. One gives the name of the presiding official, Kalliar, and the other indicates that the contestants dedicated the prize to Herakles, for whom the games were held. This inscription implies that the hydria was given collectively to the hero because there was no individual winner. Marble relief fragment depicting athletic prizes , 2nd century A.

This fragment from a Roman relief represents the standard prizes awarded at four venues in Greece: an amphora of olive oil from the Panathenaic games at Athens, a pine wreath from Isthmia, a bronze shield from Argos, and a celery wreath from the games at Nemea. Symbolic wreaths made from sacred trees or plants, including the olive wreath from Olympia, were just as prestigious as more expensive awards. The athletic games established in ancient Greece flourished under the Roman Empire.

Many Greek cities continued to host them, and competitors—such as the winner from Rhamnous who commissioned this relief—gained fame and fortune from victories in games across Greece. Some athletes became astronomically wealthy.

Public-domain image courtesy Wikimedia Commons. The last reported victor at the Olympic games was Zopyros, a boxer from Athens, in A. Yet inscriptions and literary sources confirm that athletic games continued into the early fifth century at prestigious venues, including Olympia and Athens.

Nearly a millennium and a half later, the Olympics returned, reviving the ancient spirit of competition and community on a global scale. Appropriately, the opening ceremony for the first modern Olympics took place in Athens in the Panathenaic Stadium, originally constructed in the fourth century B. Marquee: Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora detail , ca.

Attributed to the Euphiletos painter. Visiting The Met? Olympos was the home of the greatest of the Greek gods and goddesses. The ancient Olympic Games began in the year BC , when Koroibos, a cook from the nearby city of Elis, won the stadion race, a foot race feet long. The stadion track at Olympia is shown here. According to some literary traditions, this was the only athletic event of the games for the first 13 Olympic festivals or until BC.

From BC, the Games were held in Olympia every four years for almost 12 centuries. Contrary evidence, both literary and archaeological, suggests that the games may have existed at Olympia much earlier than this date, perhaps as early as the 10th or 9th century BC.

What's that, you ask? A series of bronze tripods have been found at Olympia, some of which may date to the 9th century BC, and it has been suggested that these tripods may in fact be prizes for some of the early events at Olympia. Source: Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, Athen.

Did you know Additional athletic events were gradually added until, by the 5th century BC, the religious festival consisted of a five-day program. For a complete list of events, click here. For a complete list of modern Olympic Game location sites, click here. Shown here is the stadium entrance at Olympia. Any Winter Games? The first modern Winter Olympic games were held in in Chamonix, France.